A brother and mentor, in Father Don MacDonald, has died. This is my tribute. These thoughts are, in fact, several years in the making. As anticipated, the time to express my unspoken gratitude would come. This is it!
Let me start by acknowledging that I am not alone in my grief for Father Don. I have seen many relatable posts on social media, and received emails. We are many, and we are one. The Church does not favour eulogies, especially not for priests, but as Father Don would assure us, “a theological reflection is always a reflection on a human being”. Think on that one for a moment!
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at St. Albert Parish on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 a.m. Mass will be livestreamed. Read more
Faith lived, unlike the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas, points to Christ Jesus. Father Don pointed to Christ Jesus. And if this were a homily, no matter what I say, Father Don would after listening faithfully suggest that I could have brought in more of the Paschal Mystery.
Father Don MacDonald was raised in Morinville and grew up a member of St. Albert Parish. As a child, he prayed in the same building that is there now. Living out most of his life in Edmonton, Father Don used to say “I haven’t come very far”.
Family was, arguably, one of the reasons Father Don never left Edmonton for long. He loved his nieces and nephews.
Having done his formation in Quebec and his doctorate in France, Father Don’s upbringing and family had already formed a certain clarity in him. “I am not one to be laissez-faire about Mass on Sunday,” he would explain. He was also consistently insistent on respect for the successors of the Apostles – as part of the Church was integrally how Father Don identified.
Father Don was, more than anything else though, a teacher. A Franciscan brother, priest and eventually Provincial Minister, as well as a college president, and almost a bishop they whispered, Father Don was most proud of his teaching.
He was proud to have taught most of the Catholic clergy in Western Canada, excluding those from Vancouver. And he would proudly clarify the latter point. He was proud to have taught so many lay women and men, so many religious women and men, so many Anglicans, Lutherans, and Baptists. He was proud, I certainly hope, to have left a Christ-centred theological imprint on the friars he leaves behind.
Archbishop Joseph MacNeil once famously referred to Father Don as “Mr. Newman College” – because nobody is more implicated in NTC’s history than is Father Don MacDonald. He was one of the founders, and Newman continued to have his heart and thoughts until his dying days. But Father Don was also exceptionally multi-talented, hard-working, and personable.
Since I mentioned Archbishop MacNeil, I might as well share his story of visiting our Franciscan guest house in Cochrane. I say Franciscan guest house, but Father Don treated it like his and Father Dave Norman’s own personal get-away shack. Archbishop MacNeil joked, “I went there wanting to read some interesting theology but all I could find were cookbooks.”
Father Don loved to cook but, more accurately, he loved to host. And he was great at it. Theology, cooking and people – and not necessarily in that order.
I recall once, when in Post-Novitiate Formation with Father Don as my Formation Director, one of the brothers of my era commenting on how surreal it was that Father Don, who had been around so long and had seen so many friars come and go, could express a loyalty to us as though we had been part of his life forever. And I am aware that so many others received similar love from Father Don. He casted an incredibly wide, and resilient, net.
The Church in Canada has lost a theological giant, our biggest in my opinion, but also a lifelong learner. The one criticism that so many of us shared of Father Don to Father Don’s face was his reluctance to publish. He would often speak of this or that book that he was going to write one day but, as anyone who has taken a course from him knows, he has several books already written. These were his course notes, and they were always evolving because he was always studying. Personally, I think it time to publish those notes!
Rest in peace, brother! You were that and so much more to so many of us. You taught us to believe in theology, in Vatican II, in the vocation of baptism, and most of all in Christ Jesus.
-Friar Pierre Ducharme, OFM, is the Vicar Provincial of the Holy Spirit Province, Franciscans of Canada, of the Order of Friars Minor and Pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Vancouver. He is graduate of Newman Theological College.