Obituaries

Father Donald Mulrenan, 1932-2005

Father Donald Mulrenan, 73, died in Boston on Sept. 25, 2005.

Born in Melrose, Mass., in 1932, the fourth of seven children of the late Dominic and Gertrude Mulrenan, he attended St. Mary’s grade school in Melrose and Divine Word Seminary high school in Duxbury, Mass.

Following ordination at St. Mary’s Seminary, Techny, Ill., in 1960, he was sent to the Philippines, where he served for 13 years as prefect, treasurer and president in Divine Word colleges.

Between assignments in the Philippines he attended graduate school at Boston College, where he earned a master’s degree in education.

He returned permanently to the United States in 1973 to become principal and treasurer at Divine Word Seminary in Perrysburg, Ohio. He later served as vice provincial of the Chicago Province in Techny from 1976 to 1978. In 1979 and 1982, he was elected provincial of the Chicago Province and served two three-year terms. From 1985 to 1990, he served again as vice provincial of the Chicago Province and assistant provincial treasurer.

Father Mulrenan moved to Boston in 1990, where he worked as mission director for the Divine Word Missionaries. For 15 years, he preached retreats and missions in the Boston Archdiocese and other areas of the Northeast. During that time, he also served as associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Woburn, Mass.

Chicago Province Provincial Father Mark Weber said, “We have lost a great confrere.”

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