April 11, 2018

Watertown – A Mass of Christian Burial for Missionary of the Sacred Heart Father Mark McDonald, 75, was held April 9 at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church.

He died April 2 at the Sacred Heart Villa in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery.

A Watertown native, Father McDonald served as superior general of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart worldwide from 2005 to 2017, based in Rome, Italy.

Father McDonald was born July 22, 1942 in Watertown, the son of Donald and Anna Murrock McDonald. He was a graduate of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School and Immaculate Heart Academy.

He attended St. Bonaventure University for two years and began his studies to become a Missionary of the Sacred Heart (MSC) in 1961. He completed his philosophy studies in Quebec and graduated from Laval University in Quebec City in 1964.

He completed his theological studies in Rome, Italy and graduated from the Angelicum Pontifical University in Rome in 1968.

He was ordained a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on June 29, 1968 in Watertown by Bishop Thomas A. Donnellan.

After ordination, Father McDonald taught at the Sacred Heart Preparatory Seminary and Immaculate Heart Central High School (IHC), both in Watertown. In 1972, he became vice principal at IHC.

In 1976, Father McDonald became director of the MSC Retreat and Renewal Center in Shelby, Ohio. In 1983, he became formation director for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Bogota, Colombia and in 1985 became sectional superior of the MSCs in Colombia.

In 1991, Father McDonald was elected provincial of the MSCs in the United States headquartered in Aurora, Illinois.

In 1997, he became pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Watertown. In 1999, he became director of Cor Novum (the MSC retreat and renewal center in Issoudun, France), a position he held until his election as superior general in 2017.

Father McDonald became semi-retired in 2018 and was residing at the Sacred Heart Villa in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Father McDonald is survived by his sister Mary (Ted) Mascott of Naples, Florida and sister Sally (John) Sheinman of Rothersthorpe, Northamptonshire, England and his nephew Zane (Michelle) Riester, grandnephew Ian Riester and grandniece Ella Riester, all of Wayne, New Jersey.

He is also survived by his uncle William Murrock and his aunt Betty Murrock of Watertown and his aunts Gertrude McDonald and Shirley McDonald of Lowville and McDonald and Murrock cousins.

Father McDonald was predeceased by his parents and his grandparents Jennie and Charles Murrock and Elizabeth and Henry McDonald.

Memorial contributions in honor of Father McDonald may be made to the Sacred Heart Foundation, 668 Thompson Street, Watertown, New York 13601.