George Forsyth, Executive Director of CCA, Dies

By Clare MacDonnell
^{HERALD Staff Writer}

George Forsyth, executive director of Catholic Campaign for America (CCA), died Feb. 7 of liver cancer. A funeral Mass was offered Feb. 11 by Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., at St. Cecelia’s Church in San Francisco, Calif.

Forsyth was born Sept. 1, 1949 in Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston in 1972 with a bachelor degree in government and political philosophy and obtained a master's degree in political science in 1974. He also studied political philosophy at Claremont University in California.

While in California he was co-founder of the Claremont Review of Books and in 1984 he worked as a writer for Santa Fe Communications, a Catholic television station. He was executive director for the California chapter of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights from 1986-88. As a member of the Foreign Service from 1988-96, he was stationed in the Dominican Republic, Mali, and Trinidad and Tobago.

At the time of his death, he was a member of St. Michael Parish in Annandale along with his wife, Anne, and their two children, Jane and Michael. He is survived by his mother Mary Josephine of Stafford and a brother, James S. of Houston. He was predeceased by his father James S. Forsyth.

Forsyth joined CCA in September 1997 as the organization’s third executive director. CCA was founded in 1989 by Thomas V. Wykes, Jr. who wanted to address the moral crisis in America with a Catholic response.

In 1991, Wykes gathered together several notable Catholic leaders in Washington from which was born the board of CCA. Included among the board members are William Bennett, Mary Ellen Bork, Hugh Carey and Bishop Rene Gracida.

The mission statement of the organization, according to Wyke’s vision, became: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a private opinion, a remote spiritual ideal, or a mere program for spiritual growth. The Gospel is the power to transform the world."

According to Bork, who is handling the CCA office in Washington until a new director is named, the organization will continue where Forsyth left off.

"George was really on fire with the vision of CCA," she said. "He had just met with people in San Diego in December who were interested in setting up a CCA chapter. That was the last thing he was working on — building up the organization."

Bork said that the group will proceed with its goals for 1999, namely, to focus on the themes of the American bishops’ 1998 document, "Living the Gospel of Life." She said that CCA wants Catholics "to realize they have got to take their citizenship seriously," and become more involved in their faith and their country.

A memorial Mass for Forsyth will be offered at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, the date of which is yet to be determined.

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