Anecdote

A funny thing happened the other day. There's a well-known and well-liked lady in our town who has for ages run a restaurant. She recently changed locations (again) and I wanted to get a look at the new spot, so we stopped in for a bite.

Now this is the type of woman who has at least one prominently placed crucifix in her place and gushes over your "babies" (kids). She's the Catholic grandmotherly type, gregarious, enthusiastic, easy to talk to, a great cook. True to form, my younger son, who happens to be austistic and who also happens to have a great sense of direction, starts crying out, "St. Martin's!" which sounds similar to, "St. Mark's," neither of which were very far from us.

Hearing this, the woman says, "Yes, sweetie, St. Mark's. That's my church. It's right up the street." Confused and rarely one to keep my mouth shut when I'm curious, I say, "I thought you belonged to St. Martin's."

"Oh yes, I used to go there. But I sang at a wedding at St. Mark's and just fell in love with it. They're just like Catholic, you know, they even use our same books. They just don't believe in the pope." And on and on about how great a place it is, how wonderful the pastor and his minister wife are, and how she donates food for their dinners and things.

In case you haven't guessed, St. Mark's is an Episcopal church. To be honest, although I don't know her well, this is one of the last people I expected to suddenly leave the Church. But she doesn't see it that way. In fact, I would doubt she has refrained from considering herself to be Catholic, since by her own standards, her beliefs and manner of worship have not changed at all.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Listening to her talk about her new community, though, my husband and I realized that what was likely going on was not necessarily conversion to a different Christian denomination in the sense of a change in belief or theology, but conversion to a community. Having been to St. Martin's many times, I can honestly say that there just isn't much going on there. It's a fairly large, impersonal church. The priest turnover has been incredible, not to mention the ongoing uncertainty of the status of any of our town's (and diocese's) churches. Let's face it, when people go to church, that's the one thing they want to be sure ain't goin anywhere! The church is central to their religion, it's the House of God, and in the midst of life's day-to-day craziness, it's reassuring just to walk or drive by. Stability: it's Who God Is and what the Church is supposed to be.

Now if you were to see St. Mark's, you'd notice its small size. I'm unfamiliar with its typical attendance, but physically it's about the size of St. Mary's. And it's not so hard to feel at home and quite a bit easier to get to know people in a small church. Our assessment is that that's what she was looking for. Something clicked for her. She felt welcomed, noticed, valued, at home.

But is it all the Same?

In the midst of this transition, though, probably unbeknownst to her, she has in fact migrated to a group whose beliefs and history are, in fact, different from the Catholic Church. The Anglican/Episcopal church(es) were begun by King Henry VIII in the 16th century and spurred, along with Martin Luther on the European continent, the Protestant rebellion/reformation. Henry wanted to divorce (and murder) his wife/wives and did not want to be beholden to the pope, so he made himself head of his own church. Many Englishmen and women died for their Faith rather than leave the One, True Church. Over the course of time, belief and practice has diverged from Catholic belief, and today the Episcopaleans/Anglicans disagree with one another over many things, not the least of which are the role of women and homosexuals in the priesthood/bishopric. So we are seeing schism among those who orginally schismed from Rome. But that's a subject for a different day.

The Perfect Storm?

My point is this. Right now, in our diocese and elsewhere throughout the country, we have the perfect storm. Perhaps I'm being too dramatic, but I don't think so. Think of it as a simple equation. We have:


We're starting to see it already. Church attendance is down most places. But it will be masked significantly with church merger since when a church is closed, those who still elect to go to Mass will appear to be taking up valuable parking places and pew space in the "new" church. Those who leave won't be noticed, particularly in churches where there's already a sense of anonymity.

In Closing

I use one woman's story only as an example. I don't mean to imply that massive amounts of Catholics are going to turn Episcopalean or Lutheran or Calvary Chapel or anything else, for that matter. On the contrary, I think what we're more likely to see is large numbers of formerly practicing Catholics lose what faith they have and stop going to any church, anywhere. It's just a matter of whether or not we're willing to pay attention to what's going on. Can American Catholics hang on through all this or will we lose our religion, too?

That old, worn out cudgel that has been used against St. Mary's before has once again reared its ugly head. You know the one. The fallacious argument that if we don't go along with the plan to destroy our own parish and community, we are causing disunity.

• All unity is good. No disunity is good. Therefore all promoters of disunity must be doing something bad.

St. Mary's parishioners have made some interesting observations recently. Here are a couple more of them:

Two parishioners (of many) believe that lack of belief in and reverence for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on the part of priests is to blame for the merger/closure crisis. In our own parish, we have seen lack of regard for the Blessed Sacrament not only in the desire to unnecessarily "reduce" Masses and Eucharistic Adoration, but in attitude on the altar. For example, once, when the pastor accidentally dropped a host on the floor, the proper dignity and procedure was not followed. When this was later pointed out by an elderly parishioner, the parishioner claims our pastor continued in a flippant attitude of defiance, insisting he had never heard of such things and had done nothing wrong. It is a sad day when the laity have to point out the importance of revering Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to a priest. But the bottom line is, if you don't respect Jesus' Eucharistic Presence, it's all downhill from there!

• One parishioner pointed out how frequently he sees priests without priestly attire. He believes that this reflects a lack of respect for their own vocation. We can attest to our own experience at a diocese-sponsored event at which multiple priests were in attendance. To our recollection, only one of them was wearing clerical attire. One was at our table and we did not learn that he was a priest until about an hour or more into the workshop. At a nearby table in a plaid, flannel shirt and jeans sat the pastor of the parish! Not only was he not dressed like a priest, he was not even dressed particularly neatly.

The parishioner who pointed out this problem believes that this is one of the reasons why Catholic identity as well as respect for and understanding of the role of the priest are so confused. We wonder, if there are a significant number of priests who misunderstand their own true role as shepherds--and fail to take that responsibility seriously--how are the laity to understand or follow? Certainly this has been the case at St. Mary's since the departure of our last pastor, and it has been very sadly true at the diocesan level as well.

Is it a matter of being willing to stand out and be different? Is it a matter of fear that the general public may no longer view priests favorably due to the child abuse and church closure scandals? Or is it merely an unwillingness to stand up for the Faith and what is right and true, even though it may be unpopular, unpopular even with one's superiors? Who knows.

• Along these lines, many parishioners have also expressed their observation of a certain worldliness that is prevalent, while on Sundays being told that the priesthood is about sacrifice. To most this smacks of hypocrisy at worst, a double standard at best, since so many ordinary Catholics struggle from day to day to make ends meet. It also seems ironic to them because we are being expected to give up those things that are most precious to us--our church and our religious devotions, particularly to Jesus in the exposed Eucharist--but we are continually told that as a priest, our pastor is "entitled" to X, Y, or Z. Needless to say, this does not go over too well with anyone at St. Mary's. The bottom line is that people can tell a true shepherd from, well, an impostor. So do pray for your priests, but be careful to know your Faith, for the devil is the Father of Lies.
  

