work due to the poor quality of the brick that had survived the fire. The walls were torn down and the church was rebuilt from scratch.

During those two years Mass was held in the Holy Name Hall located just across the road from the church. Everything was carried on as usual with marriages, baptisms, and confessions all taking place in the hall. There were usually two masses held on Sunday, as the Hall was not big enough to accommodate the entire congregation at once. (50)

The church was reopened on July I“, 1928, but it would take almost forty years to pay off the debt of the new building. Times were difficult in the community, as was the case in most of the country with the onset of the depression in the 1929 and the Second World War in the 1939. Father McAulay was the priest throughout these difficult years, and his stay in the St. Peters Parish lasted almost forty years. As Frank Ledwell states “he was a major and permanent fixture in the community." [51)

Born in St. Peters in 1863, Alexander McAulay studied at St. Dunstan’s College in Charlottetown and the Grand Seminary in Quebec before being ordained in Montreal on June 5th, 1890. He served as secretary to Bishop McIntyre in Charlottetown and Pastor at Hope River and Kellys Cross before coming to St. Peters in 1913. Father MacAulay celebrated his 50th Anniversary of his ordination into the priesthood in 1940. It was in that same year, he was honored with the title of Monsignor. Known for his long sermons, Father MacAulay is also remembered for his intitutive methods fir paying off the new church.

Card plays, cake sales, and annual bazaars were held within the village at the Holy Name Hall, the proceeds of which went to the Church. At this time there was also a club organized in Boston by the former members of the Catholic community living in Boston. Claire Logan of St.

Peters, who had moved to Boston in the early 19505, was a member of this club:

We ran whist parties (card parties), and dances, and banquets at the end of the year to raise money. Any profits that were made were sent back to the church here. There was a large crowd going to this group that ran different charities. When you belonged to one group, you went to them all. Everybody would donate, that is when you went to the whist parties you took a prize with you. You donated a prize and you paid so much to get in. You’d play so many games and then the winners at this table would move. It was similar to 45s that are played here. The prizes were usually groceries, a box of tea or some towels. It was a lot of fun and good entertainment of you liked to play cards. I learned to play whist up

there. (52) *

‘ Claire Logan also made reference to another club entitled the ‘Columbus Charity Club’ that was in aid of a missionary priest, Father Feehan from ‘up east’ who was working in foreign countries.