Archbishop To Dedicate Msgr. Donovan High School

Published: September 4, 2003

ATHENS—The dream of a small group of parishioners in Athens for many years is hopefully blossoming into a reality.

With 18 freshmen students, the Msgr. Walter J. Donovan High School opened its doors Aug. 18. Archbishop John F. Donoghue will celebrate Mass at the dedication ceremony Sept. 12 at 11:30 a.m. The guest of honor will be 87-year-old Msgr. Donovan, who is retired and living at Sacred Heart Parish in Atlanta.

The school has been constructed on a rolling, 104-acre wooded site at 590 Lavender Road. The high school is on the northwest side of Athens, just four miles from St. Joseph’s School, the elementary school Msgr. Donovan started in 1949.

Scott Fleming, Ph.D., is the founding principal and the school opened with 18 freshmen, who aim to become the first graduating class. A new freshman class is projected to be added each year until the four grades are complete. Fleming has hired seven faculty members and staff to start the school in phase one of the building plan.

Fleming said the emphasis of the school “is to offer an excellent education in a faith-based environment.”

Many long-time parishioners at St. Joseph’s Church tell the story of the beloved priest for whom the school is named. Arriving in Athens in 1948 at the age of 32, Father Donovan was pastor of a 12-county parish, inclusive of University of Georgia students. The young priest from Little Falls, N.Y., was up to the challenge. Father Donovan started with a 35-year-old, two-story rectory and shortly turned it into his home and a school.

St. Joseph’s School opened in 1949 with 35 students in first through sixth grades. He made space for the school on the first floor of the rectory and moved his living quarters to the second floor. Five years later, grades seven and eight were added and enrollment expanded to 170 students. The school grew literally bit by bit when the men of the parish formed a pick and shovel, wheelbarrow brigade to enlarge the basement for a kindergarten and lunchroom. The school he started at 134 Prince Ave. now has 370 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Also, in 1950, Father Donovan attended to the spiritual needs of the university students when he negotiated the purchase of a home at 1344 S. Lumpkin St., which was to be the site of the present-day University of Georgia Catholic Center. The Catholic Center actively serves the spiritual needs of approximately 1,500 students.

That same year, Father Donovan taught by word and example as he sponsored several European families who had been displaced in the aftermath of World War II. Having given up the first floor of the rectory to the school, Father Donovan accommodated one of these families in his own living quarters on the second floor of the rectory until suitable housing and jobs could be found for them.

The Giovanni (John) and Pierina Totis family from Villanova, Italy, say their hearts will forever be linked to Father Donovan. Tony Totis, now of Atlanta, tells the story of his father, mother, brother and two sisters sharing Father Donovan’s living quarters for six months.

“We stayed in his bedroom while he moved to a makeshift bedroom in the hallway. The closeness of the situation allowed us to quickly recognize that we were living with an extraordinary man.” Totis said, “On the day after our arrival, Father Donovan had secured a job for our father, enrolled the children in school, and had our mother helping in the rectory. I wondered how he found the patience to take care of a family of six foreign individuals. There were often times he must have felt a need for some space or solitude. If there were these times, he never let them be known to us.”

In time, the Totis family moved out; however, they still spent many evenings with the good-natured priest. They had become a part of each other’s lives.

“It became a life-long relationship which to this day still continues as he influences our lives, our children’s lives and the lives of our grandchildren. He officiated at all of our weddings, he buried our parents and baptized all our children. He is the grandfather to our children and patriarch of our extended family. We affectionately know him as ‘Father D.’”

Msgr. Donovan has also touched the lives of many parishioners at other parishes, including Blessed Sacrament and St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Savannah; Immaculate Conception, Dublin; St. Thomas More, Decatur; Good Shepherd, Cumming; Blessed Sacrament, Atlanta; St. Anna’s, Monroe; and Sacred Heart, Atlanta.

Those interested in more information about Msgr. Walter J. Donovan High School may contact Dr. Scott Fleming, 590 Lavender Road, Athens, GA 30606 or call (706) 433-0223, ext 224. The school Web site is www.donovanachs.org.