From the [traditional] Mass this past Sunday. At the church we visited, the priest spoke about Catholics who are really no better than Protestants, who pick and choose what is convenient to them. He spoke of laity and even representatives of the Church who are like frogs dropped in water, and the heat continually turned up, and before long they are boiled. Thank God at St. Mary's we're not stupid frogs. We recognize a wolf when we see one. No "good fruit" can come from "reducing" the worship of God.

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 7:15-21

As tends to be the trend lately, even on holy days of obligation, the sermon has turned to subjects generally unrelated to the readings. Today the sermon was used as a platform to reiterate to St. Mary's parishioners the importance of the sacred office of the priesthood. Unfortunately, having respect for the office of the priesthood, like having respect for the office of the bishop, has nothing whatsoever to do with expecting priests to do what they are supposed to do. (Namely, so far as we can tell, priests should protect the faithful, defend the Church, bring the Sacraments, lead holy lives, teach the Faith, and evangelize those who do not know Christ.)

Sadly, the "you have no respect for the priesthood" cudgel has been used too many times to speak of in order to try to shut up the lay faithful when they see wrongs being done in the name of Holy Mother Church. In our particular case, ever since we began the campaign to save St. Mary's, we have been called "disrespectful" when we disagreed with things expressed by the bishop and his priest supporters who have sought to close our church. Somehow, we are not "loving" if we disagree with a priest or the bishop. (Strangely, the reverse rationale has not applied to the laity. Apparently, no one is obligated to be "loving" and "respectful" towards us.)

We must never lose sight of the fact that priests and bishops, like the lay faithful, do not always do what is right or Christlike, even though they are "in persona Christi." In the wake of an "evangelization" meeting sponsored by the Diocese of Camden in which they seriously intend to "market Jesus," there are those of us who beg to differ with the crass commercialism and un-Catholic sentiments being expressed in these dark times.

Yes, we beg to differ. Bigger isn't necessarily better, a lie does not become true just because we keep saying it, and we cannot and should not "market Jesus." Yes, we seek to save our church and shield those in the pews (or potentially in the pews) from these offenses to Christ and His Church. If that makes us offensive to those who wield political power over us, so be it. It is not our job to please our pastor, but to defend our church and in so doing, defend The Church.

We have a good friend who grew up in another country. This country is predominantly Catholic and our friend is very devout. The interesting thing is that we agree on just about everything pertaining to the mess our Church is turning into. But our reactions are different. While I have been surprised in so many ways by the behavior of those supposedly representing the Church, my friend has not. Why? Because, she said, back in her country the vast majority of the priests were (fairly openly) corrupt. The pastor of her parish was even widely known to have fathered a child, and many priests, she said, drove expensive cars when most people could barely afford crappy ones. But she said there were some holy priests and they were easy to spot. They rode bikes.

The funniest thing she said, which I thought was at the same time very sad, was that "Americans have such high standards." After discussing what she meant by this, I learned that she meant that we Americans expect our priests to live out, well, what they're supposed to do. While we don't expect them to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, we don't expect them to be corrupt. We Americans, she said, generally expect our priests to stand up for what is right and when they fall so far short, we are surprised.

I think that what were living through at this moment in time--between the child abuse scandals and the subsequent mass closure of Catholic churches throughout the country, as well as so many other things that have come to light--is a major American Catholic shift in attitude. Too many American Catholics, while respecting the office of the priesthood, no longer believe it possible to live a holy life as a priest. They no longer trust priests generally. As a result, there is a trickle-down effect. They no longer believe it possible to live a truly holy Catholic life as a lay person either.

We cannot let this happen. We must hold our priests and ourselves as lay Catholics to the same high standards. It is possible to live a good and holy Catholic life! We are called to obey God in all things and must not feed ourselves rationalizations of actions we know to be wrong. Things like eliminating masses, screaming at parishioners, stealing church funds, "merging" and closing churches, bearing false witness (lying) are all wrong for both priests and laity alike.

The long and short of it is this: Want to be respected as a priest in persona Christi, as a pastor who will lay down his life for his sheep? Act like one.

This American Life Episode 404

• Honestly, unfortunately it's easy to deal with because these people never go to church again. These people see the priest as representing God...so they just disappear, honestly.

• We need to protect the sheep and not the shepherd.

The piece the show gets wrong is their assumption at one point that the interviewee was fighting the Church. It seems that he was not; rather, it seems that he was fighting for the Church.

They lament that they cannot coax Hollywood off its addiction to organized-crime stereotypes, or draw more than a ribbon of spectators to the Columbus Day Parade in New York. And now, despite support from the New York Landmarks Conservancy and even an inquiry from the Vatican, they have not rescued Our Lady of Loreto.

The Diocese of Brooklyn has moved to raze the church, on Sackman Street, so that 88 units of much-needed housing for low-income residents can be built in the neighborhood, which is now home to Latinos and African-Americans.

Underscoring the paradox, the man who ordered the demolition, Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, is an Italian-American.

To give you some example of just how un-Catholic and repulsive the whole ordeal is:

Last week, Bishop DiMarzio extended an olive branch, offering to insert some of the church's outdoor statues into the facade of one of the new apartment buildings.

And this is supposed to be a CATHOLIC Bishop? Not only is that idea insulting, it is entirely irreverent, and if he does not realize that, something is certainly rotten in the state of...NY. After all, if a protestant had proposed this--wanting to destroy a Catholic church and integrate its statues into the "decor" of a new building, as if they were merely nostalgic decorations--Catholic groups would be up in arms.

Make no mistake about it. St. Mary's parishioners continue to resist the merger and subsequent closure of their church. Why? Because merger is closure and we as a parish have a right to exist and to worship in peace.

Let us be clear: If our "convener" thinks that he is going to merge St. Mary's without significant inconvenience, he is mistaken. We are not like the frog in lukewarm water that is slowly boiled by turning up the heat just a little each time. We are not that stupid.

It has been argued that in order to somehow "prove" that we are all good little Catholics, we must "cooperate" by worshiping at the other churches in our "merger group." Well many St. Mary's parishioners do in fact  worship elsewhere from time to time or even regularly: St. Martin's or St. Anthony's in Hammonton, Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, Sacred Heart or St. Isidore in Vineland, or even Mater Dei Nursing Home to name just a few. We recognize that the Catholic Church is, by definition, universal.

