The beautiful and historic St. Pete's in P-ville (my dad's hometown) is now being made into "senior housing." Guess if they see money in it, the diocese'll do it. And you thought at St. Mary's we were PARANOID??? Just look at the barren wasteland our diocese is becoming. Have you driven past churches like St. Gregory's in Magnolia or St. Ann's in Elmer with their purple funereal curtains masking their locked front doors? It is a site that will bring tears to your eyes. It is Death. The worst kind. Spiritual Death.

As you can read in the snippet below, the mission-style St. Pete's has "merged" with the new-fangled church-in-the-round that is St. Bernadette's in Northfield. While St. Bernadette's is by no means the ugliest church I've ever been to, it is definitely a "new" style church. (I used to go there for our high school retreats.) Do I think it's an accident that smaller, more traditional churches and those sitting on more desirable estate are going bye-bye? Well, no. But hey, we at SSM have been saying that for years now.

We might also mention that while it seems like rural churches are being targeted (and they are), it is also worth noting that Pleasantville, being a stone's throw from Atlantic City, is a large town (historically made up of multiple smaller towns) that is currently comprised of a predominantly African-American population.

Economically, the situation isn't great there, and so the negatives that often accompany poverty, like drugs and crime and desperation, are not uncommon. My grandmother just sold her house and moved in with my uncle's family a few years ago, but up until then had been held up at knife point on her own street more than once. On some level, the atmosphere can be rightly called "urban" in feel, the school system "challenging," and most of the populace relatively poor.

Northfield, one of the next towns over, is very different. While according to Google Maps it takes only 3-6 minutes by car from St. Pete's in P-ville to St. Bernadette's in Northfield, it has been my experience over the years that because of the traffic in this area this is not always realistic. But more importantly, how do we know that everyone in P-ville has access to a car? Our guess is that many use the bus to get around (and walk), which means dependence on the bus schedule, a walk to a bus stop that may not be especially close to home, and all of that, making the trip from somewhere in Pleasantville to St. Bernadette's a lot closer to a half-hour or more.

The question remains; Does the current diocesan administration really want the poor and economically disadvantaged in our churches? Does it want the farmers who have to work Sundays before and after Mass? What about those who have to work crazy hours at the casinos? Does the Galante administration really want to make life easier for the senior citizens who need to be close to their churches? What about kids like me who used to actually walk to church sometimes? Does the diocese really want the single moms or families with bunches of kids, for whom taking a bus to church in the next town would be very difficult? Doesn't look that way to us. Who ever would've guessed that Catholicism was going to turn into the religion of the privileged? Let those who can't get to a Catholic church go somewhere else. After all, they have no money to give, anyway, and that's what it all seems to boil down to. For shame.

Snip:
(To read the entire article, click here: http://www.gsi-consulting.org/retirement-housing-news/st-peters-site-begins-transition-from-house-of-worship-to-senior-housing-in-pleasantville/)

St. Peter's site begins transition from house of worship to senior housing in Pleasantville

Posted on pressofatlanticcity.com:  August 12, 2010

By Christopher Ramirez, Staff Writer

The life of Anna Tosti is deeply intertwined with St. Peter Catholic Church.

It's where her parents married and where she was baptized, it and stands across from her childhood home along the Black Horse Pike near Main Street.

Tosti is now watching a rebirth of the land where a church parish was active for more a century until an official merger was completed in May with nearby St. Bernadette's in Northfield.

Construction is already a few weeks under way in the massive makeover to the property that will result in the Village at St. Peter's, a senior housing complex spearheaded by the Diocese of Camden for those ages 62 and older.

The approximately $17 million project is utilizing about 14,000 square feet along the road for a six-story building that will include 73 one-bedroom units and a two-bedroom unit for an onsite manager. The foundation of the new building is beginning to emerge on the site of the former convent, besides a bell tower and small grass courtyard that leads to the church and school that will remain standing.

