On Sunday April 20, 1997, St James parish dedicated a memorial stained glass window created to honor Father Robert M Murphy, our former pastor, who had died May 2, 1996.  The window, made by Nick Parrendo of Hunt Stained Glass Studio, is a replica of the memorial card from Father’s 50^th anniversary of priesthood.  The photography was taken by Robert Barringer of Barringer Photography studio, and we thank him and his son David for their generous permission to use the likeness in creating the memorial window. 

    The occasion became an opportunity also to honor Father’s predecessors; Father Joseph Mitsch (1951-1961), Monsignor Stephen Walsh (1919-1950), and Monsignor A. A. Lambing (1885-1919).  Memorial windows of these former pastors and of Bishop Hugh C. Boyle, bishop of Pittsburgh during the time of the building of St. James church, had occupied space in an out-of-the-way corridor in the church. Their likenesses, along with the new Father Murphy window, were reconfigured into the arched glass screen windows between the church vestibule and the main body of St James church. 

    What follows is a biographical sketch of each of the honorees compiled by the present pastor, Father Warren Metzler.  Most of the information on Father Murphy was taken from the memorial book published for his 50^th anniversary of ordination.  The information of the other three pastors was selected from the parish history portion of the book published at the dedication of the new wing to St James school in 1963.  Bishop Boyle’s information was taken from SHEPHERDS OF THE FAITH, a history of the bishops of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, written by Msgr. Francis A. Glenn and published in 1993. 

   All of the above information is available in the memorial dedication booklet printed at the time of the dedication service.