However, the agenda of the convener (and those pressuring him) is to get St. Mary's to merge with other churches and to eventually close. Therefore worshiping at these locations potentially undermines the cause of St. Mary's autonomy and right to existence. This would be nothing less than false unity: a unity at the expense of Truth and Justice, a unity at the expense of the continuation of the Faith, a unity at the expense of the existence of a parish, and a unity that tramples on the God-given right of the Catholic people to worship in a church they built and maintained without incident for over 80 years. This is not unity at all, but instead the unnecessary destruction of unity and of a true community of Faith.

For that reason, if necessary, it would be better to attend any services at any other Catholic church than those in our "merger group" or even to worship privately in the home on days that are not holy days of obligation. Furthermore, if we at St. Mary's have no desire to merge with these other churches, (and as we understand the sentiment is mutual,) we should not be forced to.

We are one Catholic community throughout the world, but that does not mean we should consolidate into fewer and fewer Catholic churches. May God have mercy on those in our diocese responsible for the persecution of the Church. They will one day have to answer for their actions and for the loss of souls that results.

(As a side note, it was stated in St. Mary's bulletin this week that small children should not attend the Easter Vigil. The Easter Vigil Mass, long as it may be, is intended for everyone, even "restless little children." How dare anyone state that a member of the Body of Christ should not be welcome at mass. For shame! How anti-family and anti-life to imply that only certain people are worthy to attend mass. What about those with disabilities or those who have conditions requiring them to move or occasionally make an utterance? Lord have mercy! What are we coming to? The mass is for all people and it is not always necessary to be able to hear a pin drop.)

From the scaffold:

"I die the king's good servant, and God's first."

(Paris Newsletter, August 4, 1535: "...qu'il mouroit son bon serviteur et de Dieu premierement.")

What a contrast from the following sentiment: "I do what the bishop tells me, whether it's God's will or not." May God have mercy on the souls of those responsible for killing the Catholic Church in America and in our diocese in particular. One should fear facing his maker having been responsible for the closure of God's churches; it is not what we are put on earth to do. After all, to whom do we owe our ultimate allegiance? God FIRST and FOREMOST. It is the first commandment, plain and simple.

Therefore, St. Mary's continues to to be united in resisting any merger because it is not God's will to close His church. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding himself. One wonders what such a man hopes to obtain as the result of carrying out such overt wrong. As baptized and confirmed Catholics, it is our responsibility to defend the Church generally and our church in particular.

This is an interesting insight we thought we'd share with you. We must remember that kings and other political leaders were believed to be appointed by Divine Right and were therefore viewed as just authorities to be obeyed. Even the evil King Henry VIII was a Catholic king and, at one point, an apologist. Up until very recently there have been practically no Catholics in England. King Henry VIII, once a Catholic king, turned against true Church teaching and destroyed the Church in England, but not without the complicity of most of the bishops and priests.

This weekend, I have been renting and watching, "The Tudors", Season 3. In Episodes 2 to 4, it chronicles, "The Pilgrimage of Grace." King Henry VIII destroyed hundreds of abbeys and Catholic churches to steal their possessions and gain more power for himself. At one point, the common Catholics in northern England were so distressed to see their churches destroyed that they organized themselves into a pilgrimage to ask the king to stop plundering their churches. The king lied and tricked them. The king had thousands of people killed, including women and children.

It is so poignant and important for us to remember how so many people have died for their churches.

May all the English martyrs, especially St. John Fisher, solitary bishop of England to stand up to King Henry VIII, pray for us.

This information comes from a parishioner opposed to church destruction. We asked him if all the churches in Clinton, Iowa were closed or destroyed. What follows is his response [a couple of details were removed for the protection of those involved]. After reading this, how could one argue that a church is "just a building?" Exactly whose purpose does this un-Catholic position serve?

As parishes, yes [they are all closed]. Sacred Heart was saved as a chapel for the school, which is near the downtown area.  The new church was built out in the middle of nowhere west of Clinton...similar to the "plan" for Streator, [Illinois]. The Clinton parishes were all merged in 1990 and, apparently, that's when all hell really broke loose.  Money started disappearing and renovation projects on the churches were canceled.  The Diocese of Davenport (probably deliberately) brought in particular priests who were determined to wreck what was left of the old parishes.

In 1992 The Wanderer Catholic newspaper ran a big article about the collapse of the Catholic Church in Clinton. Parishioners had no idea what was going on; Mass schedules changed constantly. Even then Catholics were leaving the Church in droves because of what was going on.

One Clinton priest told parishioners of St. Boniface that one day he "hoped he would be driving over the Mississippi at night and see a bright light and that it would be St. Boniface burning." This priest also wanted to trash the elaborate main altar at St.
Boniface [see interior photo right], calling it a "monstrosity."

[Edited out: Miscellaneous church parts were sold off to antique dealers.]

Upon learning that she would not contribute financially to the new church, one of the consolidation priests promptly removed one parishioner from the membership rolls of St. Irenaeus Church. In the end, despite the opposition of the laity, the beloved St. Irenaeus rectory was destroyed and its school demolished later on. After the closing of St. Irenaeus all the altars and statues disappeared.

St. Patrick's Church [top right and left, first two photos] was closed in 1997 and in 2005 the consolidated "Prince of Peace Parish" used $100,000 an elderly lady had left for the maintenance of St. Pat's to demolish that church and its rectory. The organ went right down with the church.
       
The consolidated parish in Clinton tried twice to brainwash Catholics in Clinton to build a new church.  It failed the first time in the late 1990s but succeeded ten years later and the new church was finished last year. It looks just like a barn and cost $7.1 million [see photo left].

For a time, the consolidated parish wanted to use St. Mary's [below right both top and bottom] as the sole church of the parish, but ended up demolishing it last year.  People say that lack of money was the only thing that stopped the consolidated parish from demolishing St. Irenaeus and St. Boniface as well.

You won't find any opposing articles in the local newspaper because the Catholic Church controlled the newspaper and kept out negative articles. Parishioners opposed to the destruction of their churches were forced to take out expensive advertisements in the paper to get their message across.

[Edited: A certain parishioner had questioned whether any of the money from the old parishes was being used to pay off the $37,000,000 abuse settlement that the Diocese of
Davenport was facing and was consequently threatened by a priest for doing so.]  The current pastor told this parishioner who was against church destruction that he "wanted to run him out of town."

I'm sure I've missed many other shady things the Diocese of Davenport did in Clinton (besides moving around prolific child-abusing priests).

