By Gretchen Keiser

Monsignor John F. McDonough, the administrator of the archdiocese, was hospitalized this week for surgery after he was diagnosed as having a malignant tumor in the colon.

The surgery was scheduled to be performed Thursday Nov. 12 at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, where Monsignor McDonough's physician of many years practices. The expectation was that a colostomy would be performed, Monsignor McDonough said.

Since May of this year, Monsignor McDonough, who is 73, has served as the head of the archdiocese, first in his position as vicar general and then as diocesan administrator when he was elected to that post Aug. 14 by the priests' advisory council, the College of Consultors. Prior to the illness of Archbishop Thomas Donnellan this year, which led to Monsignor McDonough's archdiocesan responsibilities, he was administrator of the Cathedral of Christ the King for 15 years.

Monsignor McDonough said that having consulted priest colleagues, he would continue as diocesan administrator unless circumstances indicated otherwise in the future. Surgery was expected to be followed by a hospital stay of 10 days and then an extended recuperation period at home, he said.