I have been a member of the Xavier Community since 1996. I have been blessed to share in the liturgical life of the parish and the strong fellowship which binds our community. I have spent my career engaged in a range of roles in education. I have been a teacher of students from grade one to graduate school.

I have also served as a school psychologist, the head of three wonderful schools, and a youth minister. I have provided training on teaching, supervision, and religious education here at home and in several countries. The Xavier Community has allowed me to share my skills and knowledge in a variety of ministries and for this, I am most grateful.

For many years Ed Poliandro has been a parishioner of St. Francis Xavier Church. A former member of the Pastoral Council, Ed has been active in various ministries and parish groups. He is primarily engaged in Medical Education as an Assistant Clinical Professor in Environmental Medicine & Public Health.

John Foley-Murphy, or Murph, joined St Francis Xavier as in 2001 while serving as a Jesuit Volunteer in Brooklyn with a community that included Andrea Foley-Murphy (they married in 2003). Murph and Andrea left Xavier as their family grew (Grace was born in 2007, Jack in 2012), seeking a parish closer to home. As the kids grew and their Brooklyn parish underwent a heartbreaking pastoral transition, Murph and Andrea returned to Xavier and the whole family dove into the Family Faith community. Since 2018, Murph has contributed his group facilitation skills as a social worker and his professional expertise in adult learning to co-create engaging discussion-based activities for parents in the Family Faith community.

Michaelangelo Allocca (he/him/his) is a member of St. Francis Xavier parish and a Theology teacher at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City; he also taught at Regis High School and at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago. He holds degrees in religion from Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and he has wide experience teaching religious studies, humanities, and Latin at the high school and university levels and also as a catechist and retreat leader.