Here's a pic of the barn...err I mean "church"  [see photo above or link below]. Actually, In my opinion an old barn not far from the new church is far more beautiful than whatever passes for Prince of Peace Church. http://www.jcpop.org/  

Bishop Galante & Co. must really not like Salem County. The closure rate there is simply unbelievable. When all is said and done there will be almost nothing left of the Catholic Church in the entire county. In this article, we read that Bishop Guilfoyle School in Carneys Point will close in June. Parents who want to send their kids to Catholic school will have to travel to Gloucester County, Cumberland County, or go over the bridge to Delaware, but as we all know, school and church closures are occurring all around us at an unprecedented rate, so enrolling a child in a Catholic school anywhere holds no guarantees. Parents who choose to enroll their child in a nearby regional Catholic school will have a lot of hard thinking to do as to how much "change" they are willing to put their children through. Let's face it, most of these kids are likely to end up in public school, not another Catholic school.

Lingering questions about Catholic school closures & Catholic education:

• What has the Diocese done to ensure proper financial management of these schools?
• What has the Diocese done to help support and assign good administrators to these schools? 
• What has the Diocese done to help provide quality, uncompromising, Catholic education and challenging curricula?
• What has the Diocese done to encourage the influx of teaching religious orders to the Diocese? Why has the Diocese turned away orders that have offered to come here?
• What has the Diocese done to help re-think making Catholic education truly affordable to parents? (Even in the past sixteen years or so, the tuition at my Catholic high school has roughly tripled.)
  
• How has the Diocese provided support to the new generation of Catholic home educators, those who have been either priced out of Catholic education and dissatisfied with the quality of some Catholic schools?
• Has the Diocese actually spoken to families and teachers at these schools or has it just decided to abandon them, sight unseen?
  

Read article by clicking HERE.

Snip:

By Phil Dunn, pdunn@sjnewsco.com

CARNEYS POINT TWP. -- Bishop Guilfoyle Regional Catholic School here will close its doors at the end of this school year, bringing an end to Catholic school education in Salem County.

The imminent closure was announced to parents of students via an e-mail from the Georgetown Road school's principal.

The school, operated by the Diocese of Camden, joins a growing list of Catholic schools in South Jersey to be shuttered.

"Declining enrollment in our schools, rising deficits and heavy burdens on the sponsoring parishes," have been cited as reasons Bishop Guilfoyle will close, according to the letter parents received.

The letter says the population of the area the school serves has declined 30 percent over the past 50 years, a situation that "has contributed to a marked decline in enrollment from our peak of 373 students in 2001-2002 to just 111 this year."

The school teaches students from pre-kindergarden through eighth grade.

Diane Sparks, a resident of Pennsville, has two girls enrolled at Bishop Guilfoyle. She has also been a marketing volunteer for the past five years at the school.

"We've talked to several families that came to the open house and they were interested in Bishop Guilfoyle," said Sparks. "Other families that had left last year were also considering coming back to enroll their children."

Catholic schools have long been favored by Catholic families and non-Catholics who believed the education their children would receive would be superior to public schools. But with the closing of the schools parents are now forced to return their children to the public school system or travel a longer distances for Catholic schooling.

"That is the most upsetting thing," said Sparks on Wednesday. "I don't want to bus my child 50 minutes away to a Catholic school in Gloucester County. It's just not reasonable."

This severe under-enrollment has resulted in a reduction of tuition income, thereby placing upward pressure on tuition rates, which, in turn, has made it difficult to increase enrollment, especially during difficult economic times.

This has resulted in rising deficits, which will be nearly $400,000 this year, the Diocese says.

Right now at Bishop Guilfoyle parents are paying tuition rates of $3,600 for the first child enrolled and $2,800 for the second child, said Sparks.

If parents choose to transfer their children to another Catholic school, the Diocese of Camden will be offering $1,000 vouchers to help reduce tuition costs at a new school.

"We are exploring the possibility of having the tuition reimbursement honored at area Catholic schools outside of the Camden Diocese as well," said Andrew Walton, spokesman for the Diocese.

Jennifer Jones, whose daughter is enrolled at Bishop Guilfoyle feels the Diocese did not look deep enough for a solution to declining enrollment.

"I'm devastated and I'm not sure they did everything they could to keep Catholic education in Salem County," said Jones who serves as executive director of the Salem County Chamber of Commerce. "It seems to me there are a number of smaller buildings in the county that could of been optioned to keep the school open."

Walton directed those parents who wish to voice their concern about the closing to the school administration.

"I think that if parents have a particular concern they should certainly surface those concerns to the leadership of the school," said Walton. "If the school administration and sponsoring parishes believe the bishop doesn't have the information he needs, they will forward it to the Diocese for review."

As for the school's staff, the letter parents received said the Diocese would help place as many teachers from Bishop Guilfoyle as possible in other Catholic schools and for those it can't, it would offer "an assistance package" during their transition to other employment.

The fate of the building itself is unclear.

Some parent were taken aback by the sudden decision to close the doors of the last Catholic school in Salem County.

"Most of the talk going on at board meetings was the consolidation of Bishop Guilfoyle and Guardian Angels (Catholic school) in Paulsboro," said Bishop Guilfoyle PTA President Tom Hassler. "So it caught me off guard."

Hassler said they were looking to consolidate the school under a new name and use the Bishop Guilfoyle location.

Those not wanted to travel to Gloucester or Cumberland County have been looking to schools in the Wilmington Diocese in neighboring Delaware.

"From what I heard, schools in New Castle and Wilmington will apparently welcome us with open arms," said Hassler. "They are willing to work with us to provide some type of transportation, too."

Hassler also believes the Wilmington Diocese has a more educational sound system in place.

"The Wilmington Diocese is pro education," said Hassler. "Wilmington gets the school up and running before they add a church."

Bishop Guilfoyle's closing is the second major blow to Catholic education in the county in the past decade. It's been about 10 years since the Diocese closed St. James High School (which was located in the building now used by Bishop Guilfoyle) and St. Mary Regional School in Salem and St. James Elementary School in Penns Grove.

 The students from the two elementary schools, along with another Catholic elementary school in Gloucester County, were transferred to Bishop Guilfoyle.

The news of the school's closing comes at the same time the Diocese of Camden is consolidating neighborhood parishes in Salem County. That action has left many Catholics unhappy.

The Diocese of Camden, Hassler said, has written off Salem County.

"They are going to lose a whole new generation of Catholics," said Hassler. "It's spiraling down more than it already was."

Snip:

"To be honest, this is driving me away from the church," said Karen Countryman, 63, a parishioner since she was 10.

For Denise Mungiole, moving to a new parish after 21 years is akin to a "death," a fact that the bishop is doing little to allay, she said. "This is my church, my faith," she said. "You get invested."

Pamala Messina, who grew up at Most Holy Redeemer, forced herself to go to Mass recently at St. Patrick's. She was so shaken up, she said, she left in tears.

