Local

From pain comes life

Gretchen R. Crowe | Catholic Herald

Fr. Denis Donahue is pastor of St. Philip Parish in Falls Church.

1286475939_8259.jpg

If there’s one thing Father Denis M. Donahue knows, it’s
suffering. The life of the 47-year-old priest was
dramatically altered – and nearly extinguished – when, at age
14, he was shot twice by a sniper while working his paper
route. It was a random attack, resulting in two bullet wounds
to Father Donahue’s chest and, for months, his life hung in
the balance at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
Operation after operation was performed to stabilize his
condition and remove the infection that was taking over his
body. When, after three months, his parents, Francis and
Mary, were told he was going to die, they modified their
prayer for his recovery to a prayer asking for their
acceptance of God’s will. That’s when their son started to
heal.

More than three decades later, Father Donahue is still
physically disabled, but is also alive and well and serving
as pastor of St. Philip Church in Falls Church. His journey
to the priesthood is not marked by any dawning moment
following his accident and recovery. There were years of
frustration and rehabilitation, ones in which he watched four
brothers continue their passion of cross-country running that
he had once shared. But now, years later, Father Donahue can
see a Providential hand in that difficult time, and he sees
his sufferings as an opportunity to purify himself and become
closer to the God he has grown to love.

Early life

Born on Nov. 13, 1962, in South Pasadena, Calif., Father
Donahue grew up in an active house of five boys. When he was
young, the handful of boys and their parents moved to
Michigan, where Francis had taken a job at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor. As a boy, Catholicism wasn’t high on
the list of Father Donahue’s interests. He remembers sitting
in church staring at the windows, plotting his escape.

Though religion wasn’t important to him at the time, it was
for his parents, so Father Donahue attended St. Thomas the
Apostle Catholic School in Ann Arbor all the way through high
school.

“I know they made sacrifices,” he said.

On Sunday nights, Francis would quiz them about the content
of that week’s Gospel and homily.

After his accident, on Aug. 15, 1977, Father Donahue’s life
was almost unrecognizable. He had to re-learn how to walk. He
spent a year in a wheelchair, then switched to canes, which
he still uses. But he was determined. In 1984, Father Donahue
graduated from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti with
a degree in chemistry.

While in college, he was intrigued by a talk by a married
couple whose struggling marriage had been saved when they
involved Christ in their lives. They encouraged the students
to work on their relationships with Christ.

“I really took that to heart,” Father Donahue said. He began
going to Mass more, praying more, especially to the Blessed
Mother.

A few months at Christendom College in Front Royal furthered
his interest in the priesthood. There he studied the Faith,
philosophy and history. Receiving spiritual direction from
Father Cornelius O’Brien and inspiration from Dr. Warren
Carroll, Father Donahue furthered his relationship with
Christ.

“(Christendom) really opened my eyes to things that I had
always suspected were there but didn’t really know about,” he
said. “I wouldn’t have gotten that at any other place.”

Father Donahue never had an exact “moment” when he knew he
was going to be a priest. It was more like an impression that
this was the direction that he should take.

“It was a growing awareness as time went on,” he said. “I
always felt that this was the right direction. As I continue
in the priesthood there’s a continuing awareness that this is
really what God’s will for my life is.”

Once at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., Father
Donahue was profoundly influenced by Father Robert Zylla, a
professor of moral theology and his spiritual director.

“I’ve got lots of blessing in my life, but that was a major
one to have him,” Father Donahue said.

For two decades Father Zylla advised Father Donahue. The
priest, who Father Donahue called “a very wise man and a holy
man,” died in July.

“When I’ve given spiritual direction to people I feel like
he’s right beside me, almost speaking through me,” he said.

People like Father Zylla have been instrumental in affecting
Father Donahue’s life, he said.

“It seems that in my life God has always provided people to
help me,” he said.

Even when he was shot, a doctor ran out in the road to help
him, resulting in the doctor also getting shot.

“Right at the moment I needed someone to help me, that guy
came out to help,” he said.

“As a priest especially at every assignment there’s been
someone there or a group of people to come to my aid to help
me do what God wants me to.”

In priestly service

Father Donahue was ordained to the priesthood on May 19,
1990, after serving his diaconate year at St. Timothy Parish
in Chantilly. His subsequent parish experiences, he said,
helped form him as a priest. At St. Agnes Parish in
Arlington, he learned how to be “a confessor, a preacher, a
teacher and a leader.” At St. Louis Parish in Alexandria he
formed a relationship with the Poor Clare Sisters, with whom
he still stays in contact.

At St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church, he learned
Spanish, becoming involved in the “active, vibrant parish.”
Appointed pastor of St. Rita Church in Alexandria in 2000,
Father Donahue learned how to take care of finances and the
church’s physical plant. Again, it was the people around him
who helped him accomplish what he had to do.

As he continues to respond each day to the call of
priesthood, Father Donahue is participating in the Catholic
Leadership Institute, a professional development program for
priests. He works hard to stay healthy and fit, knowing that
his weakened body cannot fight off illness easily. He has
developed special devotions to St. John of the Cross, St.
Padre Pio, St. Teresa of Avila and the patron saints of the
parishes at which he has served.

St. John, especially, speaks to him.

“He articulates so well the role of suffering and advancing
in the spiritual life,” Father Donahue said. “I try to see
the sufferings that I have as some way to purify me to make
me closer to God and hopefully a better priest.”

Father Donahue said he’s often wondered if he would have
become a priest if he had not been injured.

“It is possible that I would have been focusing on other
things, and perhaps missed or ignored the call,” he said.
“That is why I consider the terrible thing that happened to
me to be a part of God’s providence, truly a blessing in
disguise. It forced me to slow down and pay more attention. I
am grateful to God that He arranged things for me in such a
way that I did say ‘yes’ to His call to become a priest.”

The suffering that he had to endure helped him realize how
fragile life is and how God’s plans trumped his own.

“I believe I had to go through my experience to learn how
fragile life is, and how ridiculous it was for me to rely
upon my own plans, strength, speed, resources, etc., rather
than on God,” he said. “I learned that all these things can
vanish with a single, devastating injury, whereas if we cling
to God, nothing can take Him away. Many people know these
things intellectually; my experience taught me these things
in a way I could never forget.”

Related Articles