Born in Stoke-on-Trent, from 1958 to 1965 McDonald attended the Christian Brothers' Grammar School there,
St. Joseph's College, Stoke-on-Trent. He read
Latin at
Birmingham University from 1965 to 1968. In 1968 he was accepted as a student for the
Archdiocese of Birmingham and was ordained priest on 20 July 1974 in the Metropolitan Cathedral of St Chad in Birmingham. From 1976 to 1985 he was a lecturer in
moral theology at
Oscott College. He became secretary at the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome 1985–1993. McDonald earned a
Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the
Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in 1989 with a dissertation entitled
Communion and friendship : a framework for ecumenical dialogue in ethics. In 1993 he returned to England and became the Parish priest of English Martyrs,
Sparkhill until 1998. It was while in Sparkhill that McDonald developed his interest in inter-religious dialogue. From 1998 until 2001 he was Rector of Oscott seminary. McDonald was consecrated the 11th
Bishop of Northampton on 2 May 2001 by Bishop Leo McCartie, assisted by Archbishops Patrick Kelly and Vincent Nichols. ==Archbishop of Southwark==