Obituaries
Reverend John (Rowan) Donohue, O.Carm.
by Reverend Kevin Shanley, O.Carm.,
Editorial Consultant.
The Reverend John (Rowan)
Donohue, O.Carm., died here
at Cambridge, Massachusetts,
on Saturday, September 11, 2004 at
the Santa Maria Nursing Facility.
Visitation was held at Hickey and Son
Funeral Home in Cambridge on
Tuesday, September 14th and a Mass
of Christian Burial was offered at
10:00 AM at Saint Peter’s Church also
in Cambridge. Reverend John Welch,
O.Carm., Eastern Regional Superior,
was the presider and homilist.
Internet is at Cambridge Cemetery.
Father John Donohue was born
on March 26, 1921, in Cambridge,
the son of the late John and Sara
(Campbell) Donohue. The family
included two brothers, James and the
late Thomas, and a sister, Mary. After
completing school in Cambridge, he
joined the Carmelite Order in 1943 at
Mount Carmel College in Niagara
Falls, Ontario, to begin studies for the priesthood. Following his studies at
Mount Carmel College he did graduate
work in English Literature and
German at the Catholic University of
America in Washington, DC, and in
Education at DePaul University and
the University of Chicago.
He professed his first vows at the
Carmelite Novitiate in New Baltimore,
Pennsylvania, in 1945, and his Solemn
(final) Vows at Whitefriars Hall in
Washington, DC, in 1948, where he
studied theology. He was ordained to
the priesthood at the Church of Saint
Simon Stock in the Bronx, New York,
on June 5, 1948.
Father Donohue taught at Mount
Carmel High School in Chicago and
also at Joliet Catholic High School in
Joliet, Illinois. In 1957 he joined the
United States Air Force as a chaplain
and rose to the rank of lieutenant
colonel before his retirement in 1977.
In addition to teaching and chaplain
service, Father Donohue served
in parishes in Chicago, North Hollywood,
California, Corpus Christi,
Texas, and Robstown, Texas. He also
served as the construction overseer to
the renovation and additions to
Whitefriars Hall in 1988-1990.
He retired Malden, Massachusetts,
and in his last years to the Santa
Maria Nursing Facility in Cambridge.
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