FINNS: An Oral History- Keeping Services - John R. Niemela
New Ipswich Historical Society
FINNS: An Oral History of Finnish-Americans in New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region
Excerpted from FINNS: An Oral History... by Patricia Kangas Ktistes, 1997, all rights reserved.
John R. Niemela
The Apostolic Lutheran people were different in the ‘30s and ‘40s; they had a Christian attitude. When they lost leadership, because of the Second World War; the Elders couldn’t get out of Sweden and Finland, they had no spiritual leaders here except for one or two. One was Emmanuel Aho. Another, one of the last from Finland, was Everett Matala, who, when he preached his last sermon, my father said he could see a halo around his head. My father noted this to others as well. So not having any qualified ministers and scholars, the Apostolic congregation created their own internal ministers. My own father, John Niemela, was preaching there. And he was extremely doctrinaire, but he was a little more advanced, a little better read than most members of the congregation. But his public presentation, he only finished eighth grade, wasn’t manifested with vision. They had no one among them with vision. So the root of the problem was no-one to provide strong Christian leadership after the war.
Emmanuel Aho was characteristic of Laestadian preachers of earlier decades. He was very gentle, kind; his face emitted a glowing expression. But many people in the congregation resented him; I suspect because of his education and that attitude prevailed. If you had any degree of education, you were suspect. It could have come out of the issue of the Reds and Whites in Finland and a spin-off suspicion developed among those in this area. The Reds were more educated but were mostly atheists and didn’t like the church. Consequently, if you had education, you were Red and an atheist. Some of those people were really Reds and really atheistic, so the Apostolics were partially justified in their viewpoint. But they carried that belief to the point where, if you had an education, you considered yourself smarter than someone else and there was something wrong with you. ‘You’re not like the rest of us.’ I abandoned that whole aspect of the place at a young age and became kind of a reprobate in the community.
The Apostolic church in New Ipswich was so doctrinaire that other Apostolic people out West in Minnesota, for example, did not want to associate with us after the war. The New Ipswich group had become led by people who weren’t qualified to even interpret the Bible, that they created a rigidity, labeling dos and don’ts. And they were judgmental; very judgmental. Because they had no one in leadership to instruct them in how to be.
And so it was almost like being in a spiritual vacuum or cocoon: ‘Since there are no instructors, we’ll have to do this ourselves. And therefore the easiest way is to make the rules and live by the rules.’ My father preached in that church, but then they kicked him out because of the behavior of me and my brothers. We wouldn’t go to that church, so he was advised, “You can’t control your children, you can’t preach here anymore.”
And discipline was strict within families that attended the Apostolic Lutheran church; at times, it bordered on cruelty to children. And they got away with that. They had no way of knowing. They themselves were ignorant. They had been raised that way. And the girls within the congregation were so cowed, they didn’t dare say anything. It was completely out of touch with reality. The Apostolic Lutheran church in New Ipswich was at its most vital and vibrant when those ministers came out to preach from Finland. Then, there was dignity in the church. There was spirit in the church. To me, the Holy Spirit came with them.
Interesting. I was oblivious to, and unaware of, these contentions or problems in the Finnish community. Religion was never discussed nor was it an issue in my family or the Finns I knew. However, I lived in Highbridge which had a mix of ethnic groups and the Catholics went to church in Greenville. My parents were very busy with 6 kids, their jobs, and a general store, we did not engage in a lot of community events.
Wow, he certainly was honest in his opinion. I remember the Apostolic Church and the Independent Apostolic Church in the late 1950s. They were very strict. They believed they were the only ones that would go to heaven Their preachers were chosen from within their congregation. The women couldn't work, rarely voted and weren't allowed to give their opinion.