Afterwards, Father O'Malley rallies the people of the parish and they start to rebuild St. Dominic's. On Christmas Eve, the parishioners gather in the partially rebuilt sanctuary as Father Fitzgibbon delivers his message with renewed faith and hope. He is startled when O'Malley's boys choir suddenly starts singing Silent Night, and looks up to see his elderly mother; O'Malley has paid for her to come to America to visit the son she hasn't seen in almost 50 years.
The above image is from the delightful 1944 film, Going My Way which stars Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald as priests in the financially strapped parish of St. Dominic's in New York. Father Fitzgibbon (Fitzgerald) has been at St Dominic's church for 45 years and sometimes dreams of going home to Ireland to visit his elderly mother, whom he hasn't seen for that length of time. Unfortunately, he's never been able to afford to do so. When Father O'Malley (Crosby) arrives to assist him, the younger priest's unorthodox methods at first alarm and irritate Fitzgibbon, but they eventually come to the understanding that, while they may differ in method, they have the same goals. When the church becomes financially stable for the first time in years, O'Malley suggests that Fitzgibbon take this opportunity to go back to Ireland to visit his mother. Father Fitzgibbon has just decided to do so when an alarm is raised: St. Dominic's is on fire. As the church burns, the firemen unable to save the structure, Father Fitzgibbon stands watching the place he built and ministered in for 45 years being reduced to rubble, a look of devastation on his face. Afterwards, Father O'Malley rallies the people of the parish and they start to rebuild St. Dominic's. On Christmas Eve, the parishioners gather in the partially rebuilt sanctuary as Father Fitzgibbon delivers his message with renewed faith and hope. He is startled when O'Malley's boys choir suddenly starts singing Silent Night, and looks up to see his elderly mother; O'Malley has paid for her to come to America to visit the son she hasn't seen in almost 50 years.
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