The fledging congregation got off to a running start. The first parish meeting was held July 25, following the Sunday mass celebrated at Morin School, located in the heart of Little Italy. Eight wardens were elected, and within three weeks, the Fabrique of Holy Family Parish had approved the purchase of eight lots in Villeray on St. Denis and Drolet streets, bordering Faillon Street.
Without missing a beat, Fr. Walsh immediately petitioned the Montreal Catholic School Commission for permission to register the parish children for school in September 1926. Registrations were conducted at the end of August in Morin School, and while no parish records exist for the number of children enrolled, we know that the children were accommodated in existing schools.
Excavation and construction of the church basement was undertaken in early 1927. In April, the parishioners approved the issuing of $100,000 in bonds, with an annual payment of $3,000 for 30 years. The bond issue would pay off the $66,000 bank loan used to purchase the land and to construct the basement for the planned church. The balance would be used to build the rectory at 533 Faillon St. By December, the parish was celebrating mass in their new crypt/basement church.
With the crypt church built and the rectory under construction, the wardens and parishioners met in September 1928 to approve the building plans for the upper church. The construction cost was set at $150,000. Had the diocese approved the loan, the parish would have incurred a debt load of $250,000, the equivalent of about $4.7 million dollars today.
Four months later on the Feast of the Holy Family (Jan. 30, 1929), Coadjutor Archbishop George Gauthier visited the parish and officially blessed the rectory. Two months later, Fr. Walsh thought it opportune to follow up his visit with a letter signed by 44 parishioners, petitioning His Grace “to allow them to erect and complete their parish church.”