Terry Gallagher, SFM
Volume 41 Issue 1,2,&3 | Posted: April 9, 2026
Rev. Terry Gallagher SFM died on Saturday morning, January 31 after a long struggle with cancer. This great soul and great light is now transitioning into a wholly new realm. Peace be upon him. (Jim Morin)
We lament the passing of Father Terence Edmund Gallagher, S.F.M., who died on January 31, 2026, in Toronto, Ontario. He was 84 years of age.
Terry was born in Toronto on January 14, 1942, to Edmund Gordon Gallagher and Mary Nagle (née MacGuire) Gallagher. After completing his high school education, he entered the novitiate of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society in St. Mary’s, Ontario, in September of 1960. In 1961, he began his studies in philosophy and theology at St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Scarborough, Ontario. Terry was ordained a priest on August 6, 1966, at Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal by Bishop Valérien Belanger, auxiliary bishop of Montreal.
In 1967, Terry went to the Philippines where he served in various parishes in the Diocese of Maasin. In 1973, he returned to Canada to promote vocations to the missionary priesthood. In 1982, Terry became the coordinator of the Formation-Education Department of Scarboro Missions. Terry later became involved in the effort by Scarboro Missions to promote interfaith dialogue at the Scarboro Missions Centre in Scarborough. He was known globally: he participated in the first visit of Western Christian ministers to North Korea with a delegation of the Canadian Council of Churches in 1988, and was also invited to several world ecumenical events. In 2018, he moved to Presentation Manor where he spent the final years of his life.
Fr. Terry will be remembered for his exuberant personality, his love of song and all things Irish, his passion for social justice and his enthusiasm for interfaith dialogue. He touched the lives of countless families in the Philippines during his mission years, and even more in Canada in the following decades.
Fr. Terry is predeceased by his parents and survived by his brother Michael (Yvonne) and nephews Michael Sean (Gillian), Matthew (Tania), Nicholas (Cassandra), and Morgan (Johanna) and grandnephews and grandnieces Mya, Jack, Max, Kingston, Garret, Fiona, Clarah, Amelia, Charlie Jane and Theodore, and his brother Brian (Andrea Jacobs), and nephew Brendan and niece Emma.
“Uncle Terry” will be forever remembered with joy and gratitude!
Scarboro Missions is deeply grateful to the health care staff at Presentation Manor, Canadian Religious Stewardship, and Michael Garron Hospital for their kindness and care of Fr. Terry. God bless you.
The Mass of the Resurrection was held on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at Presentation Manor, 61 Fairfax Crescent, Scarborough, Ontario.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Presentation Manor for the care of seniors. Interment will follow at a later date at St. Jerome’s Cemetery in Warkworth, Ontario.
May Father Terry rest in Peace.