A man of faith, passion – and mystery

[Times photo, 2001: Fraser Hale] The Rev. Kevin Donlon of Tampa, suddenly removed from the pulpit, is receiving strong support from his congregation. But even his supporters acknowledge he's "complicated."

By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 21, 2002

He wanted to be a priest, to find the spiritually lost and rescue them from sin.

Chances are Donlon never envisioned having to rescue himself, which is what the 45-year-old rector at St. Mary's Episcopal must now do.

Two weeks ago, Bishop John B. Lipscomb suddenly suspended Donlon for 90 days. Despite insistent questions from the congregation, Lipscomb would say only that eight church members had accused Donlon of "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy." The suspension would give the diocese time to review and investigate, Lipscomb said.

With that, the Queens native who left the Roman Catholic church for a life in the Episcopal pulpit was banned from his sacred duties and hushed from telling why.

Lipscomb said canon law forbids Donlon and others involved in the case from discussing the complaint, though details may be released later. Church leaders say the charges don't involve children or misappropriated money.

Many at St. Mary's want Donlon back. They have e-mailed diocesan offices, signed petitions, lit candles and backtalked the bishop.

During a congregational meeting Sunday, Valerie Nicholson told Lipscomb he was using "legal jargon" and keeping the people in the dark, "asking people to trust you and you're not telling them anything."

But if Donlon is to preside at St. Mary's again, it could take a while. The ecclesiastical judicial process is rigid, requiring committee reviews, official findings and hearings.

So who is Kevin Francis Donlon? Descriptions include the terms intellectual, passionate, complicated. For better or worse, he is the kind of man who inspires strong feelings.

[Times photo: Ken Helle]

In a demonstration of support for their suspended priest, many of St. Mary's parishioners are wearing yellow ribbons bearing the words "Father Kevin St. Mary's Parish."

A lover of knowledge, Donlon has a master's degree in theology from St. John's University in New York. He also attended General Theological Seminary in New York and has a Ph.D. from Oxford University in England.

He has taught at parochial schools, including Sante Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland from 1986 to 1988. Donlon's humor appealed to his theology students. Jess Tucker's children would come home raving about Donlon, Tucker said.

Around that time, Donlon was in the process of becoming an ordained deacon and on the path to priesthood in the Catholic church. But he began thinking about his allegiance to the faith and realized his ideals were "more in tune with the Episcopal church," said Father Jim Murphy, rector at Church of the Nativity in Sarasota and a friend to Donlon.

Donlon was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1990 in the Diocese of Central Florida, based in Orlando. One of his first jobs was at St. David's Episcopal in Lakeland, where Tucker's family attended. Donlon was extremely "hands-on," eager to relate to young people and to get involved, Tucker said.

In the early 1990s, Donlon headed to North Carolina for a job at a parish in Wake Forest, and later he accepted a position at Holy Comforter Episcopal in Charlotte.

"He was a scholarly kind of priest who was very interested in liturgical matters," said the Rev. Canon E.T. Malone Jr., who worked with Donlon on a diocesan committee in North Carolina.

Despite touches of Catholic traditionalism, parishioners said, Donlon was far from stiff, incorporating elements of contemporary worship into his pastoral style. A young priest venturing on a new career, Donlon was full of charisma and new ideas.

Holy Comforter had done little in the way of lay ministry when Donlon became associate rector. He changed that, said Gail Greer, an assistant secretary at the church. By the time he left some three years later, parishioners were eager to get involved. Ministry was not just the priests anymore.

Holy Comforter, which now has about 1,200 members, was a growing congregation during Donlon's time there. By 1996, he and his wife, Carole, were readying for a new venture at St. Mary's.

Greer said the Tampa church offered something Holy Comforter did not: a chance to work closely with a church school.

St. Mary's was struggling for money and attention when Donlon arrived.

About 65 people showed up for his first Sunday sermon. The church budget hovered around $150,000, as Donlon's friend the Rev. Edward Rich tells it.

The church campus is near the Palma Ceia community, where many prosperous Tampa residents live. But the church reaped few benefits from its surroundings.