"I want to go to St. Pat's," she said. "I can't do it."

Nothing can shake her faith, Mrs. Medany said. She will celebrate Mass -- not at Holy Angels, because she cannot set foot in there, she said, but somewhere. Nobody should be surprised, though, if she takes a piece of her church with her. Her family donated a pew decades ago to honor her brother, who died fighting in World War II.

"When you see in the papers a story about an old woman who was walking down Delsea Drive with a pew on her back, you'll know it's me," she said

From Jan. 31st paper: Read NY Times Article HERE

We are glad that the NY Times chose to profile Most Holy Redeemer in Deptford Township, but unfortunately the premise of the article is largely wrong. They assume that attendance is dwindling and that there is a priest shortage, that somehow the parishes slated to close are closing because they have financial difficulties. Those of us who are paying attention to the facts know that this is not the case. We have spoken to employess of the Diocese who work in Camden who have told us, off the record, that the the closure pattern makes no sense from a parish financial stability point of view, so something else must be going on. (We have been repeatedly told that many of the churches that are to remain open or that are seats of the mergers are among the worst off financially.) We have shown that the priest shortage is, in reality, not the case statistically and where it is not, it is being created by the Chancery in the form of priest reassignments (usually away from service to parishes) and the discouragement of priestly vocations.

Though the NY Times article seems sympathetic to parishioners and their "pain," it fails to question the basic presumptions of the mergers/closures and the motivations of the bishop who has spearheaded the travesty. Sadly, they buy all the numbers spewed by the Diocesan officials, and in this sense it is poor journalism because we've seen these "facts" regurgitated before.

The bottom line is that our parishes are a part of our Catholic history, identity, and the way we worship. A good parish should also be a community of faith, and this is nothing that should be taken for granted. It is a sad state of our Church when, even if a parish was having financial difficulties, that that would be justification enough for its forcible closure. For example, what in the world is the Bishop's Appeal for if not to support the Body of Christ?

If a community of Catholics needed to demonstrate its ability to materially support itself before building a church, then what is the point of missionaries to poor areas? What is the point of evangelism? Christ came to teach us many things, among them charity to the poor and the necessity of spreading the Faith. Christ did not come only for those who are financially solvent.* It seems to us that the current Diocesan administration is a sad example of these two basic Christian teachings. Instead of helping those in need, they say instead, "shut 'em down!"

*Luke 6:20: "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

From the Editor:
We received this email back around Thanksgiving time and, though we had it ready to post, had neglected to post it! Quatholic Megachurches are coming to Peoria, IL against the will of Catholics there. The devil is hard at work. Evil is the only word for what is going on here, and the Diocese of Camden is not alone in its persecution. It is happening ACROSS THE COUNTRY. What will become of "Catholicism" in the United States?

Read this article about Diocese of Peoria

Dear Committee to Save St. Mary's Malaga,

I've read the very distressing story about the Archdiocese's destruction of your parish in New Jersey.  I sent this e-mail to you because of my fear that my home parish of St. Anthony of Padua [see photos below right, -ed.] in Streator, IL is about to be destroyed in an extremely misguided attempt at consolidation.  There are three functioning Catholic parishe in Streator: St. Mary, St. Anthony and St. Stephen.  All three were founded by European immigrant ethnic groups, and all three still had grade schools as late as 1999.  Today St. Anthony is the only church that has a grade school.

As early as 2005 I had heard rumors about a proposed consolidation of the three Catholic churches in Streator.  In September 2007 the parishioners of all three Catholic churches received a letter from the Diocese of Peoria in which the bishop told of his desire to close all three churches and build a new church.  In October 2007 the two head Streator priests, Msgrs. Ham and Prendergast,* conducted information sessions regarding the consolidation of the parishes.  (Since then it has been widely seen that Msgr. Prendergast is the main figure pushing for consolidation.)  After those information sessions, committees were formed to "study" the pros and cons of consolidation.  Whatever point those committees had is beyond me.

At the time of those sessions there were rumors that the planned church would be built on farmland east of Streator.  Shortly thereafter the local newspaper published a story about St. Patrick's Church in Ransom, a parish in a small town about 12 miles east of Streator.  The members of St. Patrick's were enraged to find out that their church was to be included in the proposed consolidation, considering that the church recently had completed a thorough renovation with the full knowledge of the bishop.  The fact that St. Pat's owns 40 acres of farmland quickly led the parishioners of that church to conclude that their church was being closed so that the Diocese could sell their farmland to buy land for the new consolidated church.  The next year saw the parishioners of St. Pat's fight a nasty battle to get out of the proposed consolidation.  During that time the parishioners of St. Pat's were told their church would reopen.  Two months after reopening (and after they had made up their Diocesan appeal money), Msgr. Prendergast informed the parishioners of St. Pat's that their church would close after all.  St. Pat's eventually was able to get completely out of the consolidation plan, but it is very unlikely the church ever will hold services again.

In mid-2008 the parishioners of the Streator churches learned that Msgr. Prendergast had purchased 40 acres of land east of Streator for what seemed to be the very inflated amount of $12,500 per acre.  Since that time rumors have abounded that the land Msgr. Prendergast purchased is above abandoned mine shafts and is unsuitable for the building of a new church.  Of course, Msgr. Prendergast has denied these rumors.    

In the year following the purchase of the land no more statements were made by the Diocese or Streator priests regarding the building of a new church.  That a new church ever will be built seems unlikely, as Streator is a fairly low-income town and the land the Diocese purchased for the church is regarded as unsuitable.  As time has gone by, there have been rumors that St. Stephen's Church will get an addition and become the consolidated church in town.

In June 2009 Msgr. Ham, the longtime popular priest of St. Anthony, retired.  Msgr. Prendergast took his role as pastor of St. Anthony's and, what he calls us now, the "Streator Catholic Community."  Since Msgr. Prendergast took control at St. Anthony, the parish has begun to fall apart.  Msgr. Prendergast seems almost to delight in being cruel to many parishioners.  The number of altar servers is declining.  Even adult servers report that he is a very difficult person with whom to work.  He so upset the retired choir director that the performance of Handel's Messiah (a St. Anthony tradition since 1998 or so) will be conducted at the Methodist church instead.  I've heard that he shows a particular animosity toward the choir in general.  Two weeks ago parishioners of St. Anthony learned that their popular 4:30 PM Mass on Saturday would be canceled, as would all confessions.  Msgr. Prendergast ordered these cancellations following the departure of a retired Slovak priest who helped at Masses as needed.  Since the departure of the Slovak priest to a parish about 35 miles from Streator, it widely has been alleged that he left Streator because of Msgr. Prendergast's treatment of him.

