Father Mac: The Life and Times of Ignatius D. McDermott, Co-Founder of Chicago's Famed Haymarket Center

by Thomas F. Roeser

'Father Mac' is the story of a humanitarian with a 'south-side-of-Chicago' Irishman's zest for wit, storytelling, politics, sports, and impatience with bureaucracy and slow moving progress, tied together with a compassionate, yet realistic, respect for human nature. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Chicago in 1936, Monsignor Ignatius McDermont is known as Father Mac be everyone from the Governor to the last street wanderer who stumbles into the famed Haymarket Center for alcohol and drug addiction haven he co-founded in 1976. In this story of selflessness and charity, you meet more characters than you can count, from colorful and fast moving Chicago politicians to incredible skid row success stories. Father Mac's sense for drama moved in to load up a bus with welfare babies he was treating, drive them to the state general assembly and literally place them into the arms of state representitives prior to their vote for or against an appropriation for their care. Illinois born Fulton Sheen once remarked, "America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. In the face of this broadmindedness, what the world needs now is intolerance." Thomas Roeser, a long time fixture in Chicago political commentary on radio and in print, has written a biography that captures McDermott at his best. Father Mac is man who is intolerant of heartlessness, cruelty, coldness, and selfishness. Intolerance with teh bureaucracy of government led from Chicago's West Madison Street to crusade for teh decriminalization of alcohol addiction. At an age when most men retire, Father Mac personally signed a one million dollar mortgage and co-founded what has become the finest facility to treat alcohol addictions, Haymarket Center. This book follows in the footsteps of other books on Chicago politics, but with emphasis on the charitable works of Father Mac. All proceeds from the sales of Father Mac go directly the McDermott Foundation and to saving the lives of alcohol addicted men and women at the Haymarket Center.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Maeve]

This seems like the kind of book that only I would like. Maybe Adie will like it too, because it is about a priest from the South Side.