Priest involved congregants in liturgy at Arlington Heights church
The Rev. John James Mackin, the third oldest priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the longtime second pastor at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Arlington Heights, died on Monday.
He was 95.
For the last several months, the Rev. Mackin had been living at the Franciscan Village's Mother Theresa Home in Lemont, after suffering a stroke. Before that, he had lived in retirement at Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Hometown.
"Fr. Mackin retired from being a pastor, but not from the priesthood," said the Rev. Ronald Mass, former pastor of Our Lady of Loretto Church, who described how he used to greet worshippers at Mass, and help perform many of the sacraments.
At Our Lady of the Wayside, where the Rev. Mackin served as pastor from 1970 to 1983, parishioners use his name often. The parish's gymnasium, where all of its activities, sporting events and socials take place, was dedicated in his honor when he retired. Congregation members young and old know it as the hub of the parish, and refer to it simply as the Fr. Mackin Center.
Rev. Mackin had attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein before he was ordained by Cardinal George Mundelein in 1938.
He served in several Chicago parishes, as well as on the Archdiocesan retreat team, or its Mission Band, from 1947 to 1960.
When he was assigned to Our Lady of the Wayside, he followed the founding pastor, the Rev. Harold O'Hara, who had built the parish from the ground up, including its church, convent, rectory, elementary and junior high school buildings.
Mackin's legacy goes beyond the parish's physical plant, members say. Coming as he did in 1970, he was charged with instituting some of the Catholic Church's reforms identified in Vatican II, namely involving lay members of the church.
One of the first things the Rev. Mackin did, they say, was to install parishioners as extraordinary ministers to help distribute communion. Those first six lay ministers led to the involvement of lectors, commentators, cantors and even a liturgy committee.
He also established a finance committee to handle parish business duties, including the upkeep of the many buildings on the church campus.
"He saw himself as a spiritual leader first, who surrounded himself with good business people," says Tom Kraft, a former finance committee chairman. "There was no business manager at the time, so he looked to us for all the financial advice."
Under Fr. Mackin's leadership, Our Lady of the Wayside School leaders opened its first kindergarten, which he reasoned would help feed students into its school.
Visitation will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. today before a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, both at Our Lady of Loretto Church 8925 S. Kostner Ave. in Hometown. Most Rev. Bishop Timothy Lyne will be the main celebrant.