Gosh. A long time ago… my dad “bought” one of those pews. Probably late 40s. Anyone could use it. As my dad explained, we didn’t own it, God did. That may have been to satisfy the curiosity of a snotty kidlette, but it was a “take” that stuck with me.
It is a good point. A very good point!
However, the fact is that in the past, people actually did own their pews. It seems to me that by that time, in that place, the idea had changed somewhat (and changed for the better).
In Europe, Catholic churches originally did not have pews (not before the Reformation period). When people went into a church, they did not expect to find a place to sit (indeed, such would have been an odd experience for them). So the idea that wealthy people would spend money to build a place to sit was not contrary to their expectations.
And in the U.S. as we had to build our churches, we had to deal with the expenses; and our challenges were different from the Europeans. We needed NEW churches, lots of them, and we needed them fast. By that time, seating for the congregation was no longer considered optional. Our parishes (nor our diocese) did not have centuries of savings, or patronage from royalty or nobility, that we could draw upon. So we modified the European system. Families sponsored what they could. Each family gave a pew, or a half a pew. Every candlestick was sponsored by someone. etc. etc. At the time, it made sense to say to people “if you didn’t sponsor a pew, please make a small donation each time you use the pew that someone else paid to build.”
Although we would eventually see it this way, AT THE TIME, buying ones own pew was simply the normal way of doing things.
