The First Building, Both St. Joan of Arc Church and School

Adapted from "Saint Joan of Arc Parish Diamond Anniversary 1920-1995"
Copyright (c) 1995, St. Joan of Arc Parish

Rev. George Welsh First Pastor

Parish Building Begins

In 1923 a building was constructed on the plot of land to serve as a school on the upper floor, a church on the main floor and a meeting and social area in the basement. Father Welsh secured sisters from the Order of St. Dominic from Newburgh, N.Y. and a house was rented for use as a convent.

From its modest beginning, the parish grew and prospered, not always financially because of the many layoffs over the years at the shipyards, but spiritually through the dedication beginning with Father Welsh and the Dominican Sisters and continuing down through the efforts of the priests and sisters in the future years to come.

In 1924, school started with six grades and when it reopened in September, 1925 it had seven grades and an enrollment of two hundred and twenty-five pupils under the direction of the Good Sisters of St. Dominic with Sister Thomas in charge. That year the eighth grade students went to Sacred Heart school and the high school students were enrolled at Immaculate Conception High School.

St. Joan of Arc Church and School Building (1923-1951)

Also in 1924, Father Welsh instituted and published the Parish Bulletin in the interest of St. Joan of Arc parishioners. Services for Sundays, Holy Days and First Fridays were listed along with schedules for Baptisms and Confessions. Information was listed for sick calls and rules regarding Catholic marriages.

Though times were bad economically, family members, when they were able, attended monthly meetings and took part in Mass and Communion reception as members of the Holy Name Society, the St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Blessed Virgin Sodality. These social times with other parish members created the consistent effort of Father Welsh along with the Domincan Sisters to provide an abundance of responses to the wide variety of human needs of the parishioners.

In a personal letter from Father Welsh, he explained the new system, the Envelope System, he was introducing in 1925. It was being used to raise the funds necessary to reduce the parish debt and to carry on the work of the parish.

The amount placed in the weekly envelope would be listed as a credit toward the parishioners' Church pledge. Those amounts would be published in the Parish Bulletin every three months throughout the year.

The suggested pledge was twenty five cents which could be placed in each contributor's pre-numbered "Set" of fifty two envelopes. Each envelope had two pockets. The left hand pocket was for the Sunday offering and the right hand pocket was for the Church pledge, or Church debt. It was, as he put it, "a means for setting aside out of each weekly pay a proper allowance for the Church."

Father Welsh also expressed another wish: "that you cooperate with the Good Sisters by supervising the students' homework in the evenings and by sending them punctually to school. Always review their monthly reports before signing them and cooperate with the Good Sisters in their wonderful work and at the same time fulfill your duty as a parent in the sight of God."