An obituary from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for centenarian priest and Archbishop Emeritus of St. John’s Nfld., Fr. James MacDonald. His funeral Mass was June 7.

The Most Reverend James MacDonald, C.S.C., Archbishop Emeritus of St. John’s, passed away on 30 May 2025 at the age of 100, at the Hotel Dieu Shaver Hospital in St. Catharines, Ontario, following a lengthy illness.

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Born on 28 April 1925 in Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia, Archbishop MacDonald entered the Congregation of Holy Cross after high school. He completed novitiate in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. He later completed his theological formation at Ste. Geneviève de Pierrefonds, Quebec, and was ordained a priest on 29 June 1953 in Woodstock, Ontario.

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His early priestly ministry included teaching, formation, and leadership roles within the Congregation of Holy Cross, serving as seminary director, vocations director, and personnel director. In 1969, he became pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Waterloo, Ontario, where he ministered until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Hamilton in 1978.

On 13 August 1982, he was appointed Bishop of Charlottetown by Pope John Paul II and installed in October of the same year. He served the Church in Prince Edward Island for nearly nine years until Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on 2 February 1991. In 1992, St. Thomas University in Fredericton bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. He led the Archdiocese of St. John’s until his resignation in 2000. During his retirement in Windsor, Ontario, he continued pastoral ministry in the dioceses of Hamilton and London. In 2013, he took up residence with the Holy Cross community in Ontario.