Fund raising

Except for a short time in the 1930's the parish has always been debt free. All large expenditures were paid by assessments. The custom of paying pew rent was till in effect as the principle source of income as late as 1938. A seat in a pew rented for $4 a year. The average family rented three seats. One family rented seven seats. School-age children sat up front. Everyone 16 years of age and over was expected to rent a seat. Plate collections in the summer of 1937 averaged $6 a Sunday. (Wolters, pp 155-56.)