Bishop McNamara Catholic School, Kevin McNulty Sr.’s largest commission work to date, is the history of the last remaining Catholic school in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties which once contained forty parochial grade schools and high schools in the region. Settled by the French Canadians, this area’s Catholic Schools once included four all-girl boarding schools, a Catholic College for men, a co-ed Catholic high school from which McNamara acquired its legacy, and numerous parochial schools attached to a multitude of parishes throughout the region.
 
 
As the Illinois Central Railroad, and later, industry, came to Kankakee, the Irish, Germans, Italians, and Slavic Catholic immigrants arrived to join a burgeoning protestant community, peaking in 1965 when the beginning of school closures and consolidations began. As the global economy closed area factories, most notably in 1983 when Roper stove manufacturing and others moved to areas of cheaper labor, the area took a hard turn, putting pressure on all institutions, most significantly parishes and schools.
 
 
In 2016, a major change came to area Catholic Education when all remaining schools were "Regionnalized" under Bishop McNamara Catholic School. The result created a total school population over 900 for the first time in school history. Grades K3 through 12 were now under one banner within three locations - one in Kankakee, a second in Bradley, and the third in Bourbonnais where the first church in the region was built. Today, the school enjoys three vibrant campuses and a viable student population to assure its existence and growth in the future.
 
McNulty's book covers details of every school and parish that came and went over the nearly 200-year history from 1841 to 2022. The entire modern area of the Catholic School is also told culminating in its 100th Year Celebration in 2022.