Heirlooms of UCN History #42
by Will Frank
It was a somber board meeting of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk on December 9, 1930, when the Rev. Gerald FitzPatrick reported that the plea to the American Unitarian Association for $2,000 to repair the building had been turned down. “He gave his reasons for a doubt,” read the minutes, “in view of the fact that the interest in the church is declining, as evidenced by a decrease in attendance, and not increasing as expected and hoped, whether or not we were justified in even spending the $2,000.” Actually, attendance remained rather steady at about 35 adults at Sunday worship services, as new members replaced older members who had moved away. But the money was not there for repairs and to progressively relieve the AUA from its burden of subsidizing the salary of the minister. But the board did not give up. It proposed to the congregation that the repairs be done and monies raised to do the job. The congregation accepted the challenge. The stained glass windows in the church were sold and replaced with plain glass, and the proceeds went toward the repair costs, which came to $2,188. The AUA chipped in. Things started looking up.
Yet one crucial element remained. The FitzPatrick family, with its first child newly born, could not continue to live on his $2,700 yearly salary. On the suggestion of the President of the national Women’s Alliance, Mrs. Reese, Gerald FitzPatrick took the course of writing to the Rev. Frederick May Eliot, then serving as minister of Unity Church, St. Paul. Eliot was the head of the Commission on Appraisal which had just published a forward-looking report, Unitarians Face a New Age. Eliot had a practical approach to an evangelical spirit about the Unitarian movement. This work made him a rising star in the denomination, in need of new leadership to turn the weakened AUA into a strong movement for the future. Eliot was tapped for, and soon would be elected as, President of the AUA, and the choice would prove a wise one. So, on April 12, 1937, FitzPatrick took the plunge and wrote a seven-page personal letter to Eliot.
“You do not know me,” FitzPatrick wrote, but would like to place some ideas before him. The key problem was the AUA’s system of reducing by regular steps the subsidy of the minister’s salary. It was the Depression, after all, and everyone was hurting for money. But FitzPatrick put his cards on the table. “One of my conclusions is that the loyal members of a church, such as this in Norfolk, would like to have a fair degree of assurance that if they are loyal to the cause the A.U.A. would extend the period for ‘settling’ the church beyond the ten year period arbitrarily set when it was organized. In 1930, Mr. Lutz was promised a salary of $4500 and it was hoped by the Boston officials [of the AUA] that that standard would be maintained. You know that the A.U.A. ‘cut’ their contribution each year ten percent believing that the Church so aided would increase its contribution ten percent. When I came the $4500 per year had become $2700, where I have succeeded in ‘peg[g]ing’ it. To provide that salary, however, the Church this year raised $750, which is in short two and one-half times as much as that raised in 1935. This year $972 will have to be raised. The increase of $192 represents I believe at least eight new families to the list of contributors this year. Perhaps such an achievement is possible but from the history of the last seven years it cannot be done. Thus the members conclude we must have a minister who will work for a smaller salary or close the Church. To me a smaller salary should never be offered for the present one is far short of being adequate. I think $4500 is too much but $3500 should be paid. The question is, do you think the A.U.A. would be willing to help ‘peg’ the salary at $3500?”
FitzPatrick received a cordial but noncommittal reply, as Eliot stated that he was “not in any position to take any part in the determination of policies.” Yet, Eliot assured FitzPatrick that his suggestions would “carry a lot of weight” when Eliot in a few weeks would take the reins of leadership in Boston.