At Convocation on June 11, St. Jerome’s University announced this year’s
Norm Choate Award winner is our own Fr. Jim Donohue, CR!
This award, established in 1986 in memory of Father Norm Choate, C.R., is presented annually to an alum of St. Jerome’s University who has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments in their professional and community life. This award represents the highest level of recognition the University bestows on an alum. Here is what St. Jerome’s University had to say about Fr. Jim:
This year’s award recipient, Dr. James (Jim) Donohue, C.R., graduated from St. Jerome’s University with a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, with a Major in English, in 1978. He went on to complete his Master of Divinity Degree at St. Peter’s Seminary at the University of Western Ontario, and then his M.A. Degree in Theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois. In 2000 he received his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
He has been teaching Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland for the past 26 years, where he also served as the Chair of the Theology Department for 15 years. He was also their Head Hockey Coach for many of those years. He is presently serving as Rector of the C.R. Seminary, Tanzanian Formation House, in Morogoro, Tanzania. Fr. Jim is the Superior of the C.R. Tanzanian Mission in East Africa.
According to one nominator, “Fr. Jim is a person of integrity who embodies and lives out everything that SJU stands for. He was a very close friend of Fr. Norm Choate, whom he lived with and would credit Fr. Norm not only for his vocation but also for inspiring him to continue to teach and lead within a University setting.”
Fr. Jim has always been motivated to serve all people in the communities he resides in. His nominator went on to say, “Fr. Jim possesses a keen sensitivity to issues of justice, and challenges himself and others to move to action in rectifying issues of injustice. Jim possesses a real zest for life, a wonderful sense of humor and genuine humility.”
Although Fr. Jim was unable to attend the Convocation and accept the award in person, he recorded a speech to be shared with all those present, and we are happy to share it with you here. Congratulations Fr. Jim, and thank you to St. Jerome’s University for continuing to prepare your students to be positive influences in the world!