Part IX

Following the devastating fire, a cornerstone was laid for a second church building for Mother of Sorrows Parish in 1929. Dedicated for divine service in 1930, the church was designed in a Roman-Gothic style with the typical embellishments customary for that time.
Ground was broken for a new convent at Saint Mary that same year, a large building in Gothic design estimated at the cost of $75,000. And 1930 was the year that the parish high school, formerly offering two-year commercial courses, received permission from the Pennsylvania Board of Education for a four-year academic program.

These were the years our country was in the Great Depression, which took a heavy toll on the families of the region like it did across the nation. Many lost their savings when the banks failed, and homes were lost as a result. The factories, railroads and mines let workers go and bread lines became common. The Saint Vincent de Paul Society at Saint Francis de Sales was especially active in providing for the needy. People remember Father Philip Moore, the pastor who arrived in 1929, as a man who worked miracles of charity.

The Depression was not yet over, when, under the leadership of Father Julius Vrana, Saint Mark Parish celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1931. That same year was also the 25^th Anniversary of the founding of Mother of Sorrows Parish, which celebrated not only its founding, but the Silver Jubilee of Father Cillo, the pastor.