Morning Sentinel
End of an era for All Souls
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BY COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 07/11/2009

OAKLAND -- Emeline Bard has been going to All Souls Universalist Church on Church Street for 80 of her 84 years -- but no more.

The All Souls congregation voted June 28 to close the venerable building, built in 1832, the middle church in the series of three churches that line one side of the street.

A combination of a dwindling, aging Unitarian-Universalist, or UU, congregation and rising energy costs simply made the building, the town's oldest public facility, too expensive to maintain.

"The worship has been good," All Souls minister Scott Jones said. "The quality is there, but we can't make it work financially anymore. As with everything else, expenses rise and income shrinks."

Bard, an Oakland resident, was not present for the June 28 vote but opposes the decision.

Yet she understands the financial reality and feels the pain of something that has been an integral part of her life for as long as she can remember.

"I joined (the church) when I was 16," she said, "but I've been going there since I was 5. I really, really hate to see it go."

All Souls the congregation will survive, although membership has declined significantly over the last few decades, holding now at 22, most of them more than 70 years old.

East Vassalboro residents Helen and Kenneth LaFleur are among the congregation. Ken LaFleur is a retired Unitarian-Universalist minister who served as a part-time minister at All Souls after moving back to Maine from Massachusetts about 20 years ago -- he had been the full-time minister at Old Ship Unitarian-Universalist Church in Hingham, Mass.

Helen LaFleur said she takes solace in knowing that All Souls will continue as a congregation.

Yet as a person of faith and one who describes herself as a concrete thinker, the loss of All Souls the building is not an easy one to bear.

"Personally," she said, "I feel that it is a beloved building and for me the worship, in part, is tied to a physical place."

Historic structure

Alberta Porter, president of the Oakland Area Historical Society, said the building that became All Souls Universalist Church initially was known as Union Meeting House.

Under that name the building served as home for several religious denominations, the Universalists among them. Unitarian, Methodist, Baptist, Free Baptist and spiritualists were the other denominations represented, Porter said.

Porter said the Universalists took sole ownership of the building in 1859.

This year, then, is the 150th anniversary of the building as All Souls Universalist Church.

Church records, however, list 1853 as the date that the congregation organized under the name All Souls.

"Even when they had all the different denominations in the building," Porter said, "the Universalists were the largest congregation. They were the first religious group that really came to West Waterville."

West Waterville became Oakland in 1883.

Porter said 19th century community life revolved around the church, which served as a central meeting place not just for services but activities of all types.

That is not the case today.

Beth Scherpf, secretary of the All Souls board, said priorities have shifted, with work and sports consuming a lot more of a typical family's time, even on Sundays.

Membership decline

Oakland also has changed to a great degree over the years, and All Souls minister Scott Jones thinks this has much to do with the decline in membership.

All Souls, he said, used to draw heavily from Oakland for its congregation and had many longtime residents among its members.

But in recent years, Oakland has become more a bedroom community for Waterville and Augusta, with younger families moving to more rural parts of the town, rather than to the downtown village area.

And those newcomers, Jones said, tend to be commuters who have many ties to other communities.

Jones said location is another factor. All Souls is near Unitarian-Universalists churches in Augusta and Waterville, he said.

Karen Kusiak, president of Waterville Universalist-Unitarian Church, said she is one of 112 active members and that the numbers have stayed steady -- growing slightly -- over the 10 years she's been a member.

Augusta's UU Community Church lists 202 in its congregation.

UU membership is steady nationally, according to Harlan Limpert, Unitarian Universalist Association's director of growth and vitality.

Limpert said over the last 20 years the average growth has been about 1 percent.

"I can tell you we have very few churches that close," he said, putting the number at one or two per year.

At the same time, he said the UUA typically adds two to four churches to its membership annually.

Scherpf said in reviewing records at the church recently she found that in 1998, All Souls listed having 60 members.

That is nearly three times the current congregation's size.

Scherpf and her then-partner, Peter Rushton, joined All Souls in fall of 2000. They exchanged wedding vows at the church the following summer.

During their nine years with All Souls they became increasing involved with the church -- Rushton is All Souls president.

But they also saw the congregation decline.

"Since Peter and I have been here," Scherpf said, "I bet there have been eight to 10 elders who have passed away."

Jones, who became All Souls minister 15 years ago, has also experienced that decline firsthand, as well as the increasing financial challenges such a decline causes.

The cost of heating a large, 177-year-old building has been particularly difficult.

"Big buildings are very expensive," All Souls member Linda Jacques said, "beyond the means and energy of this group."

Church available

A church building is a place of worship and fellowship, as well as a sanctuary from what is often a cruel world.

But a church also is real estate with all the associated responsibilities.

In the case of All Souls, an apartment used as a rental property is also a part of the complex, and, thus, there are property taxes to pay on that portion of the building, to go along with overall insurance and maintenance costs.

Jones and the congregation are united in wanting to find a new owner -- and one who will use the church for a good purpose.

They are unsure, though, how to market the church.

"If the town of Oakland had a use for the building," Jones said, "I would love to see the town benefit from it."

Scherpf said the congregation plans to meet later this summer to discuss the matter. "I think there is a lot of work ahead for us to see what will happen with the building," she said. "I don't think it will happen overnight."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com

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