The Very Reverend N. Bruce McLeod (1930 - ) is a former Moderator of the United Church of Canada

Moderator of the United Church of Canada

The Moderator of the United Church of Canada is the presiding leader of the United Church of Canada, Canada's largest Protestant denomination. The church is highly decentralized and non-dogmatic and the moderator has only limited power...

 (1972-1974). He has a doctorate in preaching from Union Theological Seminary

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

 in New York.

As Moderator, McLeod practised extensive outreach via television and by ministry in shopping malls and elsewhere in the world beyond traditional congregational worship. He envisioned a United Church of Canada

United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...

 that would become more open and welcoming to new ideas than had previously been the case, and one in which regional sensibilities as to then-current issues such as abortion would be given credibility. During his term, McLeod also succeeded in encouraging more friendly relations between Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

and the United Church of Canada.