The front door of the handsome Franklin Street United Methodist Church in Bucksport stood wide open to the warm September sunshine on a recent Friday morning. Inside, the sound of laughter and a bustle of activity came from the kitchen on the first floor, where a group of six women were tying on colorful aprons, setting out ingredients and selecting mixing bowls, pie pans and utensils from the big wooden cabinets.
Members of the church’s Women’s Society for Christian Service gathered that morning to bake pies — 16 of them, for a bake sale the next day at the local hardware store. At $10 per pie, plus a plethora of other contributed goodies such as fudge, cookies, baked beans and yeast rolls, the group hoped to clear about $400 at the sale, one of three such events it schedules each year.
“All I have to do is make a phone call asking people to make things, and I get a whole team working for me,” 69-year-old Chris Petravicz, president of the women’s group, said.
The money the group raises throughout the year is distributed to various local funds and causes, including $600 to the church itself, a $100 college scholarship for a graduating high school senior, shoe vouchers for children in low-income families, support for the nearby H.O.M.E. cooperative and services for migrant workers harvesting the blueberry crop in the Down East region.
In addition to baking for the scheduled fundraisers, the ladies of the church also prepare food for funeral receptions, the after-church coffee hour and other gatherings hosted in the fellowship hall and in the larger community. It’s one way the church supports itself and reaches out to the larger community of Bucksport and surrounding towns.
A mission of service and leadership for women
According to 2010 census data, Maine is the “ least churched” state in the country, the only one in which less than 30 percent of the population belongs to a religious denomination or independent Christian church. A function in part of the state’s declining overall population, particularly in rural areas, the trend is reflected in smaller, older congregations and the closure of many small churches statewide. Although the incidence is not formally tracked, the shift is seen in the makeup of traditional church-based ladies aid groups as well, as younger women increasingly hold down full-time jobs or pursue non-church options for volunteer service and leadership in their communities.
“A generation ago, women typically didn’t work outside the home,” said Glenn Miller of Bangor, a longtime professor of church history who taught for many years at Bangor Theological Seminary and other institutions. “These women’s groups filled a real need for socialization and education, as well as providing opportunities for leadership and intervention in the community.”
Now, he said, women have many other opportunities to connect outside the home, and the institution of the ladies aid group is fading fast.
At the Franklin Street church, most members of the women’s group are in their 60s and 70s, Petravicz said, and membership has been dropping off as fewer families participate in church life.
Still, she said, “We’re a very close-knit church family. We are a welcoming congregation and focused on serving the needs of the entire community.”
Just across the river at the Sandy Point Congregational Church, the Ladies Aid Society just marked its 80th year of service in formal affiliation with the church.
President Sara Bradford, 80, said the group is growing older and smaller with the passage of time.
The group’s three traditional annual major fundraisers — the Summer Fair, the Harvest Supper and the Christmas Bazaar — have dropped to just one.
“It was just getting to be too much for our members,” Bradford said.
Like many ladies aid groups, Bradford said, the Sandy Point group got its start during the Civil War, sewing and knitting for Union troops and supporting needy families left behind in Maine with food, clothing, nursing care and other interventions. When the war ended, the group stayed active, eventually affiliated with the church and continues, to this day, to serve the larger community.
These days, the Sandy Point Ladies Aid helps pay to heat and maintain the historic clapboard church and donates modestly to other local organizations, such as the community club, the cemetery association and the American Legion. It also provides two scholarships for college-bound high school seniors, supports local food pantries, provisions the church kitchen with basic supplies and provides greeting cards and flowers for community members who are ill or grieving the death of a loved one.
“In Maine, there’s a strong tradition of pulling together when someone is in need,” Bradford said. “If it’s not the family, it will be neighbors and friends who look after them.”
But in Sandy Point, she said, that tradition is imperilled by the dwindling ranks of the Ladies Aid.
The group has already opened membership to the community at large, she said, including members of other churches and denominations, summer residents and even a few men who have been made “honorary” members of the group. Still, participation is stagnant. Though there are more than 30 names on the roster, far fewer show up regularly for monthly meetings and special events. While there’s no set number required for the group to stay active and effective, Bradford said, what is needed is an infusion of new members with energy and fresh ideas.
“We’d really like to see some younger women join,” she said. “But the whole culture has shifted.”
In addition to the general decline in church membership and the expanded role of women in the workplace, she noted, it’s no longer the norm for multiple generations of a family to live in one area, further undermining people’s commitment to the overall good of their communities.
“That’s a big change,” she said.
After a powerful heydey, a national decline
At the national level, many Christian denominations boast highly organized women’s groups, including the National Council of Catholic Women, National Episcopal Church Women, Presbyterian Women, United Methodist Church Women, the Women’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Church and others. These organizations share a commitment to influencing public policy and social causes, upholding the status of women within their spiritual traditions and fundraising on a large scale.
But even these powerful groups may have seen their heyday, said historian Miller.
“These are not the same ladies who bake the pies,” he said. “They are and have been very powerful organizations.”
But with the aging of America, changing attitudes toward organized religion and the revolution in women’s status as breadwinners and recognized community leaders, he said, “all these women’s organizations are in rapid decline.”
In Bucksport, Petravicz is undeterred by that trend.
A recent merger between the Franklin Street United Methodist Church and the nearby North Bucksport United Methodist Church promises a stronger combined congregation and, she trusts, a more robust membership for the Women’s Society for Christian Service.
“Hopefully, we will be stronger than ever,” she said.
Petravicz sees greater opportunities ahead for her group to assist needy families and provide needed support to the community.
“You can have all the faith in the world,” she said, hustling around in the church kitchen. “But unless you put it into action somehow, it doesn’t do anyone much good.”
