Fr. Don has a B.A. in philosophy from Niagara University, with enough credits for a Master’s degree as well. He also studied the New Testament and the early Fathers in their original Greek. He has taught scripture, literally to thousands of people, in adult formation, and to teachers of religious education, and Catholic high school principals and administrators, and in a variety of Catholic and Protestant churches, and synagogues, in multiple states throughout the country.
He graduated from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and trained in Internal Medicine there and Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland Medical School. He was associate professor of medicine and Chairman of Introduction to Clinical Practice, the course with the most contact hours in the first two years. He taught an organizing system of medicine to an entire generation of students.
He has been a pioneer in the use of guided imagery in healing and speaks widely about the relationship of body/ mind/emotion/ spirit in health and illness.
Father Don has taught Catholic Medical Ethics in a variety of venues; including on occasion with a Jesuit psychiatrist. One of the goals is to clear up the great deal of confusion and misconceptions about what constitutes Catholic teaching in ethics, especially as it applies to medical aid in dying. Father Don is still active in consulting for patients and physicians as well as in nursing homes and hospices.
He writes weekly scripture reflections which go by email to several hundred people across the globe, clergy and laity of all the major Christian religions, as well as people from the great non-Christian traditions, Judaism and Islam, and some people with no religious affiliation. In all his writing, teaching and preaching he continually elevates and champions immigrants, the poor and sick. He has studied the religions of the world and has integrated their spirituality into his teaching and into the care of people of those religions, and appeals to a wide audience.
