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Fr. Donald (Don) Hugh MacDonald, O.F.M., died peacefully just before midnight December 12, 2024, at the Misericordia Hospital, in Edmonton, Alberta. Born March 10, 1936, the youngest child of Angus and Laura Belle MacDonald, he outlived his oldest brother Mark (Lorraine), his two sisters, Jessie (Richard) and Mary (Dave), and brother Tony (Rose Marie).
Beloved by his large, extended family, he tried to remain close to all, presiding over family weddings, baptisms and funerals throughout his busy and distinguished Franciscan life. He is survived by Lorien, his niece and Graham (June), his nephew, from Jessie and Dick Wendt; his nephews Rick (Nan) and Gary, from Tony and Rose Marie MacDonald; his nieces Cathy (Larry), Lynda (Ron), Bev (Roger), Terry (Glenn), and Barb (Dave) from Mary and Dave Jones; as well as Mark and Lorraine’s Vivianne, Dianne and Marcel; as well as grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins.
Don grew up on a farm near Villeneuve, Alberta, but because the farm was in St. Albert Parish he was baptized there. When not being distracted by Tony’s adventures during their shared horseback rides to school – which perhaps gave him his later taste for travel – Don, like his siblings, benefited from his mother’s love of learning and intuitive understanding of people. He later went to the Franciscan-run St Anthony’s College in Edmonton, where his father Angus was known to smuggle in stout disguised in Coca-Cola bottles to help him recover from colds and flu.
On August 7, 1955, he entered the Franciscan novitiate in Sherbrooke, Quebec, where he learned French, his father’s second language. Don made his solemn vows on August 30, 1959, and was ordained to the priesthood on August 14, 1960, in St Albert.
After ordination, he taught for four years under the legendary Fr. Athol Murray at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. In 1964 he left for Strasbourg, France, and doctoral studies in theology during the height of Vatican II, which shaped the thinking, faith, and compassion that marked his future ministry. In 1968, he was one of the few students to defend his thesis—in secret and in the Franciscan friary—during the height of the chaos of the May student uprisings that brought France to a standstill.
Returning home, in the fall of 1968, Don began teaching at St Joseph’s Seminary in Edmonton. When Newman Theological College was founded in 1969, at 33 he became head of its Systematic Theology Department.
He was admired for his courses that, like his homilies, were never run-of-the-mill. For more than 50 years he taught and held various positions in the college, including Dean of Theology. He was President of the college three separate times and, because of his excellent judgment, found himself on the list of candidates for the episcopacy in western Canada.
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 Newman and to work steadily to develop closer relationships among Edmonton’s Christian churches, which resulted in Edmonton’s Anglican diocese naming him an honorary Canon. He retired from teaching in April 2020.
Despite decades of struggle with ankylosing spondylitis, a crippling form of arthritis, Don loved tennis and swimming into old age. He inherited his father’s musical ear and acumen, which he happily applied to piano for singalongs at Newman and at the Edmonton friary. He inherited his mother’s love of language, which resulted in many of his students, colleagues – and sometimes family – feeling the sting of his editorial precision in both thought and word.
A passionate reader of everything from densely complex books on theology to literary reviews and novels, he read broadly, from Graham Greene to Iris Murdoch to John Banville up to the current chart topper, the Canadian Louise Penny. With a heritage reaching back to before the Clearances, and as the son of two MacDonalds – his mother from Clan Glengarry and his father from Clan Ranald – he occasionally welcomed a dram or two of good whisky.
He spent sabbaticals in Provence, France, which cemented his love of French culture and food, and where he made lifelong friends, as he often did regardless of culture or faith. In 2023, he and his fellow Franciscan, Dave Norman O.F.M., took the Paris Metro from the Gare de Lyon to the friary, a trek that saw them go up and down so many stairs that Don vowed he would never return to the City of Light. At 87, his international travelling days were over.
The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St Albert Catholic Church, 7 St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert, Alberta, T8N 1K1, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 20, 2024, with visitation beginning at 9:00 a.m. Don will be interred later in the Franciscan cemetery at Mount St Francis, Cochrane, Alberta.
The Franciscans and Don’s nieces, nephews, cousins and friends thank the doctors, nurses and all those who provided such loving care for him during his long stay in the hospital. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Covenant Health, Suite #170, One Twelve Campus, 10130 112 Street NW, Edmonton, AB, T5K 2K4.
Arrangements entrusted to Connelly-McKinley Downtown Funeral Home.
2024
Death notice for the town of: Edmonton, Province: Alberta
death notice Reverend Donald Hugh MacDonald OF 2024
obituaries notice Reverend Donald Hugh MacDonald OF 2024
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Reverend Donald Hugh MacDonald OF 2024 and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
