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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois
3 were grieved to learn of the death of Monsignor Ignatius D.
4 McDermott on December 31, 2004; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Monsignor McDermott was born on July 31, 1909, on
6 Chicago's South Side to Michael J. and Ellen "Nellie"
7 McDermott; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Monsignor McDermott, known as "Father Mac", was
9 ordained in 1936 after studying at Quigley Preparatory Seminary
10 and Mundelein's St. Mary of the Lake Seminary; and
 
11     WHEREAS, While studying for the priesthood in 1930, Father
12 Mac worked at Arlington Park racetrack and began ministering to
13 the homeless and alcoholics who populated the area along his
14 commute known as "Skid Row"; and
 
15     WHEREAS, After ordination, his assignment until June 1941
16 was to staff a home for dependent children at Maryville
17 Academy, where he first realized that alcoholism was not only
18 an illness but an inherited tendency; and
 
19     WHEREAS, He worked as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Peace
20 from 1941 to 1946 in the then affluent South Shore
21 neighborhood; in 1946 he was named assistant director of the
22 Chicago Archdiocese's Catholic Charities, where he was
23 executive director of the Catholic Dependent Child Commission,
24 and simultaneously he was director of Holy Cross Mission, an
25 agency administering to the corporal and spiritual needs of
26 Skid Row inhabitants; and
 
27     WHEREAS, After working a full career both as a parish
28 priest and as an administrator in the Chicago Archdiocese,
29 Father Mac, at age 65, co-founded Haymarket Center, the Near

 

 

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1 West Side facility which has helped thousands of people, men
2 and women, to recovery and rehabilitation from alcohol and
3 substance abuse; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Haymarket is a full-scale substance abuse
5 treatment center which administers 28 programs that provide a
6 comprehensive approach to substance abuse known as a continuum
7 of care; serving over 14,000 individuals each year, Haymarket
8 Center is one of the largest providers of rehabilitation
9 education for Illinoisans dealing with substance abuse; and
 
10     WHEREAS, The McDermott Foundation was formed in June 1963
11 with the fusion of the Catholic Dependent Child Commission; and
 
12     WHEREAS, The passing of Monsignor Ignatius D. McDermott has
13 been deeply felt by many, especially his niece, Helen (P.J.)
14 Sheehan; his nephews, the Honorable James (Jeri) Stack, Jim
15 (Sis) and Frank (Judith Ann) McDermott, William (Mary Jane)
16 McDermott, and John (Dorothy) McDermott; his many great-nieces
17 and great-nephews; and his dear friend, Mary Stack; therefore,
18 be it
 
19     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
20 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
21 Monsignor Ignatius D. McDermott along with all who knew and
22 loved him; and be it further
 
23     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
24 presented to the McDermott Foundation, Haymarket Center, and
25 his family as a token of our deepest sympathy.