When people thought of St. Mary's, they thought of St. Mary's Day School, where tuition runs from about $4,600 to $6,600 and where many parents -- proudly displaying the school's bumper stickers on their SUVs -- are not church members.

The school had surpassed the church in popularity and financial strength. Donlon saw an opportunity to bring the two together. He called a meeting between school officials and the church's governing body, the vestry. Together, the groups developed a master plan to improve the church and the school.

"That was a significant step," said Rich, who was Donlon's associate rector for 20 months and now heads St. Catherine's Episcopal in Temple Terrace.

Donlon made changes within the church, too. He established a strong youth ministry with staff positions to work with St. Mary's children.

He was constantly visiting the sick and the grieving, praying with them, comforting them, Rich said. And Donlon is deep -- a "master of theology," church member Credo Schwab said. Donlon's sermons left Schwab "captivated."

He was personable. "We came in one time, and thereafter, he knew our names," said Bowen Brown, a member of the parish vestry who joined St. Mary's in 1998.

Pews began to fill out, as did the collection plate.

An ambitious capital campaign raised $10-million. About $2-million built a new sanctuary and turned the old one into a life center; about $8-million overhauled the school.

In six years, St. Mary's congregation grew to 600, with 300 to 400 attending on a given Sunday. The budget stands at about $600,000.

But trouble loomed. Two weeks after parishioners celebrated the opening of their sanctuary in a special ceremony, eight of them took a 26-page complaint against Donlon to the bishop.

Members of the congregation say they know who lodged the complaint, though the complainants have not identified themselves publicly. Vestry members have asked senior warden Matt Valaes to step down, saying he is one of them and therefore has a conflict. Valaes would not comment.

The Donlons also declined an interview for this story.

"Complicated." It's a word people often use to describe Donlon.

Friends said they would not want to match wits with Donlon, -- a man who finished requirements for a theology-related doctorate from Oxford while heading St. Mary's.

"He's got a mind like a steel trap," Murphy said. He's got a good sense of humor, too.

"But at the same time, he's someone who's very passionate about what he does."

Donlon had a vision for spiritual growth at St. Mary's church and school, a vision he was eager to see realized. Murphy could hear as much in Donlon's voice when he talked about plans for the congregation, about the building's master plan.

[Times photo: Ken Helle]

Parishioners leave St. Mary's Episcopal Church, knowing little about the accusations that have been leveled against Kevin Donlon. The priest was a catalyst in building the new sanctuary and overhauling St. Mary's Day School.

But, some say, feathers were ruffled behind the scenes.

At times, Donlon seemed to regret the way he had said things to people, said Murphy, who often talked with his friend by phone.

"Maybe, sometimes, when you have such a deep-seated passion, some people don't understand," Murphy said. "I have no doubt that is the source of some of the problems."

Not one for mincing words, Donlon "tells it like it is," said Brown. "I think he's honest and forthright. If you need to be babied or need things sugar-coated, then you wouldn't like him."

Indeed, not everyone found Donlon a fount of inspiration. The Rev. Nancy Farley, rector at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal in Zephyrhills, worked alongside Donlon for 11/2 years before leaving in 1997.

"It was extremely difficult to work with him," she said, declining to comment further.

Few have seen the actual complaint against Donlon, although several say they have heard what the charges are about. At a special congregational meeting this week, one woman likened the complaint to "cocktail chatter."

Vestry member Kacy Lake, who has seen the complaint, said she saw no cause for Donlon's suspension, called an "inhibition" by the church. She wants Donlon to remain rector.

Parishioners not in the know have pressed Lipscomb for specifics.

Are we dealing with stylistic management issues or something more serious, one man asked at that congregational meeting.

Lipscomb declined to answer, saying he can't discuss the complaint in any way.

Donlon has retained Charles Nalls, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specializes in religious canon. Nalls said he prefers mediating religious disputes when possible. That's the biblical model -- to try to work things out, he said.

But with Donlon, the ecclesiastical ball has already begun to roll. Unless the diocesan review committee dismisses the allegations, Nalls said, "I'll be down there."

Information from St. Petersburg Times files was used in this report, to which Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed.

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