Msgr. Donovan High School Dedicated Sept. 12

Published: October 2, 2003

ATHENS—Archbishop John F. Donoghue was the main celebrant for the Mass during the dedication festivities on Friday, Sept. 12, for Msgr. Donovan Catholic High School, the new independent school in Athens.

More than 300 guests and benefactors attended the ceremony, including the eighth-grade students and their parents from St. Joseph Elementary School, Athens.

Mass was celebrated in the gym, and the reception that followed was held in the hallways of the school.

In his homily, the archbishop prayed that all those involved in the building of the school and the life of the school “exemplify the best of the Catholic faith, the faith that has been given to us by our Lord, the faith that we try to live.”

Msgr. Walter J. Donovan, the namesake of the school, who currently resides at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Atlanta, was one of six priests and two deacons who concelebrated Mass with the archbishop. After Mass, Scott Fleming, Ph.D., principal of the school, presented Archbishop Donoghue and Msgr. Donovan with framed pictures of the student body—18 freshmen—and T-shirts showing the school’s crest on the front.

While the congregation watched a slide presentation on a large screen in the gym after the Mass, the MDCHS students and Msgr. Donovan accompanied the archbishop as he walked through the halls of the school and blessed the building. The slides had been taken during various phases of the construction process during the past year.

All of the members of MDCHS Board of Trustees were in attendance: Tom Scott, president; Terry Trotochaud, vice-president; David Felt, secretary; Richard Dunne, treasurer; Barbara Dooley, capital campaign chair (along with her husband Vince Dooley); Dr. Alan Glassman; Rosie Hildebrand; Dr. Milton Lopes; and Hank Wright.