Death of the Most Rev. James MacDonald, C.S.C., Archbishop Emeritus of St. John’s NL
Friday, June 06 2025OTTAWA, 6 June 2025 – 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.
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.
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.
Archbishop MacDonald’s service within the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops included a wide range of roles and responsibilities over two decades: from 1978 to 1981, he was a member of the Commission for Religious Life; from 1979 to 1983, he served on the Social Communications Commission of the Department for Liturgy and Social Communications; from 1981 to 1983, he served as member of the Commission for Religious and Clergy; from 1983 to 1987, he served as Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Theology and member of the Pastoral Team for Study and Action; from 1985 to 1987, he was a member of the Permanent Council as Pastoral Team Representative; from 1987 to 1989, he served on the Episcopal Commission for Theology; from 1987 to 1991, he returned to the Permanent Council as a Regional Representative; from 1989 to 1991, he was elected CCCB Co-Treasurer. During this time, he also served as member of the Task Force Committee, and member of the Ad hoc Committee for Sexual Abuse; from 1989 to 1993, he was a member of the Episcopal Commission for Christian Education; from 1993 to 1995, he served on the Episcopal Commission for Relations with Associations of Priests, Religious, and Laity; in 1994, he was the CCCB Delegate at the Synod of Bishops in Rome; from 1995 to 1997, he was appointed Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Relations with Associations of Priests, Religious, and Laity and elected to the Permanent Council as Representative of the Programmes and Priorities Committee; and from 1997 to 1999, he was a member of the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy. During this time, he served a second term as a Regional Representative on the Permanent Council.
Visitation will take place at the Parish Community of St. Kevin, 303 Niagara Street, Welland, Ontario, on Friday, 6 June, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and from 7:15 to 9:00 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, 7 June at 11:00 a.m., followed by interment at Holy Cross Cemetery.
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Maribel Mayorga
Director of Communications,
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)
Email: communications@cccb.ca
Telephone: 613-241-9461, ext. 225