Colleagues join retired bishop to celebrate

400 help Bishop McDonald mark 40th anniversary of episcopal ordination

Published: September 15, 2012

By Malea Hargett
Editor

Dwain Hebda

Known for his laugh and smile, Bishop Emeritus Andrew J. McDonald grins during comments he made at the conclusion of his 40th episcopal anniversary Mass Sept. 7 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock.

Dwain Hebda

Bishop Emeritus Andrew J. McDonald celebrated 40 years as a bishop Sept. 7 surrounded by people who had an influence in his life and whom he supported while he was the bishop of Little Rock.

It was in the Cathedral of St. Andrew that he was installed as the fifth bishop of Little Rock on Sept. 7, 1972, two days after being ordained a bishop at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Ga., his hometown. He returned to the Little Rock cathedral from his new home in Palatine, Ill., where he is a chaplain at a home for the elderly, to receive a standing ovation and well wishes for his four decades as a bishop and 64 years as a priest.

On the altar were priests he ordained over his 28 years in Arkansas and deacons who got the chance to serve when he reinstated the diaconate in 1981. In the congregation were Sister Henrietta Hockle, OSB, herself slowing down in age, who worked with the bishop as superintendent of schools in the 1980s, and the Missionaries of Charity, whose order came to Arkansas in 1982 at Bishop McDonald’s request.

And then there were the founders of Little Rock Scripture Study, Fred and Tammy Woell of Little Rock and Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, who came to the bishop in 1974 to ask for his support for their lay-led Bible study program. LRSS’s first director, Msgr. Richard Oswald, also attended the Mass.

Tammy Woell said it was Bishop McDonald who lent them $1,000 to print their early materials. Woell said in 1978 when the program came under the auspices of the Diocese of Little Rock, “He said, ‘We really need to name this so we can identify what it is. Let’s call it the Little Rock Scripture Study so wherever it goes it will be identified as that.’”

“He’s the one who named it,” Fred Woell said.

Many former diocesan employees, such as Martha McNeil, the bishop’s secretary from 1972 to 1993, attended the Mass. McNeil said she appreciated most the friendship she and her husband Charlie, who often drove the bishop to his appointments around the state, had with the bishop since 1993.

“He was always so charitable to his appointments. … We worked hard. There was no doubt about it that it was a full-time job, but I never minded going to work.”

Standing in front of the bishop’s chair, Bishop Taylor faced Bishop McDonald to deliver the homily. He acknowledged that Bishop McDonald became bishop during a challenging time in Arkansas and the Church in the 1970s.

“You followed Bishop (Albert) Fletcher who, though much loved, had a hard time adjusting to the changed realities of ecclesial life following the Vatican II,” he said. “The seminary was closed, priests and nuns were leaving the ministry in droves, and Bishop Fletcher was one of the few bishops in the U.S. to vote against the condemnation by the rest of the American bishops of the war in Vietnam and against a resolution asking for amnesty for Vietnam-era draft evaders, something which you endorsed publicly in 1974.”

He added, “We are very aware of some of the painful crosses you bore during your 28 years here: the precipitous decline in vocations following Vatican II; Roe v. Wade just one year after you arrived in Little Rock and our struggle to protect the sanctity of life ever since; your vocal opposition to the death penalty when executions resumed here in 1990; (and) your quiet support of our Office of Justice and Peace when Father (Joseph) Biltz took unpopular positions on social issues, such as the military draft and nuclear disarmament.”

Three bishops who worked with Bishop McDonald came to Little Rock to support their friend. Bishop Emeritus J. Kevin Boland of Savannah, an Irishman himself and Savannah diocesan priest before becoming a bishop, worked with Bishop McDonald from the time Bishop Boland was installed in 1995 until Bishop McDonald retired in 2000. Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa collaborated with Bishop McDonald from 1993 when Bishop Slattery was ordained until 2000.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle arrived in Little Rock in 2000 and got to know the retired bishop until he moved in Illinois in 2002. When the archbishop was assigned to the Diocese of Joilet in 2006, Bishop McDonald assisted him with confirmations.

Archbishop Sartain said his first encounter with Bishop McDonald after being appointed the bishop of Little Rock occurred on Jan. 3, 2000. Then-Father Sartain drove from Memphis to Little Rock and met the bishop at his home. The first thing they did was pray the Te Deum together in the home’s chapel.

“It was a touch of prayer and a touch of class I will never forget,” Archbishop Sartain said.

When they celebrated Mass together, the archbishop noticed that his predecessor touched the node of his chalice where the cup and base connect. There were the wedding rings of his deceased parents.

“They were there with him when he celebrated Mass,” Archbishop Sartain said.

Mass included the first two Scripture readings that Bishop McDonald had for his episcopal ordination and ended with Charles-Marie Widor’s “Toccata from Symphony No. 5” known as one of the retired bishop’s favorite organ pieces. Representing his family at the Mass was his niece Mary Ryan of Savannah.

The Cathedral of St. Andrew Mass for 400 people was followed by a reception in McDonald Hall, the parish hall named after the bishop in 1995. A long line formed in the entryway of parishioners who wanted to talk to Archbishop Sartain and well-wishers streamed past Bishop McDonald who was seated in a chair in McDonald Hall.

At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop McDonald said life was stressful for him as he prepared to become a bishop.

“I looked around and I didn’t know a single soul in the state of Arkansas,” he said. “It was not easy coming down to earth from all the pomp and circumstance I experienced in the ordination and installation. As the weeks and months went by, I settled in. Finding my way through 53,180 square miles in the state of Arkansas was no routine. I was an explorer, a missionary. Remember then, the highways were mainly two-lane roads and there were no GPS systems or cell phone at that time. What an adventure … Slowly I learned to let go and let God.”