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[em d0,,,ePA 3 7Wc:Z)e,nmott, Z). Z).
1930 - 1945
PAROCHIAL ACTIVITIES CARRIED FORWARD THROUGH
DEPRESSION AND WAR; PREPARATIONS
MADE FOR CENTENARY CELEBRATION
(ST. Anne’s Parish is proud to have as its new pastor the Reverend
Joseph T. McDermott, and extends to him a warm and hearty welcome.
We trust that God will spare him many years in our midst. We know that
under his guidance the traditions of St. Anne’s will be carried to even greater
heights.” Such was the greeting given to the priest who succeeded Father
Sullivan. And here was prophecy, too, for during this administration two
great crises arose which afforded opportunity for adding fresh luster to
St. Anne’s glorious traditions of charity and loyalty.
The Reverend Joseph T. McDermott was born in Shenandoah, Penn-
sylvania, on December 29, 1879, the son of Thomas McDermott and Rose
O’Reilly. The family having moved to Philadelphia, he began his education
at Our Mother of Sorrows Parochial School. Upon his graduation from
La Salle High School, he entered St. Charles Seminary, Overbrook. At
the end of his philosophical course, he was selected to pursue theological
studies at the North American College, Rome. Here he received the degree
of Doctor of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 18,
1908, by Cardinal Respighi.
Upon his return to this country, Doctor McDermott was assigned to
the Church of the Annunciation, Philadelphia. Shortly afterwards he was
transferred to the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, where he served for
more than eleven years. On January 23, 1920, the Most Reverend Arch-
bishop Dougherty commissioned him to establish the parish of St. Joseph
in Ambler. Young and energetic, Doctor McDermott threw himself into
the undertaking with such enthusiasm that in the course of four years he
Was able, not only to purchase enough ground for all future parish needs,
but to erect on the site a church which was dedicated December 14, 1923.
In June, 1924, he was named rector of St. Joseph’s Church, Ashland, In
this position he busied himself in reducing the parish debt, repairing and
improving the parish buildings. Anxious about the intellectual and moral
attainments of the young, he was especially interested in the parochial high
school, teaching religion and conducting public-speaking classes, When
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