Meanwhile, St. Anthony's School is in free fall.  Although the Diocese claims to want to support Catholic education in Streator, St. Anthony's Church still covers about 90 percent of the expenses of the school.  Supporting the school is seriously draining the cash reserves of the parish.  I heard today that enrollment is declining even more next year.  It is difficult to see how school ever could survive without the support of the church.

Many parishioners believe Msgr. Prendergast is deliberately destroying St. Anthony's Parish so that attendance at both the church and school fall, giving the Diocese an excuse to close the parish for good.  Many believe Msgr. Prendergast has great personal animosity toward St. Anthony's Parish (Prendergast is actually a native of Streator).  Msgr. Prendergast also confirmed in a private meeting that the nearby hospital is interested in the land on which the school lies (and, I would imagine, the land where the church is, too).  I personally feel that Prendergast (and the Diocese, for that matter) are deliberately running St. Anthony's Parish to the ground so that the buildings can be demolished and the land sold to the local hospital.

At the same time, Msgr. Prendergast is moving all office operations for the Streator churches to the old convent at St. Stephen's.  The secretary of St. Anthony's recently learned that her job will be cut in June of next year, the same month, it is rumored, that St. Anthony's rectory will be demolished.  At the moment, Msgr. Prendergast has construction experts reviewing all the church buildings in Streator.  Although the reports will be finished by the end of this month, he has stated that he won't reveal them to the parishioners until after Christmas, because they could be "very upsetting" to many parishioners.  It seems nearly everyone at St. Anthony's (and the other churches too) believes that the reports will show St. Anthony's to be in the worst condition of all the churches.  Just this week I heard another rumor [Editor: this is not a rumor, by the way] that the Diocese plans on tearing down three church structures in Streator next year.  Considering that Msgr. Prendergast already has demolished most of the old buildings at the other churches, I fear that he plans on tearing down the rectory, church and convent at St. Anthony's.  A small group has met with Msgr. Prendergast, urging him to address the rumors in front of the congregation, but nothing has happened yet.      

This planned consolidation seems to be nothing more than a suppression of St. Anthony's Church.  During the information sessions in 2007 Msgr. Prendergast brought up the typical crap about ethnic parishes and declining numbers of priests and parishioners.  St. Anthony's, at least until Prendergast became pastor, had a good number of young people and high attendance at Masses.  What would you recommend that parishioners at St. Anthony do before the very likely event that the Diocese closes our church next year?

Sincerely,
(We have withheld his name.)

*Prendergrast is our McGrath or Odien. It's amazing just how people can become instruments of evil.

Keep Wildwood Catholic HS Alive

For those of you left out there who think everybody's cool with the church and school closure fiasco, look again. The whole Wildwood Catholic thing has caused these feelings of disgust to erupt. Beware, the emotions are raw and the feelings strong. Here's just one example:

That article in the Star Herald made me sick! I wish the Star Herald had a Spout Off. So I just wrote one in the Cape May County Herald how I feel. It Read like this. I hope that Bishop Galante,Father Field And Wallace feel the pain of their hearts being ripped out before they die. Like the way they ripped the hearts out of so many children in Cape May County

Yes, people are angry. They are sickened with the corruption in high places, the lack of priestly support, and perhaps most of all that kids are being caught in the crossfire. I know as a parent, I have felt the same way at the prospect of not just my church, but theirs, a place they dearly love, is being threatened. As adults, taking something away from us that is due us is one thing, but taking it away from our kids is worse.

There is a family in our church with four foster children. In the words of their mother, "They have had everything taken away from them." They are such a nice family and the kids love to help out around the church cleaning, sorting, and organizing. To have yet one other thing, a beautiful and good thing that is their patrimony, taken from them in their young lives would be nothing less than a crime. All of the kids at St. Mary's love their church. They feel comfortable and cared for there. The fact that it is a small, tight community is no doubt part of that. It sounds like a lot of the kids at Wildwood Catholic feel similarly about their school. That is not always the case at schools, so the teachers there must be doing a pretty good job.

For the record, we get emails and verbal reports daily from people around the Diocese whose churches have merged and closed. It is simply not possible to post everything and every story we hear. Needless to say, they are not happy campers. Worst of all, many people's views of the priesthood have, sadly, deteriorated. They wonder why the priests they had come to love and respect have not spoken up about this travesty. They feel abandoned and confused, without leadership. Many wonder why their priests were taken from them and shipped abroad with the military or to Rome or to God only knows where. (We had another "missing priest" inquiry just yesterday. Sadly, we cannot help, we just shrug our shoulders and say a prayer.) They wonder why what they were taught about the Church growing up stands in such stark contrast to what they now see. Quote:

When I was a kid, we were told stories about martyrs who would die for their Faith. But now we have leaders--priests and lay people--who wouldn't even give their pension. On the one hand I don't blame them, but on the other, what's most important here? I always thought the priests would lead us along the right path. I don't know what to think anymore. I'm confused, disappointed.

Those who are content seem to be few and far between. It seems that mostly these people fall into one of three categories. There are those who are jockeying for paid "ministry" positions in the new merged "entities," there are the people whose churches are "stand alone" (so the most they see is overcrowding, which we also hear plenty of complaints about, which of course is all the more reason to demolish those churches and build megachurches), and there are the vast majority of people who are, sadly, nominal or "Sunday" Catholics.

That people cling to the Faith through all this will be nothing short of a miracle. Welcome to Galante's "Church of South Jersey." Will it still be the Bark of Peter when the audio visual equipment is installed, the tabernacle nowhere to be found, and all the dust settles?

• Because a church is a sacred, consecrated space. Churches are permanently consecrated. The one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church has always taught this, continues to teach this, and it has been a major point of difference and contention between protestants and Catholics. While mass can be held anywhere, ideally it should not be held just anywhere. That is why Catholics have churches. God deserves reverence and this is why a beautiful and lovingly created church is best suited to His worship in the highest form of prayer, the holy sacrifice of the mass.*

• Because we love our little community. For goodness sakes, that is reason enough! If "the Church is the people," as is the popular sentiment these days, then it does matter that when I look around the church, I know the people around me. It does matter that I can notice someone has been absent awhile and I can check on them to see if they are ok. If one has not been a member of a true and united community of Faith like this, it may be hard to understand why that community is such a treasure. This treasure should not be needlessly destroyed.

• Because small is wonderful!

• Because with the loss of churches come the loss of souls who are not as strong in the Faith or who are disillusioned by the corruption around them. These souls matter to Our Lord and should not be written off as unimportant. We need to try to help them and strengthen them in the Faith. We can only do that if our doors are open and if the churches they know, love, and are familiar with are still there. Because of this, when we close our church's doors, we often close off the last possibility that a soul will return to Holy Mother Church. Those who have already left the Church--and they are many--are no longer around to tell their stories.
  

