Rev. John Paul MCDERMOTT, O.P.
MCDERMOTT, KNOWLES, MILLER, REINHARDT
Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:45
February 9, 1903 ---- July 1, 1957
THE REVEREND JOHN PAUL McDERMOTT, O.P.
Many years ago while still a young priest, Father John Paul McDermott was stricken with a fatal wasting disease of the nervous system. He was told by doctors that he only had a short time to live. However with the help of Almighty God and the constant and solicitous care of the Fathers and Lay-Brothers of his priory, he lived on patiently bearing the cross that was his, doing all that his failing body would allow, until July 1, 1957 when death came peacefully to him in New York Hospital in that city.
Father John Paul McDermott was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa on February 9, 1903. He was educated by the Dominican Sisters at the grammar and high school of the Sacred Heart in Eagle Grove. After deciding on his vocation to the Dominican Order, he entered Aquinas College, Columbus, Ohio and Providence College in order to complete his preparatory studies. He received the habit and made his novitiate at Saint Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio and continued his studies at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Kentucky and the Dominican Houses of Study in River Forest, Illinois and Washington, D. C. On the morning of June 16, 1930, John Paul McDermott was ordained a priest in St. Dominic's Church, Washington, by Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore. After the completion of his fourth year of Theology at the Washington House of Studies, Father McDermott was sent to his first assignment, Fenwick High School, Oak Park, Illinois where he taught and served as athletic director. He remained there until 1939 when he went to Saint Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City to do parish work and serve as Assistant National Director of the Holy Name Society, which office he held until death.
The Very Rev. Raymond S. McGonagle. O.P. of Providence College, a classmate of the deceased, was the celebrant of a Solemn High Mass of Requiem in Saint Vincent Ferrer Church, New York, on July 3, 1957. He was assisted by Fathers William J. McLaughlin, O.P. and William A. Walsh, O.P., as Deacon and Subdeacon, respectively. The eulogy was preached by Father Dennis B. McCarthy, O.P., National Director of the Holy Name Society. The Rev. Richard E. Vahey, O.P. and the Rev. James T. McKenna, O.P. served as Acolytes. More than 80 priests were present at the Funeral Mass. Burial took place in the Dominican Plot, All Soul's Cemetery, Pleasantville, New York.
Father John P. McDermott is survived by two brothers and three sisters. His brothers, both members of St. Joseph's Province of the Dominican Order, are the Very Rev. Terence S. McDermott, O.P., S.T.M., former provincial and the Rev. Richard M. McDermott, O.P. His sisters are Mrs. Katherine Knowles, Mrs. Mary Reinhardt and Mrs. Irene Miller. To them and to all Father McDermott's relatives and friends, Dominicana offers condolences and prayers that he may now enjoy the peaceful rest he so well has merited.
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