The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God…. –Wisdom 3:1
Dear Colleagues,
It is with the prayers of the faithful that we inform you of the death of the Rev. Dr. David Roberts MacDonald, PhD, OSM, MSM, a former rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Seacliff, New York.
Fr. David was born on March 15, 1954, in the Panama Canal Zone, to a stowaway aboard a freighter. He was adopted by the Rev. Malcolm Richard MacDonald, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Luke. They eventually moved to California, where David graduated from high school and college.
David enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1977 and served 17 years in various capacities. During his time in the Army Reserves, he attended Nashotah House and earned his MDiv at Seabury Western Seminary. He served as a chaplain at Walter Reed Hospital. David was ordained in 1987 in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
In 1988, he was appointed Rector of Christ Church in Lemoore, California. He received the Meritorious Service Medal in 1990 while serving in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In 1997, David became the Assistant Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, serving there until 1999, when he moved to St. Croix, where he served as Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Frederiksted. While there, David was awarded the Order of St. John by order of the Queen of the United Kingdom.
In 2002, he became Rector of St. Luke’s in Denison, Texas, serving there until 2004, when he became the Rector of historic Christ Church, Durham Parish, in Nanjemoy, Maryland, and served as chaplain at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He earned his master’s in religious studies at the University of Wales in Salisbury (United Kingdom), concentrating on early Anglican history in Maryland, and published The Transit of the Anglican Mind to the Maryland Colony: Thomas Bray and the Bray Libraries of Christ Church, Durham, Nanjemoy, MD 1696–1701.
While in Nanjemoy, David, through studies at Christ Church, Oxford, was awarded a PhD from the Graduate Theological Foundation in 2007. In 2011, Fr. David moved to Seacliff, Long Island, New York, and served as Rector of St. Luke’s until retiring in 2017. He relocated to Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, where he facilitated Advent and Lenten retreats.
Fr. David is predeceased by his older brother, “Johnny” MacDonald (CA). He is survived by two sisters, Heather Svika (CA) and Kathleen Fisher (UT), and by Cynthia MacDonald, his former wife of 22 years (CA) and mother of their three children: Lauren MacDonald (CA), Lesley MacDonald (CA), and Garrick MacDonald (CA). He is also survived by his wife of 26 years, Betty MacDonald (FL); children Trey Morris (LA) and Kelly James (and her husband, Shane) of Texas; and grandchildren Raelynn Morris, Florence MacDonald, Rowan MacDonald, and Maeve MacDonald.
A memorial service will be held at Grace Episcopal Church, 4110 S. Ridgewood Ave., Port Orange, Florida, on February 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM, with a reception to follow in the Parish Hall.
In lieu of flowers, donations or gifts may be made in Fr. David’s memory to Grace Episcopal Church in Port Orange, Florida; Christ Church, Durham Parish, in Nanjemoy, Maryland; or St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Seacliff, New York.
May Fr. David rest in peace.
The Rev. Canon Eddie Alleyne
Canon for Pastoral Care