Please excuse this rough video! (Scroll all the way down.) I just happened to have our little (old!) camera on me that only takes up to about two minutes of video, so it is not high quality and even cut off most of the video. But my point was this. Our churches are not only sacred places for lofty spiritual and theological reasons, but also serve very practical purposes. How?

Historically, most people have not been literate. They were not able to read about the lives of the saints or Church teachings. They did not own Bibles. Even long after the invention of the printing press, books were hugely expensive. There was no CCD. So how did they learn about their Faith?

One of the ways was by simply going to church and seeing the statues, the stained glass, the paintings. My kids learn the Faith the same way people have for centuries; by looking at the stained glass windows, stations of the cross, and statues in our church. And he does it on his own because he loves it. If I did not utter a word about the Faith but only just took them to church, they would still learn an awful lot.

At St. Mary's, my kids feel safe. They feel surrounded not just by the care of the community they know, but by the love of the angels and saints and God Himself, all of whom so tangibly surround them.

In short, my children would be nothing less than devastated if their church was unjustly stolen from them. Our Lord said in Matthew 18:6,*

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Those responsible for merging and closing St. Mary's (and we believe it will not come to that) will have the wrath of the mothers with which to deal because they are not the ones who will have to pick up the pieces for the devastated children.

Some of these articles are just brief blurbs with links to other articles, others are complete articles.

National Catholic Reporter

CatholicCulture.org

"Voices from the Desert" (This website we would consider questionable in their facts and conclusions, such as "dwindling church attendance." Also, they are an advocacy group/site for those abused by priests, and usually these organizations are just a front for anti-Catholic, anti-Church, "reform" nonsense. Nevertheless, we want to share with you the breadth of coverage here.)

St. John Vianney parishioners, our prayers are with you. It is time to again stand up and voice your opposition to this evil act. Do what is necessary to make your position clear.

Here is the [poor] Courier Post article in which they mislead the reader by making it appear that St. John Vianney* is much younger than it is. Also, notice how idiotic and deceptive the reasoning is. The CP only speaks to core team members, not to those unhappy with the loss of their parish. Anyone who thinks that people in the diocese, much less SJV parisihoners, are "accepting" and in favor of this merger plan is deluding themselves.

In case you haven't already guessed, St. John Vianney is a beautiful little country parish. It is small, old, and traditional. No wonder the bishop wants it gone.

It is sad that its pastor, a priest we happen to like very much, has not supported his parishioners and the rights of the parish to its existance as stipulated by canon law and Church history. This has been the case throughout the diocese. Some care too much for the stability of their status and their standing with the bishop and not enough for the tending of their flock and standing in opposition to that which is overtly wrong.

They hope to "get people back" by closing their parish??? What kind of reasoning is that? The only people who buy this line of reasoning are some on the core teams. By doing this, they are effectively slamming the door in the face to those who ever thought of returning to the Church, but that's just as well to Galante, who has a "new church" in mind that bears little resemblance to the Church we know. Scroll down to the comments.

Snip:

The parishes -- St. Margaret in Woodbury Heights and St. John Vianney in Deptford -- are to merge Jan. 13, Galante said. The new parish will be called Infant Jesus....

The merged parish, with its seat in Woodbury Heights, will serve 3,300 families. It will be led by the Rev. Joseph T. Szolack, the current pastor of St. Margaret's.

St. John Vianney Church will serve as a worship site "as needed by the new parish," the diocese said in a statement.

St. Margaret's Parish was founded in 1961 during a period of suburban growth in Woodbury Heights. St. John Vianney became a parish in 1971.

Merger preparations began in November 2008 when a "core team," with members from each parish, held an initial meeting with Szolack. Parish members since that time have worshipped together and shared social activities, such as a carnival and pancake breakfasts, the diocese said.

"Initially there was some uncertainty as to how this would all work," said Mark Cipolone, a core team member from St. Margaret's. "Now, parishioners are accepting and looking to moving forward."

