Fr. Don MacDonald, O.F.M. died peacefully in the Misericordia Hospital, Edmonton on December 12, 2024, just before midnight.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at St. Albert Parish on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 a.m. Mass will be livestreamed.
Fr. Don will be brought to Cochrane for burial.
Read: The Church lost a theological giant in Father Don MacDonald.
Don was born on March 10, 1936, the youngest child of Angus and Laura Belle MacDonald. He was predeceased by his oldest brother Mark (Lorraine), his two sisters, Jessie and Mary, and his older brother, by 10 years, Tony. He is survived by his niece, Lorien and nephew, Graham (June), from Jessie and Dick Wendt, his nephews Rick (Nan) and Gary, from Tony and Tilly MacDonald, and his nieces Cathy (Larry), Linda (Ron), Bev (Roger), Terri (Glen), and Barb (Dave) from Mary and Dave Jones, and many grandnieces and grandnephews.
Don grew up on a farm near Villeneuve, but the farm was in the St. Albert parish, so Don was baptized there. Don went to school with his brother, Tony, for the first few years, but eventually went to St Anthony’s College, Edmonton, which was run by the Franciscans.
On August 7, 1955 he entered the Franciscan novitiate in Sherbrooke, Quebec and was ordained to the priesthood in the St Albert church on August 14, 1960. From 1960 until 1964, he taught at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. from where he left for Strasbourg, France and doctoral studies in theology. In 1968 he defended his thesis in secret because of the May uprisings that had brought the country to a standstill.
Don began teaching at St Joseph Seminary in the fall of 1968 and when Newman Theological College was founded in 1969, Don headed up the Systematics department. He was a staunch advocate of the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar in class and out. He was admired as much for his courses as he was for his homilies, which were never run-of-the-mill. For more than 50 years Don taught and held various administrative positions in the college, including Dean of Theology and President (three separate times). In 1992, Don was elected Provincial of the Franciscans of Western Canada, a position he held for nine years. During that time, he continued to teach at NTC. He retired in April 2020.
Don was a fan of tennis and played it into old age. He was also a very good piano player and led many sing-alongs at NTC and at the Edmonton friary. One of his passions was the novel; he read all of Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch, Louise Penny, etc. A Scotsman through and through, Don enjoyed a dram or two of scotch whisky.
His sabbaticals were spent in Provence, France, where he made lifelong friends. In 2023, he and Fr. Dave Norman – head of the Systematics department at NTC – took the Paris Metro from the Gare de Lyon to Alésia and the Franciscan friary. It was a trek that saw him go up and down so many stairs that he vowed he would never return to the city of light. His travelling days were over, though he did get down to Calgary or Cochrane a couple of times a year.
The Franciscans and the nieces and nephews of Don want to thank the doctors, nurses and all those who provided such loving care for him during his long stay in the Misericordia hospital. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Covenant Health.