Prayer Fare

Faced with $550,000 in debts from the construction of a new complex of church buildings, the Rev. John Dollard established a compulsory church membership fee of $8 per month. Dollard reasoned that his Roman Catholic parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Livermore, Calif., should be willing to pay the fare of their faith. Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists, after all, are required to tithe.

"This is an American approach to an American problem," said Dollard. "Traditionally, a person with a baptism record has the right of membership in a parish. I'm not impressed by that any more. People have got to pay to get into this outfit from now on." The reaction of the flock, which was probably more bothered by the coercion than by the $8 bite, was decisive if not generous. Church membership since the change has dropped from 850 families to 350.

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