By Rita McInerney

Archbishop John F. Donoghue aspires "to live in Christ Jesus," the motto he chose when named a bishop in 1984. To him, "that's a vocation all of us are called to."

He begins his duties as fifth archbishop of Atlanta confident he will find his new flock as involved and cooperative as were the people he served in Charlotte.

In Atlanta he feels "there is some reconciliation and healing that has to go on. I just hope I can stay in good health for the next 10 years." He was 65 on Aug. 9.

Archbishop Donoghue was interviewed at his residence in Charlotte a few days before leaving for Denver where he would meet Pope John Paul II and, hopefully, World Youth Day pilgrims from both Atlanta and Charlotte.

His red brick house was wrapped in a Saturday calm. The bright kitchen was neat, the living and dining rooms formal and empty.

Cartons were packed and ready to go in the archbishop's study and in the center hall from which a freestanding stairway curved gracefully to the upper floor. A tiny chapel opened on to the walled back garden, which had seen its share of sociable cookouts in the past nine years.

At ease in clerical gray T-shirt and black trousers, Archbishop Donoghue offered doughnuts and coffee in the breakfast room where the interview took place. He spoke of how he had enjoyed his years in Charlotte. Like Atlanta, it is a city where Catholics have been increasing in astounding numbers, presenting great challenges to diocesan administrators and the people.

He was happy in Charlotte, a city attractive to new corporations and industry. Its downtown skyline keeps growing upward; green parks offer benches, fountains and modern sculpture. Trees border many wide streets, both downtown and in well-groomed residential areas.

Archbishop Donoghue is quick to say he has been happy in all the places he's served since ordination in 1955; two parishes in the Washington archdiocese, the chancery there, and Charlotte.

His first priestly assignment was to St. Bernard's parish in Riverdale, Md. He was the youngest man on the staff, which included pastor and another assistant pastor. This was a "brand new and growing parish," the archbishop recalls, composed of blue-collar workers and their young families. They were energetic, skilled in many trades, and made St. Bernard's truly a parish "built by the people."

Before Father Donoghue arrived, the parishioners had already constructed eight classrooms in the school building. While he was there, from 1955 to 1961, they added eight more classrooms, built a convent and rectory. The church was built by contractors.

"I was amazed the number of men who would turn out evenings and weekends ... The women would prepare lunch and dinner ... and the pastor provided beer."

"They did a beautiful job and took great pride in their work."

He admits to being "really heartbroken" when he was transferred to Holy Face parish, perhaps the only church so-named in the U.S., at Great Mills, a Catholic area in the southern end of Maryland. The parish and its neighbor, St. George, had been in the care of the Jesuits since they had landed at St. Clements, Md., in 1634. Most of the Catholics could claim ancestors who had lived there for many generations.

His transfer there came about after Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle had suggested to the Jesuit provincial that it might be time for the Washington archdiocese to assign its priests to both parishes. The provincial agreed and Father Donoghue was one of the three priests sent to take over.

Thirty-two years later, the archbishop still laughs when remembering the headline: Priests Replace Jesuits After 300 Years, in the local weekly.

The parishioners, he says, were "marvelous, receptive, even though they were sad to see the Jesuits leave." They were good Catholics who sent their children to Little Flower, a school operated by both parishes. Many of them were involved in tobacco farming, others worked at the Patuxent Naval Air Station.

It was an old-fashioned kind of place where the telephone operator knew everyone and would be quick to call the priests at their number, Great Mills 25, whenever there was an accident.

Father Donoghue had been there two years when Archbishop O'Boyle came to the area for a meeting. He took the opportunity while there to tell Father Donoghue that "he wanted me to go back to school for a canon law degree."

Heartbreak again. He didn't want to leave the faith-filled people at Holy Face but the archbishop assured him he would be able to live in a parish while attending Catholic University.

For the first year he lived at St. Paul and St. Augustine, a black Catholic parish. The second year he lived at St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill.

Archbishop O'Boyle had planned to use Father Donoghue in the archdiocesan Tribunal after he received his licentiate in canon law but that wasn't to be. The death of the chancellor caused the archbishop to move up the vice-chancellor and appoint Father Donoghue to that vacancy.

So began 19 years of service at the chancery. Years that were to see him serve as secretary to the archbishop, as chancellor, vicar general, secretary of support services and moderator of the curia.

Throughout these years it was his good fortune to have the friendship of the first resident archbishop of Washington, Patrick O'Boyle. He became Cardinal O'Boyle in 1967.

When Archbishop O'Boyle came back from the Second Vatican Council in 1965, he asked Father Donoghue to be his secretary and to live at his residence. He was "like a father to me," the Atlanta archbishop said. (His own father died in 1960). He was kind and considerate and helpful to the younger priest in his work at the chancery.

Life with the cardinal was good -- most of the time. He was generous, didn't take himself too seriously, and "was kind of a homebody," according to the archbishop.

But there was a "worst time," experienced by the cardinal after publication by Pope Paul VI of Humanae Vitae, the encyclical on human life issued July 29, 1968. The cardinal became a media target while the controversy stirred by dissident theologians and diocesan priests raged. There were demonstrations outside the rectory and public proclamations on the steps of St. Matthew's Cathedral.

When Monsignor Donoghue was named bishop of Charlotte in 1984, the cardinal gave him the crozier given him by his classmates when being named a bishop in 1948. He gave him also a ring, pectoral cross and chain. While it was an exciting time for the new bishop, it was sad parting with the older prelate.

Cardinal O'Boyle traveled to Charlotte for his friend's installation as bishop and they kept in weekly telephone contact thereafter. The older man's health failed considerably after 1984 and he died Aug. 10, 1987. He was in his 90s.

The archbishop admits it was something of a culture shock for him, coming to a southern city after 56 years in Washington and its close environs. He "knew nothing about Charlotte, was hesitant and didn't know what I would find ... I think it will be the same in Atlanta."

He is eager to get around to all the parishes in the archdiocese during his first year here. He accomplished this goal in Charlotte but found "you're on the road all the time." He will be glad to meet the priests of the archdiocese, his "chief collaborators."

On the national level of the church, Archbishop Donoghue is on the canonical affairs and the nominations committees of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He enjoys travel and has been able to visit the homeplaces of both his deceased parents in Ireland. When he visited his father's birthplace, Glenflesk in Kerry, he found 21 first cousins there. He met a sister of his mother's when he visited her birthplace, Galway.

Archbishop Donoghue plans to continue his practice of walking every evening while at home. With appointments already crowding his little black book regular walkers around the West Wesley neighborhood might not get to see the "new man" as often as he would like.