• Because in struggling to hold on to our parish, we are hope and strength and justice to others who are not strong enough to speak up. We have been confirmed in this countless times.
  

• Because in the case of St. Mary's, we are truly an "intergenerational" community, which is something the Diocese sorely wants churches to try to be and is trying to implement in its "lifelong faith formation" program. We already are, so why destroy it only to try to rebuild something that approximates it?

• Because while we are happy to do things with others, a parish has a right to existence as stipulated by canon law. Wanting one's parish to remain as it is does not make one an "isolationist." It makes one content.

• Because our forefathers and mothers worked hard and sacrificed to give us the great gift of St. Mary's and we do not take this gift for granted.

• Because the church belongs to the people of the parish. They built and maintain it and it belongs to them.

• Because St. Mary's has been financially solvent and debt-free since 1922 and there is no reason it cannot continue to be. St. Mary's parishioners have always been very generous in donating, fundraising, and contributing their time and efforts to directly maintaining the parish. This is part of our culture.
  

• Because we are obligated, by virtue of our baptism and confirmation, to defend the church from error and attack, both from within and without. See Pope St. Pius X's encyclical against the modernists for more on this. It is not just St. Mary's and other churches that are under attack here, but the Faith itself. Purporting that our churches are "just buildings" is example enough. Look at the bishop's job positions, which include audio visual technicians whose job is to install and maintain screens and sound systems, as well as the inclusion of rock bands during mass. Visit any number of "modern" catholic churches which have had their tabernacles removed from a place of prominence on the altar. Look at how many times Bishop Galante has held up Gloucester County Community Church, an evangelical protestant church, as an example to be striven towards. We could go on. Which leads to the following point...

• Because we want to remain Catholic, and that includes holding on to our traditional churches.  

• Because St. Mary's has had and continues to have wonderful devotions available to all, including Eucharistic Adoration from Wed. morning through Friday evening every week. This is something not found at every parish.

• Because our CCD program is small, personal, affordable, our kids love it, and it is worth saving.

• Because we should not have to defend our right to exist, and no parish should.

• Because there has never been a saint who became holy by closing churches, only saints who became holy by erecting them.

• Because many priests, bishops, and even popes have been wrong in the history of the Church. We have an obligation to defend Her. Many saints have been redeemed in time. Saints Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Thomas More, and John Fisher (the only bishop to defend the Faith against evil Henry VIII), ora pro nobis!

• Because keeping open or closing a parish is not a "managerial" decision. Our Church is not a corporation and should not be run like one.
  

• Because we must obey Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church first and foremost, not men.
  

* We have written extensively on this in the past so we will not include references and links here. If you would like them, search our site or the Catholic Encyclopedia online (newadvent.com). You may also refer to the Catechism of John Paul II, the Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, the Baltimore Catechism, canon law, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, countless papal encyclicals, and on and on. That the church is "just a building" is a protestant view, not a Catholic one. Now this heterodox view is expediently and shamefully used by the very men charged with defending our Faith and our churches and because they are in positions of authority, people trust them, listen, and believe them.

Your response to the Wildwood Catholic fiasco has been incredible. Here is the response of just one of our readers:

"If Catholic high school enrollments are the sole criteria in determining which high school is closed, then look whose high school is next."

Paul VI High School, Haddonfield -- 1,192

Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill -- 844

Gloucester Catholic High School, Gloucester City -- 729

Holy Spirit High School, Absecon -- 749

Sacred Heart High School, Vineland -- 289

Saint Joseph High School, Hammonton -- 417

Wildwood Catholic High School, North Wildwood --194

What does the reader mean? Sacred Heart High School, with the next lowest enrollment according to the Diocese/Catholic Star Herald, is the school at which Fr. Edward Namiotka, St. Mary's current pastor, has been president of for some time. As a side note, this is my (Julie's) mother's alma mater, a school my family supported and helped to found.

In saying this I personally am not claiming that Catholic schools do not need improvement. It is my sense that they do. However Bishop Galante has chosen, rather than attempting to improve these schools, to instead abandon them and, by extension, their students and teachers, alumni and communities. Let's face it. It's easier to just close a school than it is to wrestle with real problems, to pray for God's guidance, and to seek and implement real solutions.

In closing smaller, community schools, is low enrollment intended to be a reflection on administrative flubs, reflective of intentional sabotage (as has been stated by some in the case of Wildwood), or is Galante's real agenda to simply bus all Catholic high school kids in South Jersey, no matter the distance, to his proposed megaschool in Gloucester County? Maybe he just likes everything to be big.

Link to the Catholic Star Herald Stats above

Take a good, hard look. We at savestmarys are not saying we agree with all the sentiments expressed, only that this is the inevitable result of the message that is being sent by the Diocese. We are not surprised at people's disillusionment. Souls will be and are being lost.

See also: Keep Wildwood Catholic High School Alive Facebook Page and Save Wildwood Catholic High School Facebook Page

These comments are only from the last few hours from the Wildwood Catholic article. Bishop Galante, Average Joe and Jane Catholic are pissed, disgusted, fed up. Don't you care? People are leaving the church, and those who have already left are feeling justified in their decision. Don't you care? Souls are being lost. Your reputation is in the garbage bin? Don't you care? You will go down as the bishop who single-handedly destroyed the Diocese of Camden and drove people from the Church en masse. It is your job to care. Why don't you care?

Wakeup People the Catholic church has been dieing for the last few years, They have been closing churchs and catholic schools in the area for the last few years. Why would they leave WC open when they can force you to go to HOLY SPIRIT for a lot more money. I am surprised that WC was not closed years ago.

Donnachie: What was your posting about? Especially that last line? If you are a practicing Catholic you should know better than anyone how the institution manipulates the flock toward one end -- and only one end --and that is always money. The whole irony here is that the Catholic Church is the richest organized religion in the world and is now hitting on some tough times with the abuse scandal payouts but we have to believe its coffers are FAR from empty. Many of us know or have read about the Vatican's vast real estate holdings and silent partnerships around the world and the true "business" that the church really is. For hundreds of years, these male church leaders have always been dominant and controlling with little regard for the nuns (except to dictate how they should conduct themselves and their order) and other "second class citizens" (females and children)who serve in different capacities throughout the system.

From "Galante Has To Go"
With all the school and church closings in this diocese, a good businessman would realize that the next step is to consolidate the Diocese of Camden with another, larger diocese. Exactly what is the overhead of keeping Camden as a diocese? The bishop's expenses - living quarters, food, car & drivers, secretaries; the staff at Catholic Charities & Diocesan Housing; the Star Herald newspaper. Wow! We probably could have afforded to keep our schools open if the schools were given the money being used to maintain this top heavy organization.

