By Thea Jarvis

Nearly three decades of service to his native archdiocese of Washington, D.C., gave Atlanta's new archbishop the experience and support needed to prepare him for church leadership.

After ordination by Archbishop Patrick A. O'Boyle on June 4, 1955, Father John Francis Donoghue was sent promptly to the field. For the next six years, he served as assistant pastor at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in Riverdale, Md., then a parish of 3,500 households located just inside the capital beltway.

"I'm sending you a very amicable man," Archbishop O'Boyle had assured St. Bernard's first resident pastor, Father Thomas Dade, now, at 88, a monsignor and pastor emeritus of the church he led for 43 years.

The church rectory had little space for another cleric -- Father Thomas Kane, the other assistant, was lodged in a renovated storeroom -- and Father Donoghue made do with a room in the parish school, Monsignor Dade recalled. The new priest's even temperament wasn't ruffled.

"He had a sense of humor and was very kind, affable," said Monsignor Dade, who still gets a phone call from the archbishop every three weeks. A faithful friend, Archbishop Donoghue was homilist at the Mass marking Monsignor Dade's 50 years as a priest and is scheduled to preach at his 60th anniversary celebration next year.

The early days at St. Bernard's with young Fathers Donoghue and Kane were "my golden years," Monsignor Dade said. There was a "magnificent spirit" in the new parish and Father Donoghue helped light the fire with his "very good mind, wonderfully sharp memory and sense of humor." He undertook everything from teaching religion in the parish school to taking charge of the Legion of Mary.

By the time he finished at St. Bernard's, "he knew the ins and outs of running a parish," Monsignor Dade said.

Rita Swart worked with Father Donoghue at St. Bernard's on the usual parish functions -- the annual dance and fundraiser, CYO. Her two boys attended St. Bernard's school and, like other children there were drawn by the priest's warm personality.

"He was very generous, always in good humor," she remembered, "sharp-witted and perceptive. I don't think I ever met anyone who disliked him."

When he was transferred to Holy Face Church in Great Mills, Md., in 1961, Father Donoghue was one of the first secular priests to serve the parish, which had been administered by the Jesuit order until that year.

"The archdiocese sent the cream of the crop," said Mary Lillian Hewitt, a parishioner at Holy Face since 1950, when she and her husband married. "They had a big job to do replacing the Jesuits."

Mrs. Hewitt taught second grade at Little Flower, a school on the grounds of Holy Face that served four local parishes, and got on well with Father Donoghue.

"He had a sense of humor and so did I," Mrs. Hewitt said.

She recalled bringing her second graders to the church for first confession one year, fully expecting a "prim and proper" priestly manner. But when children finished, she looked in the confessional and found the agile Father Donoghue "sloughed on the back of his spine with his feet against the door."

"When I opened the door he just slid out," she said.

Another time, Father Donoghue called to advise Mrs. Hewitt that he had just been in a car accident. He was unhurt, but the car was damaged. Another driver had slammed into his rear bumper, propelling him forward into another vehicle.

"All this time, the car radio was playing 'Mr. In-Between,'" he had told her, still laughing.

Holy Face parishioner Joyce Mayor remembers that, early on, the young priest was noticed for his special gifts.

"Everybody loved him," said the mother of eight who worked closely with Father Donoghue in CYO. Father Robert Lewis, then pastor at Holy Face, had advised her to, "Watch that John Donoghue. He's going places," she recalled.

After just two years at Holy Face, Father Donoghue was sent to study canon law at Catholic University. He earned his licentiate while in residence at St. Paul and St. Augustine, the oldest African-American parish in the archdiocese of Washington. In 1965, he moved into the administrative arena, serving as secretary to Archbishop O'Boyle and vice-chancellor, later becoming chancellor, vicar general and curia moderator.

Ann Cizewski was Father Donoghue's secretary for the nearly 20 years he spent helping administer a growing D.C. archdiocese.

"He never lost contact with the people." Mrs. Cizewski said, adding that those who worked at the archdiocesan pastoral center became his parish. "He always had time for everyone. You were the most important person in the world when you were talking to him."

As a boss, he was ideal, Mrs. Cizewski remembers -- smiling, quick to laugh, appreciative, confident of others' abilities. "He has an inner peace, an inner joy. You can't help but pick up from it."

When the archdiocese of Washington experienced upheaval over the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae in the late sixties, personnel problems were rife. Priests protested and discipline was imposed from the top. As secretary to the cardinal, young Father Donoghue was on the front lines.

"There was a great deal of dissension," Mrs. Cizewski said. Some priests left, others were temporarily relieved of their priestly faculties.

Through it all, Father Donoghue maintained "respect for the human person, for the priest," she said. "He was a man who did his job and was true to the church and its teaching, but he did it with kindness, compassion and understanding."

Monsignor John D. Benson, a U.S. Army chaplain for 28 years, now, at 74, officially retired from archdiocesan work, is an old friend of Archbishop Donoghue.

"He was very much in the middle -- just a young priest at that time." Monsignor Benson said of the Humanae Vitae period. Cardinal O'Boyle dealt directly with dissident clergy, but Father Donoghue "had to see a lot of these people."

Monsignor Benson returned to Washington after military retirement, serving as archdiocesan director of finance and vice-chancellor when Father Donoghue, who became a monsignor in 1971, was chancellor. He watched his friend juggle multiple duties with ease and grace.

"He did (his job) without much fanfare," said Monsignor Benson, working hard during the day but leaving problems at the office when it ended. "He is a very, very spiritual man -- no doubt about that -- very much at ease with himself, content with who he is."

When Cardinal O'Boyle stepped down at the age of 75 in 1973, Monsignor Donoghue continued to love with and care for his mentor until named bishop of Charlotte. He served as chancellor to Cardinal William Baum and his successor, Cardinal James Hickey.

"It was not an easy life," Monsignor Benson explained. With chancery obligations during the day and concern for his friend in the evening, personal time was extremely limited.

Nonetheless, there was never a word of complaint, Monsignor Benson said. "He dedicated his life to taking care of the cardinal" and, in turn, "got a lot of strength from being with the cardinal. The two of them were a good combination."

Monsignor Thomas Kane, Archbishop Donoghue's associate from the early days at St. Bernard's and archdiocesan secretariat for the clergy when his friend was chancellor, said Cardinal O'Boyle was very much a father figure to Father Donoghue.

"He was totally dedicated" to Cardinal O'Boyle in the care and loyalty he showed him over the years," said Monsignor Kane, now pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Rockville, Md.

As his friend was given more and more administrative responsibility, "he grew with that and accepted a dignity that was appropriate to the office. He rose to the job very nicely."

Archbishop Donoghue is "blessed with a good mind" but is "not an academic, studious type." Monsignor Kane said. With old friends, he would jokingly cite moral theology maxims learned in seminary, quoting from the Latin just for fun with his "very good memory."

On principle, questions of canon law or church teachings, Monsignor Donoghue stood firm. "He would not flinch," said Monsignor Kane. While he "may have lost some friends" over Humanae Vitae, Monsignor Kane "never heard of anybody who had a bad word to say about him" in all the years he spent in administration.

"He was the point man" who listened to complaints from parishes, "trying to keep people happy" and still do his job, Monsignor Kane said. He was always fair and skilled at managing the awkward moment. When his friend was appointed bishop of Charlotte in 1984, Monsignor Kane wasn't surprised. From the start, Cardinal O'Boyle had "singled him out," he said, and successive Washington church leaders had recognized his superior gifts and abilities.

"Apparently he was sharper than we were," Monsignor Kane said with a laugh.