MacDonald will replace Michele Boulva, who is retiring after 12 years as COLF’s director.

“I’m excited to be on board and to continue the good work that COLF has done under Michele Boulva and (assistant director) Peter Murphy,” said MacDonald, who takes up his new post Dec. 12.

“They’ve had a love for the Church’s teachings on marriage and family in their presentations.”

He said he shares COLF’s vision of helping families “live out the beauty and truth of the Church’s vision for marriage and family so they can really experience what Pope Francis calls the Joy of Love (Amoris Laetitia).”

“We want families to be witnesses to God’s love and to that joy,” he said. “Families through living their mission and vocation live can be real witnesses of God’s love for the world — they live out the new evangelization,” he said.

A father of seven children, MacDonald holds a licentiate from the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C., on the theology of marriage and family. He is completing his doctorate in moral theology at Ottawa’s Saint Paul University.

He has taught at both Saint Paul University and Dominican University College and worked with St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto in developing an online course on human sexuality and marriage. He has also taught in the field of Christian ethics.

The Canadian bishops conference and the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus, who co-founded COLF and jointly fund the organization, were consulted in the appointment.