Heirlooms of UCN History #46
by Will Frank
Church records for the 1937-38 contain little of significance concerning the discontent with the Rev. Gerald FitzPatrick, but do praise Jifka FitzPatrick for her leadership in the Women’s Alliance and her organizing a series of meetings to explore the lives and contributions of famous Unitarians in history. The issues that were recorded included a fire that required ceiling, roof and window repair and repainting; the reconstruction of pews; lay attempts to draw new people to the church from the fraternal lodges of Norfolk; a lively discussion that the church name should be changed from “The Unitarian Church of Norfolk” to “Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church,” which was tabled; the purchase of copies of the new hymnal just published, Hymns of the Spirit; the addition of folding chairs for the social hall funded by the Women’s Alliance; the lack of sufficient teachers for the children’s religious education program; the church joining the Southern Neighbors Conference to be held in Fredericksburg [there not being any districts yet]; and always the shortage of money. In all such issues, the voice of the minister is absent in the records. During Harry Lutz’s ministry, the minister’s voice was constant, suggestive, and encouraging. Not now.
Then, shortly before the American Unitarian Association’s 1938 May Meetings in Boston [predecessor of today’s General Assembly], which the minister would attend, the trustees met at the call of Robert M. Darden, just reelected as president of the church. The only business was the fate of the minister.
“Discussion at some length relative to present minister and change of minister. Mr. [Leon] Nowitzky makes the following motion, seconded by Mr. [Francis H.] Bagley: That the board go on record favoring a change in minister and that Mr. Fitzpatrick be advised of same and given a chance to make the request to be changed, himself, in lieu of the board making the request at once to Boston.”
The vote carried by a large majority if not unanimously.
On June 10, 1938, FitzPatrick, returned from May Meetings and tendered his resignation as minister of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, saying he wanted a change. The congregation accepted the resignation “with regrets,” and “the meeting adjourned and light refreshments were served by the ladies.” The next day the FitzPatrick family left town forever.
Gerald FitzPatrick could never make peace with himself living in socially conservative Norfolk or with a congregation whose leaders absorbed the religious freedom of Unitarianism but perhaps not its full spiritual and social mission. In any case, ten long-standing members of the church wrote a letter to the president of the AUA, complaining that they supported FitzPatrick and had been left in the dark about the action of the trustees until FitzPatrick suddenly resigned, about which they could do little but accept. “Had he known the whole truth of the matter” they wrote, “we do not believe he would have resigned, as seventy or eighty percent of the congregation were with him. The whole thing was engineered so secretly that we....were not informed of the matter until after the damage was done.” “We admire Mr. FitzPatrick as a minister” they continued, “and like him as a frank, sturdy and straightforward man, and the children love him. We wish him the very best that life can offer and feel certain that he will succeed in his work as a Unitarian Minister.”
It so came to pass. FitzPatrick was soon settled as the minister of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, Vermont, which he happily served for thirty years, the last years as minister emeritus. He also was happy in his adopted town of Montpelier, working in the community for mental hygiene. After seven years of deterioration due to Alzheimer’s disease, the Rev. Gerald Russell FitzPatrick died on February 8, 1968, at age 85, leaving his wife Jifka and three sons.