Cipolone acknowledged a desire to see the survival of St. Margaret's, which was founded in 1961, and St. John Vianney, a parish since 1971.

"Given the realities, we have to do it," he said. "We have to get people to come back."

Galante's announcement came two days after the merger of three parishes in Camden County. Those parishes -- St. Luke in Stratford, St. Lawrence in Lindenwold and Our Lady of Grace in Somerdale -- are now Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

The next merger is to take effect Dec. 23, when two Cherry Hill parishes -- St. Pius X and Holy Rosary -- are to become Holy Eucharist Parish.

So far, 17 parishes have merged since late July, reducing the diocesan total by nine.

Comments:

Replying to armageddon:

Bishop Galante is in the wrong pew....
He should be our next Governor......

Yes, he should merge public school districts but leave our churches and parishes alone.
12/12/2009 8:12:25 AM

Maybe the parishioners at St. Margaret are coming to "accept" it but I can assure you those at St. John Vianney, which incidentally has been there long before 1971 (as St. Agnes), are not "accepting" it. And before anyone says anything, St. John Vianney is a full parish on Sundays and in the black.
12/12/2009 12:39:37 PM

Replying to watertoo:

Maybe the parishioners at St. Margaret are coming to "accept" it but I can assure you those at St. John Vianney, which incidentally has been there long before 1971 (as St. Agnes), are not "accepting" it. And before anyone says anything, St. John Vianney is a full parish on Sundays and in the black.

It is not fair that they are closing a fully self-sufficient church like St. John Vianney. I wish that the Courier Post would interview other church goers besides core team members.
12/12/2009 1:28:02 PM

Geographically, how do they justify elderly parish members that live in Deptford traveling to Woodbury Heights? It is not around the corner!! This is one of many reasons I have left my catholic background. There is no thought to the people just to the politics!!
12/12/2009 6:16:53 PM

The obese bishop must be removed. He is uneducated and stupid. Anyone who puts money in the plate is a fool. Remember the house of charity is the bishp's home.
12/12/2009 8:06:04 PM

* The SJV website has been significantly downsized from what it once was. It was once one of the best church websites in the diocese. Guess they were told to downsize it to only the absolutely essential information. Are the parishioners being told it's time to roll over and die?

On Friday November 20th, I attended one (of two) days of the "Lifelong Faith Formation" seminar/workshop/conference/whatever. It was held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Absecon. Honestly I had no idea what to expect in terms of particulars, but my expectations were fairly low. (This way I could be pleasantly surprised.) I hoped to come from the day with a few ideas for our parish pertaining to RCIA or adult religious education, and maybe some curricula to flip through. Well, I really didn't get either of these. As it turns out, the seminar was mainly intended to help parishes implement a specific "faith formation" program. It was largely an "insert Tab A into Slot B" type of thing, with some options to make the program suit your own "community," but it was definitely a program. And yes, it was alarming, but I'll talk more about the program generally in the future.

For any of you who might've missed this bit of satisfying news. Yes it's from back in May but we get so much email and things forwarded it's hard to sift through it all. In any case, enjoy. (They have a new bishop now, by the way.)

Click here to see!

See also this brief slideshow

Here's a letter to the editor from Diocese of Camden spinmaster, Andy Walton. Don't laugh right away, read it first.

Re: "Do not care" (letters, Aug. 27).

The letter writer from Magnolia, whose struggling parish is merging with two nearby parishes, suggested that Bishop Joseph Galante, his priest advisers, deanery planning teams, planning commission and Core Teams "do not care" about the pain being felt by parishioners when their parishes merge.

The feelings of loss that accompany change of this kind are not being ignored. In fact, unlike other dioceses that have moved far more quickly with parish reconfigurations, the bishop insisted there be a period of 12 to 24 months before he issued decrees formally establishing new parishes. He did this in recognition of the sense of loss he knew would be experienced and to give parishes adequate time to prepare to come together.

