Omaha daily bee., 1916-08-14
FATHER M'DERMOTT
HOLDS HIS VIEWS
Resigns Because Of Relentless
Opposition to Any Sort Of
Secret Society.
ONCE STATIONED IN OMAHA

Rev. Daniel I. McDermott, pastor
Of Old St. Mary's Catholic church,
Fourth and Spruce streets, Phila-
delphia, has rendered his resigna-
ton because of a difference with his
superior, Archbishop Prendergast, in
regard to the opening Of the Ancient
Order Of Hiberians' state convention
at Pottsville. Pa, tomorrow, with a
solemn high mass. Sanctioned by
the church authorities. Philadelphia
papers say this is the third time
Father McDermott has rendered his
resignation because of his opposition
to the Ancient Order. Action on the
resignation rests with the archbishop
who was absent from Philadelphia at
the time it was rendered.
Once Located in Omaha.
Omaha Catholics whose memories
run back to the later 70s, when St.
Philomena's cathedral at Ninth and
Harvey streets, was their chief house
Of worship, will remember Father
McDermott as a pastor who stirred
up hornets nest in the congregation
by his fierce opposition to Irish
secret societies. He was brought to
the cathedral by Bishop O'CVnnor in
the summer of 1873, and was pastor
of the cathedral parish and vicar gen.
eral Of the diocese of Nebraska until
October, 1879. During his fifteen
months at the cathedral, Father Nc
Dermott assailed Irish societies,
particularly the Ancient Order of
Hibernians, with great force and
volume of invective rarely heard from
a pulpit. On one occasion, while ad-
dressing the congregation at the
morning mass on his favorite theme,
he was stopped by Bishop O'Connor
and the sermon left unfinished. 1t is
said that this particular sermon was
concluded at the evening service, the
bishop having left the city on the
afternoon of the day. The accuracy
of this impression is doubtful, for the
reason that Father McDermott is
noted as stickler for authority and
would not ignore the lawful orders
OF superior. Whether true or not,
it is church history here that Father
McDermott's condemnation of Irish
societies impaired his usefulness as
pastor and led to his retirement from
the cathedral and the diocese.
Recalls the Mollie Maguires.
Father McDermott's opposition to
the Ancient Order of Hibernians
grows out of his experience as pastor
Of the Pottsville (Pa.) church in 1875,
during the rise and fall of the Molly
Maguires," secret organization of
miners who were members of the
Ancient Order. The crimes charged
against the Mollie Maguires lead to
the conviction and execution of sew
eral of the leaders. The priest mini
stored to the spiritual needs of the
condemned, heard their confessions
and consoled them on the gallows.
The knowledge thus gained con-
WINGED him of the great danger of
secret societies in general and
aroused an opposition on his part
which passing years failed to modify.
Father McDermott was born in In
niskillen, Ireland, around seventy
years ago. He came to the United
States as an infant with his parents
who settled in Norristown, Pa. He
was educated for the priesthood at
the seminary OF St. Charles Bor-
romeo and was ordained in 1868. Old
St. Mary's where he held the pastor
ate for the last thirty-one years, is
located near the business heart Of
Philadelphia, and its churchyard is
the resting place of many distin-
guished Catholic dead, among them
the remains of the famous revolt
tionary hero, Commodore John Barry.