St. Jude's March Revisited

A week or so ago I had the opportunity to sit down for coffee with ADS Patrick McNulty. During that time as we revisited old war stories, ADS McNulty informed me that he was the president of the St. Jude's Society and that he wanted to talk about the annual St. Jude's March.

The first interesting thing about this conversation was that I learned he was president of the Society, something prior to that day I didn't know. Our conversation turned to a history of the St. Jude's March, how it was always held downtown and then ended with a church service. I remembered those olden days of the March when church filled with the dress blues of the attendees, many of them spilling outside and remaining for entire service. As ADS McNulty reminded me, that was the intent of honoring our fallen brethren – the church service.

As years passed, the church became more and more empty until the whole idea of the march changed. You see, as ADS McNulty correctly explained, the march seemed to stop having the intent, for many of the participants, of honoring those who gave their lives in the line of duty, and became nothing more that a method to "attend" spring uniform inspection and a filling breakfast. After all, you only had to look at the church attendance, down to almost nothing, to see this factually. For most of the marchers, after they crossed the end point, they headed home or to their unit's breakfast location.

The St. Jude's Society thought long and hard about this issue and made the suggestion to then Superintendent Phil Cline to move the march to the Memorial Park along the lakefront. What a fitting location, they thought, to honor those who have fallen for Chicago, marching along a beautiful park built to recognize those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this city. The Catholic Mass, of course, would be eliminated. Instead, a non-denominational prayer service would be held. This was new information to me as I did not know that it was the St. Jude's Society who requested moving the march. But as a result of the move, more people remained for the prayer service. And, according to ADS McNulty, this was the hope of the society in the first place.

Pat McNulty also reminded me that the intent behind the march is for the police to honor the police. It wasn't intended for the march to be a public spectacle. But he did agree that the public should see the police on display more, and that the positive things that police do every day should be emphasized. He even suggested that an "Honors" march should be considered in conjunction with the annual recognition luncheon, having as participants all the officers who received departmental awards. This would show the public that heroism by police officers is not infrequent, but a daily occurrence in this city.

As for the St. Jude's March, the society would like to keep it by the Memorial Park. Knowing what I know now, I can't argue with ADS McNulty's point.

Lt. Bob Stasch
Area 3 Representative

Any opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the CPLA.