During this time, he has heard personally from parishioners in every part of the diocese and has acknowledged the disappointment many naturally feel. The fact is, if he didn't care, he would not be taking steps to address the needs of Catholics in South Jersey. If he didn't care, he wouldn't be working to reverse downward trends in religious practice.

The fact is, it is precisely because the bishop cares so deeply about the well-being of parishioners and because of his great love for the Church and the people of South Jersey that he has undertaken the effort now under way to strengthen parishes and improve care to the people.

ANDREW WALTON Office of Communications Diocese of Camden Camden

St. Gregory's:
Andy's talking about the beautiful St. Gregory's (above) in Magnolia. Galante, McGrath, and Walton "care" so much they seem to have sold the property to Wawa. Who do they think they're fooling? We've got pictures of the surveyors sent to us by a concerned reader back last Christmas. Money talks, and to the tune of 10 million dollars, apparently. Empathy my foot. It's prime real estate.


View Larger Map

"Downward trends in religious practice":
As to the misleading demographic information continually touted by Mr. Walton, we've addressed it numerous times. It's lies. Just look here and here and here. All you have to do is look on a map to see where Magnolia is to know that the Catholic population in that area can only be expanding, not decreasing. We're not talking rural Fairton, Cumberland County here or Dennis Township, Cape May County. We're talking close proximity to Philadelphia in a congested, continually expanding area of South Jersey.

The plain fact is that the Catholic population in NJ and in South Jersey in particular is dramatically increasing. In fact the Catholic population in NJ has increased by at least 2.5% since 1990, by roughly 100,000 people. In Gloucester County alone we're looking at a Catholic increase of at least 20% since 1990. The Catholic population is only decreasing in South Jersey's only true urban centers, Camden and Atlantic City, as illustrated below:

                    Deptford           Salem County                Camden                   Atlantic City

1950                 7,304                 49,508                       124,555                       61,657

1960               17,878                 58,711                       117,159                       59,544

2006-7*          30,529                 66,595                         80,010                      39,684

*most recent available estimate

"Reversing Downward Trends":
Do they really care about reversing supposed downward trends or about justifying their own agenda? If all they care about is giving people what they want, they should stop watering down the Faith and desiring to build protestant style megachurches. And if they are truly targeting young adults, as they should, this group wants one of two things, neither of which the Diocese of Camden is offering: (1) an authentic and unapologetic Christianity, or (2) at the very least, clarity and a lack of hypocrisy. This is why you see the most traditional churches and religious orders growing. Alternately those who are leaving the Church are leaving for a protestantism whose Christianity is clear and faith exacting. Others who leave leave the Faith and stay away out of disgust for the likes of people like Walton and others who pretend religion but in reality have nothing but political motives. See these comments on Andy's letter, for example:

bjd0305:

It is more effective to have fewer churches with more people in them. god is a hell of a businessman
9/2/2009 8:27:08 AM

firebird 7478 replying to bjd0305:

Which is why he's always asking for more money.
9/2/2009 10:41:42 AM

Case in point. House of "Charity" anyone?

"Feelings of Loss that Accompany Change":
We addressed this patronizing attitude just the other day. So we quote ourselves!

They have spewed psychobabble pertaining to the alleged difficulty that we, the laity have coping with change. This kind of patronizing dribble is without merit because it fails to address the purpose of the change and merely holds up "change" as having inherent value. This type of rhetoric attempts to put the Catholic faithful on the defensive, as if we have to prove our ability to healthily cope with change by accepting the destruction of our parishes. The question remains, is the change we are expected to embrace a change toward the Good, toward God's Will, toward God Himself? What are we supposed to be changing to?

"Heard Personally From Parishioners":
And, apparently, listened to few of them. Go ahead and ask St. Gregory's how "listened to" they're feeling right about now. They got "listened" right into closure.

Click on each of the photos below to play (brief) video.

