The construction delays which beset the parish during the building of our church are amply portrayed in this photo of Msgr. Dooling chatting with two of his young parishioners. Building was at a standstill for a period of nearly two years.
Archbishop Walsh reads the blessing of the church on the day of the cornerstone laying. Unfortunateiy; this revered spiritual leader of the Newark Archdiocese passed to his eternal reward before the formal dedication of the church took place in 1952.
The team of Father Fitzpatrick and Father Dtl.uca was not destined to last long, for on July 7, 1929, Father Loponte died following a long, painful,. period of total incapacity. Near the end he even lost his speech. Father Donati, an eloquent ex-Dominican and pastor of St. Rocco's Parish, preached the eulogy in the presence of Bishop Walsh.
It is noteworthy that Father Loponte died abouta month after the newly-ordained Father Joseph Dooling was assigned
to Mt. Carmel Church in Newark. Thus, these two priests who have done most for St. Francis Xavier Church, were priests in the same city for a very brief time - one at the very end of his life, and the other at the very beginning of his life as a priest.
From July to November the parish carried on under Fathers Fitzpatrick and Dtl.uca. The Annual Bazaar was continued with its accustomed success. When Father Lisa was appointed as the new pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in November, 1929, both Father Fitzpatrick and Father DiLuca departed for new assignments. A new era at St. Francis Xavier had begun.
FATHER LISA'S PASTORATE
The year 1929 will live forever in the history of America as the beginning of the great Depression. The "Seventeen Years" that we write of now were very closely related to this tragic era, for the people of our parish suffered severely during those trying times. Father Paul Lisa came to St. Francis Xavier, as its second pastor, in November, 1929, and his pastorate extended to the time of Monsignor Dooling's coming here as the third pastor in 1946.
The poverty of the times, which deepened quickly, added to Father Lisa's own conservative personality and continental background, combined to slow down the growth of the parish. Father Lisa was a quiet person, given to