James John "Jimmy" Tompkins (7 September 1870 – 5 May 1953) was a

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who founded the

Antigonish Movement The Antigonish Movement blended adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based communities around Canada's Maritimes to improve their economic and social circumstances. A group of pr ...

, a progressive effort that incorporated adult education,

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

and rural

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to aid the fishing and mining communities of northern and eastern

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. The Antigonish Movement later evolved into the Extension Department (now the Coady International Center) of

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

. Father Tompkins believed in the emancipating power of education and sought to improve economic conditions through study groups and co-operative action. "It is not enough to have ideas, we have to put legs on them", he often said. He started the first regional library in Nova Scotia along with the first

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provisi ...

and a cooperative housing association in Reserve Mines that was dubbed "Tompkinsville". Father Tompkins was the Spiritual founder of the Antigonish Movement.

Brief biography

Jimmy Tompkins was born in Margaree Forks, Nova Scotia, a small farming community on Cape Breton Island. From 1888-1895, he attended

in alternate semesters while teaching Greek and Mathematics to support himself. He attended the Urban College of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Papal Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) in Rome from 1897 to 1902. On his return, he continued teaching at St. Francis Xavier University and became the vice-rector in 1907. Working closely with the

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, he implemented various reform and modernization programs, culminating in an unsuccessful attempt to amalgamate various sectarian and non-sectarian colleges in the

Maritime Provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

into one nondenominational university centered around Dalhousie University in Halifax. Although the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Halifax Edward McCarthy supported amalgamation, the Catholic Bishop of Antigonish James Morrison successfully opposed it and eventually exiled Tompkins to the tiny fishing village of

Canso, Nova Scotia Canso is a community in Guysborough County, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada, next to Chedabucto Bay. In January 2012, it ceased to be a separate town and as of July 2012 was amalgamated into the Municipality of the Di ...

as parish priest for Canso, Little Dover and Queensport. As parish priest Tompkins observed firsthand the plight of the poor fishing community there and helped organize and lead what would become the

of cooperative fisheries, stores, housing projects, and adult study groups. The Antigonish Movement was eventually institutionalized in the form of the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier, which was headed by Tompkins' double-cousin Father Moses Coady and which included Father Hugh MacPherson, A.B. MacDonald and others.

Career highlights

*1895, Graduates from St. Francis Xavier University *1897-1902, Attends Urban College in Rome *24 May 1902 Ordained in the Lateran Basilica, Rome by Pietro, Cardinal Respighi *1902 Rejoins staff at

, Antigonish *1907-1908, vice-rector, St. FX *1908-1923, vice-president and prefect of studies, St. FX *1919, Awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Dalhousie University *1 January 1923, becomes parish priest (pastor) of Star of the Sea (then called Stella Maris) Church, Canso, including the towns of Little Dover and Queensport *10 October 1934, becomes chaplain at Bethany, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Martha, Antigonish *10 March 1935-23 December 1948, parish priest of St. Joseph's Church, Reserve Mines, Cape Breton *1948 Retires due to ill health and lives at St Martha's Convent in Margaree Forks,

. *5 May 1953, Dies at St. Martha's Hospital and is buried in Reserve Mines.

Biographies

*Jim Lotz and Michael R. Welton, ''Father Jimmy: Life and Times of Father Jimmy Tompkins'' (1997), *George Boyle, ''Father Tompkins of Nova Scotia'' (1953)

References

*The Tompkins Institute for Human Values and Technolog

Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia *Father Jimmy Tompkin

in ''Adult Educators You Should Know'',

National-Louis University National Louis University (NLU) is a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. NLU enrolls undergraduate and graduate students in more than 60 programs across its four colleges. It has locations throughout the Chicago metropo ...

*''Fraught with Wonderful Possibilities: Father Jimmy Tompkins and the Struggle for a Catholic Progressivism, 1902 - 1922'', Michael R. Welton, Ph

*''Antigonish Movement'

Center for Economic Development, Cape Breton University

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, James 1870 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Canadian cooperative organizers People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia Pontifical Urban University alumni