A Dean Who Changed Our Lives: Remembering Michael Pitts

On Sunday morning as I sit in the familiar wooden pew of Christ Church Cathedral during the Sunday mass, listening to the announcement of his death, I can’t help but think of the man who shaped this sacred space for so many of us over eighteen transformative years. The Very Reverend Michael J. Pitts served as our Dean from 1991 to 2009, but to simply list those dates feels inadequate – almost insulting – to capture what this remarkable man meant to our cathedral community.

When Michael first arrived in Montreal from England in 1988, eventually taking on the deanship in 1991, Christ Church Cathedral was at something of a crossroads. The Anglican Church was grappling with questions of identity, relevance, and inclusion that would define the next several decades. We needed more than just a competent administrator or a polished preacher – we needed a visionary, a pastor, and a bridge-builder. In Michael Pitts, we found all three.

The Preacher and Teacher

Michael’s sermons were legendary among our congregation, and for good reason. Here was a man who had studied classics and ancient history at Oxford, trained at Queen’s College Birmingham, yet possessed the rare gift of making complex theological concepts accessible to everyone struggling with faith questions. His intellectual rigor never overshadowed his pastoral heart. Whether he was exploring the intersection of science and faith – a particular passion of his – or unpacking a difficult biblical passage, Michael had this remarkable ability to make you feel both challenged and comforted.

A Champion of Justice

Perhaps what I admired most about Michael was his courage in championing causes that weren’t always popular, even within our own Anglican community. His advocacy for the full inclusion of LGBTQ2S persons in church life and ministry wasn’t just a theological position for him – it was a moral imperative rooted in his understanding of the Gospel. This wasn’t easy in the 1990s and early 2000s, when these conversations were tearing apart Anglican communities worldwide.

Michael navigated these turbulent waters with remarkable grace. He never compromised his convictions, but he also never demonized those who disagreed with him. Instead, he created space for dialogue, for questions, for gradual understanding. Our cathedral became a place where gay and lesbian couples felt welcomed long before it was officially sanctioned, where transgender individuals found acceptance, where families wrestling with these issues could find support rather than judgment.

Michael understood that justice work wasn’t separate from pastoral care – it was pastoral care. When he stood up for the marginalized, he was doing exactly what he’d been called to do as our Dean.

A Family Man in Our Cathedral Family

Michael’s wife, Kyllikki, herself a Lutheran pastor and theologian, brought her own wisdom and warmth to our community. In her quiet way she was a strong presence alongside him, and together they formed a strong union from which we were all touched by their love.

Michael never pretended to have it all figured out. Throughout his life, as well as his time with us, he was refreshingly honest about the challenges of ministry, the struggles of faith, the difficulty of maintaining work-life balance. This vulnerability made him more effective as a leader, not less. We trusted him precisely because he didn’t present himself as superhuman.

Beyond the Cathedral Walls

Michael’s ministry extended far beyond our cathedral walls. His work with seafarers, factory workers, and the urban homeless before coming to Montreal shaped his understanding that the Gospel was meant for everyone, especially those on society’s margins. During his time as Dean, he maintained connections with Montreal’s broader community, participating in interfaith dialogue, social justice initiatives, and community building efforts that reflected well on all of us.

After his retirement from the deanship in 2009, Michael’s commitment to ministry only deepened. His work in the Diocese of Quebec, travelling by air, water, and land to serve isolated fishing villages along the north shore, demonstrated that his calling to serve had nothing to do with prestige or comfort. Here was a man in his seventies, still willing to endure difficult travel conditions to bring communion to people others might have forgotten.

A Lasting Legacy

As I look around our cathedral today, I see Michael’s fingerprints everywhere. Not in any physical renovations but in the spirit of the place. We’re still the inclusive, intellectually honest, socially conscious community he helped shape. New members often comment on the warmth they feel here, the sense that questions are welcomed rather than discouraged, that faith is understood as a journey rather than a destination.

Michael taught us that being Anglican didn’t mean being wishy-washy or uncommitted. Instead, he showed us that our tradition’s emphasis on reason, scripture, and tradition working together could produce a faith that was both deeply rooted and dynamically responsive to the needs of each new generation.

The Very Reverend Michael J. Pitts wasn’t perfect – he’d be the first to tell you that. But he was exactly the Dean we needed when we needed him. He challenged us to grow, and showed us what it looked like to live out the Gospel with both conviction and compassion. For those of us privileged to call him our Dean for eighteen years, the gratitude we feel is matched only by the responsibility we carry to continue the work he began among us.