On Discovering 1944 Church Records

 The Church of the Good Shepherd, Fitchburg, MA.  

From 1976-1980 I was successively Deacon in Charge, Priest in Charge and Rector.

  

Note the 'phone number!

30 Parsons St (later Parsons Circle) was the address of the Rectory. I lived there many years later).

 Frederick Sleep  (always Mr. Sleep, never Fr. Sleep)  served there from about 1915 when the Church of the Good Shepherd was a Mission of the larger Christ Church, Fitchburg where he was on the staff.  When CGS achieved Parish status (1927) he was called to be the first Rector. I think that he retired in 1948.  

He was an Englishman, a selling point when in 1976 the late Bishop Alexander D. Stewart foisted me upon the parish sight unseen.  Well, there are Englishman and there are English men!

War time parish organisations.

When I was appointed to CGS in 1976 my salary was approx. $7200 per annum.   I checked the comparative tables to discover that my salary had just about bested inflation.

CGS was in the Paper Mill area of Fitchburg. When it was a Mission it had a sense that it was the ugly daughter of the prosperous downtown Christ Church  (the Church of the Bosses!).

One of those bosses, the noble C.T.? Crocker had the innate sense that the blue collar Episcopalians of West Fitchburg would be best served by local "indigenous" and blue collar leaders  in their own neighbourhoods. 

This was the same Mr. Crocker who in depression days had his men dig a huge retention pond (essential for paper making) so that they could stay on payroll.

If the paper mills had only enough work for two days each week then those in tied housing paid only two days of rent per week.  He was revered by the working stiffs of west Fitchburg.  

I loved my four years at CGS.  I should have stayed longer.

That was not to be.  

CGS (never truly viable) is no longer. The property was sold to the dubiously named "Patriot Christian Church"