To those of you who missed out on The Snake Brothers and In High Gear, you really missed out on something great. No video clip can do either band justice. Luckily, you can still catch The Snake Brothers on Saturday August 29th at Estell Manor (the County Park) on Route 50 not far from Mays Landing. They are definitely worth coming out for. We will have all three of the Snake Brothers CDs for sale at the Feast tomorrow also, $15 each, but in limited quantity, so claim your copy quickly if you're a Snake Brothers Fan. I bought their live album.

Here is a tiny sample of the country/rock band In High Gear. They were a very good time. We recommend trying to catch them locally if you ever have the chance. They seem to have a following of people who came to the festivities today who had a good time dancing along to the music.
 

Here is a tiny sample of The Snake Brothers: (For more scroll down.)


Here is a tiny sample of a hayride. Yes, I turned my camera right-side up after a second! Woops. The hay rides are so much fun and they are only 50 cents a ticket!


Here is a tiny sample of the pony rides. They are $3 each and better than any pony ride I've seen at a fair this summer (and we went to quite a few). The woman you see leading the pony around has made her life's work about horses, so she doesn't just make the pony ride circuit.


This is just a video of my son and his little friend dancing.


Here is another tiny sample of The Snake Brothers.


And here is yet another tiny sample of The Snake Brothers. It is my single biggest regret of today (aside from asking that they play later in the day when there was a bit more of a crowd) that I did not get this entire song on video. It is on none of their CDs that I could find. It was my favorite of all the songs they performed today. They are so awesome and a bunch of truly nice people. THANK YOU to The Snake Brothers.

...all they got was that crappy sign? And yikes, all they could come up with for a name was "Catholic Community of Christ Our Light?" Sounds like a new age temple. It's not even a "church," mind you, it's a "Catholic community." For goodness sakes, let me stick my finger down my throat right now. Someone please tell me, what in the world is suddenly wrong with the word "church?" And why are we replacing actual communities with concocted ones?

In any case, two pretty big churches in Cherry Hill, of all places, merge and all they can get for their first mass was 100 people? That's not exactly a rousing endorsement. Maybe people were put off by the lame sign.

The worst part of the article (link below) are, sadly, the quotes, from their new pastor:

"We stand after great visionaries who've come before us, and blazed a path."

Of course, the statement begs the questions, which visionaries? And where's your blazin' path headed?

I guess he tries to answer the questions by saying,

"The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made." What the heck does that mean? If he's saying that there isn't a path to be found, one that does, in fact, already exist and was "blazed" by Our Lord and Savior, but only the one we make, I think the lot of them are headed someplace I'd prefer not to go.

It's pretty simple really. We don't need to go blazin' our own paths, because Our Lord said this:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14

Yes, the good father, well intentioned I'm sure, seems to have contradicted Jesus' own words. Our Lord instructed us to FIND the path and to FOLLOW Him on it. In the very next chapter in Matthew, in fact, Jesus said, "Follow me." And not long after this, in Matthew 8:28-34, Jesus cast out demons and they entered instead into a herd of swine, which "rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water." Guess those piggies blazed quite a path.



 Click here to read Star Herald piece.

We know that the church closures are not about money. Truly, whatever is lacking could surely be found. (The Diocese owns so much unused real estate and has plenty of money.) And besides, some of the most financially viable churches in the Diocese have been slated for closure. But many persist in believing the closures are about money.

Worse still, there are priests and pastors out there who claim that if a church cannot support itself, it has no right to exist.

(Keep in mind that debt is sometimes incurred due to the necessity of paying assessments to the Diocese and certain amounts to support local Catholic schools, whether or not parishioners actually make use of or can afford tuition at these schools. Barring these two things, most churches do not have any problem paying their utility bills and maintaining their properties. We should also remember that by virtue of threatening certain churches with closure, the bishop has scared off many Catholics from the Faith or their parishes altogether, causing a great deal of confusion, despair, and decreased church attendance, all of which affect collections.)

In any case, what we need to ask ourselves is this: As Christians, should it be the case that those churches who are wealthier deserve to exist, while those who are poorer do not? What kind of an attitude is that? Is it Catholic? Is it even Christian?

