Bishop McNamara Catholic SchoolA One Hundred Year History

The 100-Year History book of “Bishop McNamara Catholic School A 100-Year History,” is a “significant contribution to the history of the area,” according to former editor of the Kankakee Daily Journal, Phil Angelo. It is more than the history of one school. It is a history of Catholicism in the Illinois counties of Kankakee and Iroquois which lie 40 miles south of metropolitan Chicago. At one time this highly Catholic area had forty Catholic Schools. Today, there is one – in three locations – covering education for students from Pre-K 3 to 12^th Grade.

Four years in the making, the story was drawn from over 450 interviews, and information from the archival records of multiple Dioceses, including the Diocese of Joliet, area churches, schools, religious Orders, publications, and Bishop McNamara Catholic School yearbooks. The hardcover book is in two volumes totaling 1,095 pages and over 2,000 photos.

The history of every parish that ever existed in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties is contained in the book. Stories of every Catholic school and religious Order that ever graced the two-county area—leading to the present day school—is told. McNamara’s impact on the community and the legacy of its academic, athletic, and performing arts success over the years is also documented.

The complete history of the school’s fund-raising initiatives, including its first major fundraiser called “Madcaps,” tells the story of the work of thousands of religious and laity who kept Catholic Education alive in the area. Special sections such as teenage styles and fads in each decade, and a detailed analysis and review of the Shamrock, the school’s yearbook, are included.

But the book is more than “a big yearbook.” Author McNulty has woven the school’s story with local and worldly events that shaped and impacted the entire community and the school. Over 10,000 individuals graduated from McNamara, which started in 1922 as St. Patrick High School and blended with the last all-girls high school in the area, St. Joseph Seminary in Kankakee, to form Bishop McNamara Catholic School.

The narrative is written as a story rather than a chronicle as an exception to how many institutional histories are done. Author Kevin McNulty is known for his history books that read like novels utilizing the stories of real people who he interviews and quotes from the past. For the McNamara book he interviewed over 500 individuals over a four-year period adding to this informative  Multiple diocesan, religious, as well as religious and secular records are also cited.

In 2025, the two-volume work was named as one of the top-three books judged at the Midwest Book Festival in the category of historical documentaries.