Jesuit Father Donahue, New Testament scholar and Loyola Blakefield graduate, dies at 91

Jesuit Father John R. Donahue, a noted professor at two Baltimore universities, died Oct. 28. The Baltimore native and Loyola Blakefield graduate was 91.

Father Donahue, who was baptized at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, spent most of his Jesuit vocation as a professor of New Testament studies, including in his hometown.

In 2001, Father Donahue was named the Raymond E. Brown Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Roland Park, where he served for three years. In 2001, he also began a 16-year tenure at Loyola University Maryland as a writer and professor emeritus. He also served Loyola for several of those years as a research professor in theology.

Father Donahue was a prolific writer, especially on the Gospel of Mark. He published three volumes of commentaries on the Sunday readings, one of which won first place in professional books from the Catholic Press Association. Other books he authored included “The Gospel of Mark”; “Are You the Christ: The Trial Narrative in the Gospel of Mark”; “Theology and Setting of Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark”; “What Does the Lord Require: A Bibliographical Essay on the Bible and Social Justice”; and “The Gospel in Parable: Metaphor, Narrative and Theology in the Synoptic Gospels.” From 1998 to 2001, he wrote the weekly “Word” column for America.

After graduating from Loyola Blakefield, Father Donahue entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., July 30, 1951. He earned both a master’s degree and a licentiate in philosophy from Loyola Seminary in Shrub Oak, N.Y. (Fordham University), and went on to receive a licentiate in sacred theology from Woodstock College in Woodstock, Md., and a doctor of philosophy in Scripture from the University of Chicago. He was ordained a priest June 14, 1964, at Woodstock College.

After spending a couple years as a professor of New Testament at the University of Chicago and then of sacred Scripture and Biblical languages at Woodstock College in New York, he taught New Testament studies for six years at Vanderbilt University. In 1980, he spent a year as a visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome before returning to the U.S. and serving for the next 20 years teaching New Testament studies, back and forth between the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., and the University of Notre Dame.

In 2017, Father Donahue moved to the Colombiére Jesuit Community in Baltimore where he continued to write and serve in pastoral ministry. 

A viewing and a wake service are scheduled Nov. 9, 3-5 p.m. and 7-8 p.m., at Colombiere Jesuit Community Chapel in Baltimore. A funeral Mass is scheduled for Nov. 10, 1 p.m., at Loyola University Alumni Chapel.

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