In fact, it is neither. Our Lord did not recommend that the poor go out and attempt to become rich, but that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the treasure of the poor would be great in heaven, and that the Kingdom of God belonged to them, that the heavenly banquet would be theirs!

The burden of coming to the aid of the less fortunate parishes in a Diocese falls upon the wealthier ones. And it is the job of the shepherds--the bishop and priests--to see to it that all the faithful have churches in which to worship. The effort to evangelize, not consolidate, should be in the forefront of all of our minds.

If it is believed that a prior pastor lacked the ability to financially manage his parish, then is it fair that the laity be forced to lose their church as a result? We of course know that this is only an excuse to do something we all know to be wrong, but the point is this: shepherds of  flocks in need should help them find ways to subsist.

Let us not delude ourselves. The role of a true pastor is not to persecute his flock, but to help them grow in Christ. He should be acting as a healer and not a henchman. No priest who plans on closing churches may be construed as a prophet unwelcome in his own country.

Let us look to St. St. John Vianney, one of the most unlikely saints of all. Thought to be a poor student, and having failed his seminary exams, he was finally ordained due only to his piety. He was sent to a teeny tiny French village called Ars:

Two decades after the French Revolution inspired massacres of 300 priests in France, there was a desperate need for priests....In a village of 40 houses, there were 4 taverns. Church attendance was very low, the farmers worked on Sunday, everyone spend their time drinking and swearing. It was a 'punishment parish' and the people laid bets on how long this new priest would last. But the new Cure of Ars surprised them all.

Someone peeked in his window and saw that he prayed all night. Others noticed that he removed all the fine furniture from the rectory and turned the parlour into a woodshed. He gave his clothes away to the poor and ate only two potatoes a day. Others reported that though his voice seemed to hurt their ears, his sermons stirred their hearts. He became part of the village life as well, visiting all the homes, and helping the villagers with their daily lives. He helped a shop owner with his bookkeeping, prescribed remedies for whooping cough, and when a tavern closed for lack of business, raised money for the owner to buy a farm, then tore the tavern down.

Twelve years later, people would say 'Ars is no longer Ars.' Everyone went to the three hour masses. The farmers prayed the rosary as they worked in the fields. When Father Vianney heard confessions, people would stand in line for hours....People travelled for miles and from around the world to make a confession to him. Sinners were converted at a few words from him. By the end of his life, he spend 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional, and he was mobbed whenever he appeared. He heard 20,000 confessions a year, up to 300 a day.

In a country that had murdered great numbers of its priests, and discouraged the practicing of the Catholic faith John Vianney moved like a bright light, restoring faith and healing hearts....

The heroes of his youth were those priests who refused to submit to the French revolutionary government's nationalization of the Church, and risked martyrdom to celebrate Mass in secret in houses and barns of the faithful. John began to practice mortifications in imitation of these priests and as sacrifice for sinners from an early age.

When he was ordained and sent to Ars, he continued these austerities. He disposed of the fine furniture in the rectory, and used the money to help the poor of the parish. He spend hours in prayer, hours in the confessional and more hours serving the day to day needs of his parishioners.

In the entire village in which St. John Vianney lived, there were only a couple hundred people. Now a parish with 250 families is said not to have a right to exist! Oh how far we have fallen. This saint of saints and priest of priests spared nothing for his flock. What are the priests who should be imitating this great saint doing today? Busy figuring out how to close churches? We hope not. Let us pray that all priests, pastors, and bishops see the Light and heed the commands of Our Lord, to "preach the gospel to the poor."

The littlest CCD students play this London-Bridge like game mainly while they're waiting for their parents to pick them up after class is over. They love it. In this little video I took the last day of CCD, there were just a few kids left. It gives you an idea, though, of the kind of program we have at St. Mary's. It is very personal. From the youngest ages, kids learn to know and love God, stay close to His Mother, and feel that they're a part of a tight, caring, and deeply Catholic community. This is nothing to take for granted!

