The Most Reverend Kevin McDonald
Archbishop of Southwark
Archbishop Kevin McDonald was born in Stoke-on-Trent on 18th August 1947. He went to school in Stoke-on-Trent, attending St Joseph's, the Christian Brothers' Grammar School from 1958-1965. He read Latin at Birmingham University from 1965-1968.
In 1968 he was accepted as a student for the Archdiocese of Birmingham and went to the English College in Rome from 1968-1975. He was ordained priest in 1974 and completed his licentiate in Moral Theology in 1975. His first appointment was to All Saints, Stourbridge, in Worcestershire. From 1976 until 1985 he taught Moral Theology at Oscott. From 1985 until 1993, he worked as an official at the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity in Rome, where he had special responsibility for Anglican and Catholic relations. During that time he also completed a doctorate. In 1993 he returned to England and was parish priest of English Martyrs, Sparkhill from 1993-1998. Sparkhill is an area of Birmingham with a large Muslim population and it was there that Monsignor McDonald developed his interest in inter-religious dialogue. From 1998-2001 Monsignor McDonald was Rector of Oscott College and he was ordained Bishop of Northampton on 2nd May 2001. He is chairman of the Bishops' Conference Committee for Other Faiths and of the Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations.
The Archbishop is a keen football supporter, loves music, enjoys walking and holidays in France and Italy. He has an elder brother and sister and two younger brothers. He has nine nephews and nieces and three great-nephews.