On August 16, after a two-year struggle with cancer, the theologian Margaret O'Gara died at the age of sixty-five. You can read a brief obituary in the Catholic Register of Canadahere. From that piece:

The characteristic aim of Margaret's 37 years of work as a theologian was to foster dialogue among Christians for the sake of overcoming divisions between the churches. Besides her teaching, research, writing, and extensive public lecturing, she was a member of official ecumenical dialogues in Canada, the United States, and at the international level. She also served as president of the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Catholic Theological Society of America. Her effectiveness in all these arenas came from a combination of her scholarly rigor, her ability to listen sympathetically, her uncommon energy, and her contagious delight at the growth of mutual understanding and friendship.

Margaret was a long-time contributor to Commonweal -- a genetic predisposition inherited from her father Jim, who edited the magazine for thirty-two years. (Read Margaret and her sister Monica's piece, "Growing Up Commonweal," here.) In addition to her considerable intellectual gifts, she had an apparently bottomless store of kindness. We mourn her passing.Requiescat in pace.