A well-known local priest has died.
Rev. Hugh Donald MacDonald passed away at the Port Hawkesbury Nursing Home New Year’s Eve; he was 95.
MacDonald, known as “Father Hughie D”, was born in Springfield, Antigonish Co.; he completed his high school education in Mabou, then graduated from StFX in 1948.
He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952.
MacDonald served as pastor in a number of local communities, including St. Peter’s, Larry’s River, Port Hawkesbury, Arichat and Creignish; he retired from active ministry in 2018.
He was a founding member of the Cape Breton Addiction Centre in Sydney, a board member of Recovery House in Antigonish, and a member of the Nova Scotia Drug Dependency Board; he served on the personnel board of the Diocese of Antigonish, the DFO’s fisheries appeal board, and the board of governors for StFX, St. Martha’s Regional Hospital and the Strait Richmond Hospital.
A private funeral mass will be held at St. Ninian’s Cathedral in Antigonish Thursday.
