A series of pastors with shorter tenures followed Fr. Volz. They were the Reverends Alphonsus Joerres (1897-1898), August Birsner (1898-1900), Charles Jungblut (1900-1902), Joseph Hauck (1902-1907), and Albert Dorrenbach (1907-1914).

These were not the best of times for the community and its parish. Money and personnel issues dogged the priests as Neillsville struggled with a weak rural economy. A 1909 letter from Fr. Dorrenbach to Bishop James Schwebach may best demonstrate this. The correspondence, written in German, was occasioned by a proposal to change parish boundaries and move families in the Christie area from Neillsville to Greenwood.

Thus Neillsville could have a loss of $81 per pew (families were assessed "pew rental" charges at this time-editor.), in other words we would have a serious deficit. The nuns are demanding $100 more this year, and I don’t see at this time where the money is coming from.

Besides that, for some time now since fall 1908, the membership has constantly fallen off. German and Irish Sisters stay a short time and move on as fast as they can. The factories are doing very poorly. That is the naked truth. I say the women from Christie are our best church members. They are industrious; they come to church without fail. They are giving even when it hurts. I don’t want to complain your eminence, Bishop, Sir, but I am pushed by the need to show you the circumstances just as they are. Now if even the best members will be cut off from us, I would not know how to make ends meet."

A response letter was not found in the archive. But since Christie area residents continue to attend St. Mary’s today, it is presumed the letter succeeded.

The economy worsened two years later when the Neillsville Furniture Factory (also known as Wisconsin Furniture), Neillsville’s largest employer, burned down. Property values dropped sharply, along with job opportunities. People left town to look for work elsewhere. Community leaders attempted to restore morale by raising $2000 towards construction of a new furniture factory, a project that failed to materialize. One of the FSPA sisters explained how the $2000 was collected:

"One Saturday some of our pupils did not attend [religious] instructions, and when we inquired for them, we learned that all the streets had been roped and everybody, man, woman, and child, whether in wagon or auto, and even the trains, were detained until they had given their share. These doings were called "Toll."