The OLMC community was sadden to hear of the death of Catholic activist, advocate and police hero Steven McDonald who died last week. Officer McDonald visited OLMC seventeen years ago speaking to our OLMC students about the power of forgiveness.
Steven McDonald was a New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective who was shot and paralyzed on July 12, 1986. The shooting left him quadriplegic. A former U.S. Navy hospital corpsman and third generation police officer, McDonald was shot in the line of duty by 15-year-old Shavod Jones, whom he was questioning about bicycle thefts in Central Park. Detective McDonald and a co-worker were on patrol in Central Park, because there had been reports about a robbery in the park. While attempting to question Jones, McDonald noticed something in a sock the boy was carrying, and when he wanted to see what it was, McDonald was shot three times. The first bullet hit him in the head, above his eye; the second hit his throat and caused him to have a speaking disability; and the third shattered his spine, paralyzing him from the neck down and leaving him quadriplegic and in need of a ventilator. Several months after his injuries, McDonald reported to the press that he had forgiven Jones for his actions. McDonald discussed the reasons for his forgiveness in some detail in the foreword of a 2014 book titled Why Forgive?, written by friend and pastor Johann Christoph Arnold.
We pray for his family and thank God for his deep spiritual witness. Check out the original article of Officer McDonald’s OLMC visit HERE.