Father Thomas M. McDonald

Father Thomas M. McDonald, professor emeritus at Fordham University who also served at St. Bartholomew's parish in Yonkers, died Feb. 18 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. He was 76. Cardinal Egan was principal celebrant of the Funeral Mass Feb. 23 at St. Bartholomew's; Msgr. Patrick Carney, pastor of Sacred Heart in Hartsdale, was the homilist. Also participating was Father McDonald's brother, Father Bernard McDonald, chaplain at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis. Father McDonald was associate professor of sociology at Fordham's Lincoln Center campus beginning in 1971, and was named associate professor emeritus in 1995. He also was director of the graduate program in probation and parole at the university's Rose Hill campus. He earned his Ph.D. at Fordham in 1975. While at Fordham, he also contributed his services to the archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Research and Planning. In 1977 he also became a weekend associate at St. Bar-tholomew's at the invitation of then-pastor Msgr. Charles McManus, and he served there until shortly before his death. Father Anthony Ita Bassey, M.S.P., the current pastor, said that Father McDonald had "endeared himself to St. Bartholomew's parish family" and served the parish diligently over the years. "Father Tom, as he was fondly called, was a dedicated priest and teacher (and)...a brilliant and polished preacher," Father Bassey said. He added that Father McDonald was sociable and well-liked by parishioners. Father McDonald was born in Manhattan and grew up in the South Bronx. He attended Regis High School in Manhattan for two years before transferring to Cathedral College to begin studies for the priesthood. After studies at St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, he was ordained in 1956. He spent his first year as a priest in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, where he served at a Redemptorist parish while studying Spanish. He then was a parochial vicar at St. Athanasius in the South Bronx, 1957-1965, at St. Stephen's, Manhattan, 1965-1969, and at Sacred Heart in Hartsdale, 1969-1971, before joining the Fordham faculty. He also celebrated Spanish-language Masses at St. Bernard's in White Plains before becoming weekend associate at St. Bartholomew's. In addition to his brother Father McDonald, he is survived by another brother, Lawrence, and three sisters, Elizabeth Howarth, Eileen Fluhr and Rose Harrington. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, Queens. Father Thomas M. McDonald