Andrew Joseph McDonald

He then traveled to Rome to enter the Pontifical Lateran University, earning a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1951.

[3] Upon his return to the South Carolina, McDonald was named chancellor of the Diocese of Savannah, official of the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal, and curate of a parish in Port Wentworth.

[2] Unlike his predecessor, Bishop Albert Fletcher, McDonald followed the suggestion of the Second Vatican Council in instituting permanent deacons, largely because of the diocese's shortage of priests.

[4] McDonald was opposed to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 legalization of abortion rights for women in Roe v. Wade; he later established an anti-abortion office in the diocesan curia and led the annual March for Life each January in Little Rock.

A dedicated ecumenist, McDonald reached out to other denominations in Arkansas throughout his tenure, and once assisted in promoting a Billy Graham crusade at War Memorial Stadium in 1989.