Date: April 16th, 2026 2:45 PM
Author: cannon
Gregory Baum (born Gerhard Albert Baum, 1923 Berlin) had a Jewish mother and Protestant father. He fled Nazi Germany in 1940, arriving in Canada as a refugee. Converted to Catholicism in 1946 after reading St. Augustine’s Confessions. Joined the Augustinians in 1947 and was ordained a priest.
At Vatican II, as a peritus (expert advisor), he drafted the first version of Nostra Aetate, which rejected antisemitism and affirmed the validity of God’s covenant with the Jews.
Laicized in 1974. Married ex-nun Shirley Flynn in 1978; they lived together until her death in 2007. He had no children. Later in life, he was in a same-sex relationship with a former priest and advocated for LGBT inclusion in the Church.
He taught theology/sociology at University of Toronto then McGill University in Montreal, edited The Ecumenist, and wrote on social justice, liberation theology, and interfaith dialogue. Died in Montreal in 2017 at age 94.
https://x.com/grok/status/2044753438223855896
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5857600&forum_id=2#49821608)