the length of the original basement area. It was used within a few short weeks for Sunday Mass. Sunday Mass had been celebrated in the Abington Avenue School from the day of the fire until the basement was available.Thus the poor parish of St. Francis Xavier, pushed to the brink of extreme disaster, began its way back. At first the road appeared bleak, but in a comparatively short time the indomitable will of the pastor and heroic efforts of the parishioners overcame all obstacles. It took a little over three years, three years of actually living in a basement with the Eucharistic Lord Jesus. In December, 1923, the new church-school edifice was ready and opened. Father Loponte and his people must have felt something of the sorrow that the Jews returning from the Babylonian Captivity felt when they finished building their new Temple and contrasted it with the marvelous one that had been destroyed. This new church-school of 1923 was not the realization of Father Loponte's dream. That realization was reserved to another pastor yet to come. But the new building did bring a measure of happiness and satisfaction to the parish.
Bishop O'Connor came for the dedication ceremonies, and saw for himself the changes in the make-up of the parish that had taken place in the less than ten years since his coming for its erection in 1914. The Italian
Newark's Mayor Carlin is flanked by men of the parish, Fathers McAdam and Delt Orto, Msgr. Dooling, and Father Scanlan, on the occasion of the formal opening of the H oiy Name Society's St. Francis Xavier Little League in 1955. The success of the league has been a point of parish pride since its founding.
Members of St. Francis Xavier's Holy Name Society as they attended an Essex County Federation dinner in May, 1956. In addition to its regular society activities, our parish branch ofth eHoly Name Society has been a valuable asset to the parish in such areas as sponsoring and supporting athletic, social and fund-raising programs.
parishioners gave the bell to the new Church, and the godfathers who assisted at its "baptism" each held a colored ribbon which was attached to the bell as it was being consecrated. Half of the parishioners were now of Italian birth or origin, with the Irish population reduced to 30 per cent and the German to 20 per cent.
Father Spielman had come to the parish in the summer of 1923 as its first permanently assigned curate. Father Spielman stayed at St. Francis Xavier for three years before moving on to Boonton, New Jersey. He was vitally interested in the social as well as the spiritual needs of the parish. When Father Loponte made a trip in 1924, Father Spielman administered to all of the needs of ourchurch.
August, 1924, saw the coming of the daughters of St. Dominic to our parish. What they accomplished here is written not on pages of print, but in the minds and hearts of many of our adult parishioners. The story of their dedicated and skilled service to God will live as long as there is one left among us who knew them. Sister Clementine came with three companions to make up the first parish teaching staff. The sisters' first graduating class consisted of two pupils.