The Rev. Donald P. Skwor, pastor of St. Rita's Roman Catholic Church in Dundalk, died Monday of lung cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 74.

A former superior general of his religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, he had been named pastor at St. Rita's on Jan. 1, before his cancer was diagnosed.

Born in Manitowoc, Wis., he entered the Salvatorian Seminary in St. Nazianz, Wis., in 1942 and earned a degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington in 1950. After additional study at Gregorian University in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1953 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran there.

He later earned a master's degree in American literature and history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a doctorate from the University of Richmond. He was the author of numerous articles published in religious journals.

After serving at posts in the District of Columbia and Wisconsin, he was assigned to St. Rita's in 1998 as a priest-in-residence and counseled those addicted to drugs.

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 7 p.m. tomorrow at St. Rita's, 2903 Dunleer Road.

Father Skwor is survived by a brother, Arthur L. Skwor of Cudahy, Wis.; and nephews and a niece.