(Don't ask me what, though!) We love you, Father!

Read the Article by Clicking HERE
View Larger Map

Ms. Thomasello showed me a copy of the newspaper article and relayed to me the group's interest not in changing anything at the church or shrine, but in finding out what it once looked like and helping to fix it up. Many in this group have contributed plants, stonework, and a heck of a lot of labor. All this they gave from their own time and effort without any expectation of repayment, just because they wanted to. Strangely, they have encountered much resistence to their efforts from the pastor, Rev. Pham. In their attempts to win his heart, they purchased from their own pockets a lovely statue of St. Bernadette, now the center of this seemingly ridiculous controversy, and had it sent to the rectory as a gift. Of course this strikes us as really odd since people donate things to St. Mary's all the time, eveything from stained glass windows to handywork to statues in the rosary garden to plants to small statues placed around the church. Our shrine room is bursting at the seems with beautiful statues, pictures, and relics of the saints.

Of course, Andy Walton has to chime in with a typically bizarre comment or two. "There's no history of that," (meaning no history of the shrine being dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes) as if he would have any familiarity with the histor of this parish anyway. (The man lives in Pennsylvania.) But isn't this beside the point? Whatever happened to courtesy? Why alienate the Catholic faithful by rejecting the gift of their time, talents, and gifts?

One has to wonder if the group of people involved were wealthy and influential, the Diocese would look quite differently upon them. With all this talk about wanting to transform the Diocese of Camden's churches into places that throb with "social justice ministries," it seems particularly ironic that they would allow a group of disaffected people to be treated so rudely. And all this talk about trying to win back lapsed Catholics, you would think a thing like this would warm the hearts of the Galante administration. Huh. Guess not.

Mr. Walton concludes with, "It's not her shrine." That's interesting. In my conversation with Thomasello she was mystified by the implication that she believed the shrine belonged to her. However it struck us that if in this "process" of "transforming" the Diocese was to be influenced by the "voice of the people," (which nobody I know truly believes,) then whose churches are they? Whose shrines are they? In the end, they ought to belong to the people who care for them, pray at them, and love them.

But of course, all this talk has nothing to do with politics or property value...


Article below:
 

By JULIET FLETCHER Staff Writer, 609-272-7251 | Posted: Monday, May 11, 2009 12:25 am

Some Catholic homeschoolers had a May Crowning mass yesterday. The crowning itself was in the Rosary garden, followed by the Rosary. Fr. Namayatka presided at the mass.
 

Created with flickr slideshow.

In this article, which is barely worth mentioning except to show the continuous stream of illogic that flows from the Chancery Office, the Catholic Star Herald claims that a 4% drop in Catholics in the entire state of NJ justifies closing half the churches in South Jersey. But that's just the beginning. It gets worse.

Do they really not know how to read stats? No, the Diocesan Administration just intentionally misleads. It's really hard to see it any other way when you look at the actual numbers. These numbers took 10 minutes to figure out, by the way.

As anyone with a brain in their head might know even without looking at actual census data, the population of the state of NJ has increased overall, by almost a million people, from 7,730,188 in 1990 to 8,682,661 in 2008. This total population increase has led to a total increase of 2.5% of Catholics in the state of NJ. Statewide, this amounts to a 90,000 Catholic increase in the state during those years. That means that while the proportion of Catholics in the state has decreased from 46 to 42% due to an overall population increase in the state, the total number of Catholics has actually increased. Catholics in the state of NJ have gone from 3,555,886 in 1990 to 3,646,717 in 2008, an increase of almost 100,000 people.

The Star Herald's Headline, "Survey Shows Decline of Catholic Population in NJ," seems to be, well, not the case. Would we say that the Diocese is lying? We certainly have our opinion, but we'll let you be the judge. The bottom line is, they appear willing to say anything to justify their agenda.

