Diocese of Saginaw, MI tragedy: Fr. Donner of Gladwin

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The following is a news release from WSGW news radio station in Saginaw Michigan:

*A 55-year-old Gladwin priest is dead after suffering a heart attack and collapsing during church services over the weekend. The Reverend Jeffrey Donner had served at Sacred Heart Catholic Church since July. The church director says Donner didn’t seem like he was sick.

Father Donner was rushed to a Gladwin hospital. He later was airlifted to a Saginaw hospital, where he died of a second heart attack.

Parishioners say Donner was a popular priest known for peppering services with funny, off-the-cuff, yet insightful comments. His funeral will be held Thursday at St. Brigid Catholic church in Midland*

Fr. Donner was also known for writing columns for The Catholic Weekly, and he had an online column, the last of which is listed below:
churchofsaginaw.org/journey.htm
BTW: This isn’t the official Diocese of Saginaw website. It’s setup may make you think that it is, so I thought I’d tell you that.
 
I’ve known Fr. Donner for many years. He was an associate pastor of my parish in his early priesthood.

He was a bit liberal for me, but he was very well liked wherever he went. He is reported to have had a tremendously personal approach to trying to make people comfortable with faith and their Church, and was apparently very successful.

His unexpected death reduces the ranks of the priesthood to around 65 or so, in this diocese of 113 parishes.
 
I asked this the other day…

What is with the suitcoat and tie???
 
May God guide him to a place of repose and may His perpetual light shine upon him.

Since you did provide the link to his website, I must comment that I was rather unimpressed with his handling of the Abraham story and Christ’s death on the cross. And the Suit and tie thing is usually a give a way that the priest is a dissenting , heretical priest.

That being said, I will not profane the dead, but offer prayers for him instead.
 
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MrS:
I asked this the other day…

What is with the suitcoat and tie???
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Unbelievable…
 
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frommi:
The fascination with clerical garb outweighing the death of a priest
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It was a simple question about Father Donner. Obviously there are people who wish to learn more about Father. This thread is about him, isn’t it?

What is unbelievable is that you hastily assume somebody is trying to malign him when in fact it is a relevant question. By the way, do you know the answer?
 
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frommi:
The fascination with clerical garb outweighing the death of a priest
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my comment of “…what is with…” was my :nope: feeling about any priest (and nun for that matter) not showing the world what he or she is.

Even the JW’s and the Mormons are more consistent in a visible proclamation of what and who they are.

maybe frommi is right for once… our fascination with clerical garb outweighs many priests fascination with their own clerical garb…:tsktsk:
 
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frommi:
The fascination with clerical garb outweighing the death of a priest
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I understand what you are saying. However, isn’t it common that an issue that a person stood for becomes a popular one and debated after they die? (think of Ronald Reagan and the stem cell issue)

I also think it is natural that a person question why a priest would totally abandon his clerical garb.

8640
 
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MrS:
my comment of “…what is with…” was my :nope: feeling about any priest (and nun for that matter) not showing the world what he or she is.

Even the JW’s and the Mormons are more consistent in a visible proclamation of what and who they are.

maybe frommi is right for once… our fascination with clerical garb outweighs many priests fascination with their own clerical garb…:tsktsk:
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I’ve been right more than once…

Regardless, wearing a collar doesn’t make you and more or less a ‘priest’. I mean, in my opinion, I sometimes think some of this clerical garb stuff gets a little out of control (Cardinals wearing capes and stuff).

Having worked in a variety of parish settings, I can tell you that I’ve met a number of very mean and distant cassock wearing priests, and some of the best wore a suit and tie.

In the case of the presbyerate…the clothes don’t make the man.
 
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frommi:
In the case of the presbyerate…the clothes don’t make the man.
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They do not make the man; they identify him.
Can. 284 Clerics are to wear suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops and according to legitimate local customs. ( 284CIC,)
…and here are the corresponding norms decreed by the USCCB in 1999. Here is an excerpt:
In liturgical rites, clerics shall wear the vesture prescribed in the proper liturgicad books. Outside liturgical functions, a black suit and Roman collar are the usual attire for priests. The use of the cassock is at the discretion of the cleric.
How does a diocesan priest circumvent this in good conscience? Is there a follow-up dubium of which we do not know? Custom? Again, I am not referring specifically to Father Donner, as I do not know him. But this is something that I have always struggled to understand.
:confused:

If I were a police officer, I would be expected to wear my uniform (unless I were working undercover, perhaps)…
 
The tapestry that Fr. Donner obtained for the Mt. Pleasant student chapel sort of boggles my mind.

If you didn’t look at some caption, you’d be hard pressed from internal evidence to conclude that it was supposed to be the Blessed Virgin in the moments following the ‘annunciation.’ Fr. Donner commented that he was taken by the expression on the face of the figure.

The facial expression was not the focal point of the work, in my opinion. Without a caption saying that the work was “the annunciation” it is otherwise just a female figure half reclining on sort of a day bed. I see that there was tremendous sensuality suggested in the image, and nothing there that suggests a religious theme. The image suggests a visitation of another sort.

Certainly it was not the usual rendering of Mary in sort of an inspired, prayerful pose. The gospel account of the annunciation overflows with the supernatural, not with carnal sensuality.
 
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