"Father Dennis McDonald" (Summer 2001)

From Issue No. 82: Record Crowd for Ordinations (Summer 2001)

“Father Dennis McDonald”

Father Dennis McDonald says that the call to the priesthood is not normally the product of an inner voice, vision or some other extraordinary manifestation of God’s will. Self-abandonment to the service of God and perseverance in grace are the seeds from which most vocations, his own included, are cultivated.

A “cradle-Catholic” in the Novus Ordo, Fr. McDonald remained faithful to what was left of Catholicism in his hometown of North Little Rock, Arkansas. However, during his junior year at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, he and his family found the Society and the Traditional Faith. Graduating with a degree in general business in 1994, he made an Ignatian retreat with his father and two of his brothers. While on retreat, Father and his brother Steven were told that they might be called to the priesthood. To prepare better for the Seminary, Father opted to spend some time in Society houses, working for five months at the Retreat House in Ridgefield, CT, and then another two months in St. Louis, before enrolling with his brother Steven in the fall of 1995.

Father advises young seminarians not to be overwhelmed with the prospect of being ordained a priest for eternity but rather to “go day by day, study well and study Latin early so that you are free to concentrate on the tougher courses like theology and canon law.” Fr. McDonald’s four years as the Seminary’s Head Sacristan have been a great aid in his priestly formation, as it required him to shoulder many responsibilities, to deal with a wide range of personalities and ever to keep one eye on coming events. These duties impressed upon him the importance of hard work and respect for the House of God that is needed to save souls and continue the Society’s work in the apostolate.