Oddly, they also fail to mention that in Gloucester County alone the Catholic population could have increased by almost 20,000 people. How do we get that number? We know that in Gloucester County, the county in which St. Mary's is located, the population has increased 20% from 1990 to 2005. The county has gone from 230,082 to 276,910. If we may safely extrapolate from statewide numbers (the same numbers used by the Hartford survey the Diocese cites) and apply them to Gloucester County--and they very well may not be applicable since the Catholic population in Gloucester County could actually represent a higher percentage--then roughly 42% of the total population of Gloucester County may be Catholic. If this is the case, then of the 276,910 people living in Gloucester County, there would be a 20% increase in Catholics since 1990 (19,700 more, to be exact).*

Ironically, the increase in total population but decrease proportionately, not numerically, of Catholics in the state is due to an increasingly diversified population, something the Diocese purports to celebrate.

And as far as leading your sheep along the right path, oh shepherd Galante, perhaps it bears repeating: The truth shall make you free.


* Since typically census data is found online, we could probably prove this definitively but since we only have a few minutes, we're not going to dig around to further discredit the Galante Administration. Maybe later we'll have time to find the actual numbers of Catholics in various counties.

An Apology

Some loving people have asked me to explain the situation at St. Mary's because I have kept
people in the dark. I apologize for that and truly want to make amends for that sin.

Have No Doubt
Most importantly, St. Mary's will remain open. I have never doubted that because of the special blessings we have received from our Blessed Mother. This privilege has been given to her by Our Lord's Sacred Heart.*

It is With Fr. Romanowski's Spiritual Support and the Intercession of the Saints that we Fight On!

I am going to leave St. Mary's on April 30, 2009 A.D., the feast of St. Pius V, the great pope of the rosary and the Council of Trent. Prior to that day we celebrate significant saints' feasts. We celebrate St. Catherine of Siena, the illiterate Dominican tertiary who changed history by impressing upon the Holy Father [Pope Gregory XI, see picture at left] to leave Avignon and return to Rome. We also celebrate the feast of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the saint whose spirituality has guided St. Mary's parish life for decades beginning with Msgr. McCaffrey. (Not insignificant is the fact that Bishop Galante was officially installed on the 30th of April, 2004 A.D.)**

All Our Lives May Be Consecrated to and Illuminated by Him

I ask everyone who reads this article to read it prayerfully. Remember: You only have to pray the aspiration: Through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, for Mary--Through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, for Jesus.*** If you pray this prayer and meditate on events at St. Mary's, the Diocese, and throughout your life, you will see the light and not remain in the dark.**** Certain parishioners see this clearly now and continue to see all the events of their lives with the foundation of a spirituality which Servant of God John Paul the Great lived and recommended to all. As he said in his native language: "Niech bedzie pochawalony Jezus Chrystus," which translated means, "Praised be Jesus Christ!"

...Now and Forever,
Fr. Jerome C. Romanowski
Pastor Emeritus

N.B. Remember to be athletic and wholesome!


Editor's Notes

* Please note we are working as vigilantly as ever to save our church through the "Save St. Mary's" organization. The battle is far from over. To get involved or if you'd like to know how you can help save your own parish, please call Kevin: 856-694-2748 or Leah: 856-692-0222.

** What we suspect Father means here is that it is ironic that the bishop's installation anniversary coincides with his "leaving" St. Mary's. We are certain that Fr. Romanowski would have loved the opportunity to stay at St. Mary's, if it were not for the "situation" our Diocese currently faces, what with the current oppressive "Administration." Father remains eager to say the mass, help the laity receive the sacraments, and perform other priestly functions. It is a shame that he and so many other priests are being pressured to retire, become military chaplains outside the diocese, or otherwise go away. With so many priests out of the way, it paves the way for the "lay ministry" programs Galante so wishes to implement that seek to undermine functions traditionally and rightly relegated to holy priests trained and consecrated to perform those functions.

*** This formula has as its origin the spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort.

****John 1:9, "That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world."