The fourth resident pastor was another priest from the Province of Quebec, Father Joseph Etienne Ethier. He was ordained in Montreal on Aug. 4, 1867 and was a fellow professor with Father Fournier on the staff of St. Thérèse College before coming to Cape Breton.
He became pastor of Acadiaville in April 1871 and remained in charge of the parish for seven years and seven months, the longest pastorate in the parish in the 19th century. It was during his pastorate that the present church was built.
It was also during his pastorate that the first native of the parish was raised to the priesthood. The new priest was Father Pierre Forgeron, son of Constant Forgeron and Victoria LeBlanc. Forgeron was born Dec. 9, 1846, studied at St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, and the Seminary of Quebec, and was ordained on July 26, 1874. He was the seventh native Acadian to be ordained for the diocese.
Father Guillaume Talbot succeeded Father Ethier as pastor at Acadiaville. He became the fifth resident pastor there on Nov. 27, 1878 and was then 56.
Immaculate Conception Parish was served for five months from Arichat by Father James M. Quinan, until the arrival of the sixth resident pastor, Father Louis Ernest Nadeau. He was born at Rivière du Loup, P.Q., on Dec. 21, 1850, was educated at Quebec, and was ordained there on March 25, 1876. Father Nadeau became pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Acadiaville, on Oct. 1, 1882.
During the four years of his pastorate, he built the glebe house and repaired the church. In 1884, he and his parishioners mourned the deaths of three of the former pastors. Father Hubert Girroir, the first pastor, died at Havre Boucher on Jan. 25, 1884 and was buried in that parish.
Father Ethier and his immediate successor, Father Talbot, died on the same day Aug. 6, 1884. Father Ethier was accidentally drowned at Valleyfield, P.Q., and Father Talbot, who had become Father Joseph, O.C.R., died in Petit Clairvaux Monastery.
Within the next four months, Immaculate Conception Parish had two successive pastors, both of whom were Acadians. The former was Father Phileas Frederic Bourgeois, who was born at Memramcook, New Brunswick on Nov. 17, 1885, took his vows as a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1877, and was ordained in Moncton on Sept. 25, 1879.
The first native of Isle Madame to become pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish was Father Pierre Forgeron, who as we have seen, was also a native of the parish. Father Forgeron’s records in the Acadiaville register begin on Dec. 1, 1886 and end on Dec. 31, 1887.
After the departure of Father Forgeron there was an interregnum of four or five months during which time Father James M. Quinan of Arichat and his assistant, Father Cleomene Lafont, ministered to the spiritual needs of the people.