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V
A New Church Is Designed
pilgrimage
to Rome in the Holy Year of 1950, with visits to Lourdes and Fatima,
attracted a large number of participants, among them an architect of the
parish, Mr. John Eyring. As trains and buses conveyed the pilgrims through
Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, Mr. Eyring sketched in his pad the
outlines of great and small churches; when they visited churches, he
sketched details of the interiors. A year later, after a series of
discussions between pastor and architect, a final sketch of the proposed
new church of St. Francis of Assisi received the approval of Archbishop
Keough. 
The first quarter century of the parish had seen
smaller projects. In 1934, a rectory had been added along with the pastor,
Father Neligan. In 1952, the residence at 2200 Pelham Avenue had been
purchased for a future convent. That same year, ground was broken for the
new church. In April 1954, while Baltimore was abuzz over the return of the
Baltimore Orioles to major league baseball, construction on the church
neared completion. Toward the end of the month, Father Nestor suffered a
fatal heart attack. Father Nestor’s funeral Mass was the first
celebrated in the unfinished church. Minus its shepherd, the parish was
without direction for several months, as one young bride-to-be discovered
when she made plans to be wed in her home parish.
“St. Francis has a very special place in my
heart. It’s the only place I remember as a child,” said Dolores
Kirwan, nee Timmons. “My family had moved to 31st Street when I was a
young child, and I remember attending Sunday School in the basement of the
rectory, with the Sisters of Charity from St. Dominic’s giving us our
lessons. As my husband, Pat, and I made plans for our wedding, we wanted to
have it in the new church. Because Father Nestor had died, we had trouble
getting an answer, but finally, Archbishop Keough wrote to us and gave us
permission to be married in the new church. It rained cats and dogs the
night before our wedding, and it was still pouring down rain at 9 a.m. One
of my bridesmaids came in wearing a big sheet to keep her dry. I was very
nervous, but it all worked out well.” Now closing in on their 50th
wedding anniversary, Dolores Timmons and Pat Kirwan were married on October
30, 1954.