Grand Marshal

Rev. L. Scott Donahue is President & CEO of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, a therapeutic home for young people who’ve experienced abuse, neglect, abandonment, and emotional trauma. Rev. Donahue has been caring for the children at Mercy Home since joining its Board of Regents in 1990, later serving as assistant to its president. In 2006, after ten years of service as Mercy Home's associate president, he was appointed the Home’s eighth president since it opened its doors in 1887.

Rev. Donahue leads Mercy Home’s strategic vision to expand and strengthen the life-changing services it provides, and to advance insights in the field of caring for trauma-effected and disadvantaged youth. He helped increase capacity on its campus for boys and young men on Chicago's near West Side and grew Mercy Home's Community Care program to offer more resources and connection to former residents and their families. In 2007, he instituted Mercy Home's Education and Career Resources department to provide tailored, in-house educational and vocational support to young people. He instituted the MercyWorks faith-based, volunteer service-year program to give recent college graduates a unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of hurting children. And he established a spiritual development program to strengthen young people’s faith foundations.

Rev. Donahue's advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged children is rooted in his ministry as a Catholic priest. Ordained in 1982, he has served as a resident priest in a number of Chicago-area parishes, including Robert Bellarmine Parish, where he currently serves as a resident priest. He has held leadership positions within the Chicago Archdiocese, including Vice Chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests and Vocations Director. In addition to his leadership of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, and his parish ministry, Rev. Donahue serves as the principal celebrant of the televised “Sunday Mass at Mercy Home” on WGN-TV Ch. 9.

Rev. Donahue earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and accounting from Loyola University of Chicago and three master’s degrees: one in social work from Loyola University, one in theology from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, and one in applied spirituality from the University of San Francisco. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Xavier University.

In spring of 2019, he was inducted into the Irish American Hall of Fame in the category of religion in recognition of his Irish heritage and his contributions to American life as a Catholic priest and Mercy Home's President. And in 2021 he was named a Rerum Novarum Award winner by Mundelein Seminary.

Rev. Donahue is also a member of the Knights of Columbus Holy Family Council #11981, and he currently serves on the board of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago and the Leadership Council of the Kennedy Forum of Illinois.

One of four children, Rev. Donahue was raised in Mt. Prospect Illinois. As a member of the Boy Scouts of America, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He is a graduate of St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, which gave him a distinguished alumni award in 2015.