What an absolute disgrace, the so-called Christian decision makers should be ashamed of themselves. From the start what happened yesterday at Wildwood Catholic High School was horrible. While you can understand the point of financial problems, which raises the question, how did these problems come about? What you did to these poor children and the families was anything but Christian. What it is is just another example of how mismanagement is destroying the catholic lifestyle. So to the local managing body or the Bishop, you could never imagine what it is like to get a phone call from your child, crying uncontrollably saying that they were just told that their high school is closing forever in 6 months. Knowing that after being there for three years of their life, knowing that they will not graduate from their school, the horrible feeling of not knowing where they will go, if they will be with their friends and how this is going to affect the rest of their lives. You made these decisions without any input, concern, questions from the families. I understand that decisions like this are difficult but you could have let the families know what was going on, what was being considered, to give these families and children an idea of what to expect. And what about the teachers and the school administration, these teachers were not told anything, the school administration was not told anything until yesterday about your misguided, ill-managed and totally insensitive decision. Let's talk about the financial point. These people put their heart and soul into this school. Working for less money then any other teacher would in the public sector. I do not blame the teaching and administrative staff of Wildwood Catholic for this disaster; I blame the Catholic Church administrators and the people who were responsible for the decision to close this school. Enrolment is down because tuition is too high. The powers to be would say tuition is high because enrollment is down. You should have "bit the bullet" for a while and lowered tuition to increase enrollment. Most importantly why could you not keep the students at wildwood catholic there until they graduate, or at least keep the junior class of this year there next year to graduate. Its not like the school building is going to be closed,,, you are boosting about how the grade school is moving in there and how wonderful its going to be,,,so keep these kids there and let them graduate over the next three years and then do away with the high school level. It is such a cruel, uncaring decision. Lets not give up! Facebook Keep Wildwood Catholic High School Alive

This is a direct result of problems that the Principal Barbara Byrne from Bishop McHugh School has caused. She personally drove the enrollment from 420 to 200 in 3 years. Bishop Galante refused to take action and left her there. The priests of the sending parish's did nothing also. Galante has systematically destroyed the morale of Cape May and had done gamage to the Church that will take generations to repair.

2 points here of comment. Who on earth would bus their kids to Holy Spirit/ It is easily a 45 minute to one hour ride to Absecon. The school pools from all Cape May County and if you live south of Court House the ride is easily as stated.Second the students of Wildwood Ctholic will be in for a real culture shock if they attend public school now. The culture is night and day plain and simple!!!

Welcome to the new world of the "Economics of the Christian Religious Faith". Unfortunately this, once again, shows how religion in America has less about morals,values, and faith and more a business. The bureaucracy of religion has put America's faith and values directly in its crosshairs. Is it a wonder why we have a crisis in America concerning morals, values, and faith? However, this does nothing for the youth and families of these youth of Wildwood Cathlic High School. Keep the faith even if the Camden Diocese took a non-Christian approach in announcing their decision. Merry post Christmas!Yep, run down to Wildwood, tell the school youth of the decision without their parents present, and then run right back out of town without facing the parents after school or in a nightly meeting. What Christian values and morals did this teach these youth? This community? Maybe the Camden Diocese needs to take a look at their own faith and values. Agaim, keep the faith to the students, faculty, staff, and community of Wildwood Catholic! Even if the Diocese mo longer does.

"If you want your children to lost the faith, send them to Catholic School". Fulton Sheen said this 30 years or so ago and how true it has come. The Anarchy after Vatican II- all the changes we Traditionalists feel have gone way too far- well I would not ever send my children to a Catholic School. The Catholic Schools are not Catholic anymore. We would rather homeschool our children and bring them up Catholic than send them to Catholic school and have them lose their faith. The Diocese needs to wake up, the Church needs to wake up. Liberalizing is not drawing people to the Church, it is only driving true Catholics away.

I just wanted to say how sad this is for Cape May County. Many family members and friends were proud to call this school their school. But this is no surprise given the way this bishop has continually treated area students and their families. Perhaps if he had cleaned house at Bishop Mc Hugh 5 years ago those 80 families and the subsequent 125 kids wouldn't have chosen public school over their precious Catholic school. And if he hadn't lied to the families at St. Raymond's they wouldn't have gone onto to public school. And the same goes for Star of the Sea parents this year. My family has moved out of the area-to the Southern Bible Belt in fact. The few Catholic schools are thriving and there's an enrollment wait list and tuition for elementary is nearly same as Wildwood Catholic. Proudly, we are in planning stages to build a Catholic High School here. So many Catholics are fed up with the North East and the lies and have moved. People stand in the aisles for Sunday mass. Nobody should be surprised that familes and especially children come behind the almighty dollar and concealer.

As a Catholic, I detect an insurmountable public relations problem for the entire institution that started early on when this -- the most rapidly growing religion and today still the one claiming the largest membership of any other -- employed the practice of constantly "poor-mouthing" and the "do as I say not as I do" mentality. This fund-raising strategy imploded when the abuse scandals finally came to light. Denial has always been among the leadership's most reliable tools; however, with the testimony of real live pedophilia victims over the last two decades, there's no recourse but to pay --- in millions of dollars and image. These bishops are a bunch of businessmen (Galante only pretends to care when he sits in at the parish pow-wows attended by very distraught and long-time, old-school parishioners who actually think their protests will make any difference) and not very good ones at that. But I'll betcha their retirement packages are secure -- strong and solid as the gilded walls of the Vatican.

What a total contradiction. Earlier, The Press reported that the rumors of the school closing were unsubstantiated... Who wants to bus their kids from Wildwood to Holy Spirit and who is going to pay for that transportation?

after school or in a nightly meeting. What Christian values and morals did this teach these youth? This community? Maybe the

The Harris Poll tracks "prestige" and ranks "priest/minister/clergy" at 41%. The Harris poll makes a point of explaining that to the American people, monetary reward is usually divorced from the concept of "prestige," which is why we see teachers and firefighters so highly regarded according to this poll.

The Lemoyne-Zogby poll however, since it is commissioned by the USCCB, consistently claims that American bishops are held in high regard by American Catholics, something we find very difficult to believe. But then again, they are reporting these findings to their employers who, let's face it, pay them to conduct said studies.

One always has to look at the questions asked. For example, in the most recent Lemoyne-Zogby poll, they gave respondants only two options, optimism or pessimism (and varying shades of optimism and pessimism), in their assessment of the Church's future. Common sense indicates, however, that when it comes to a great variety of topics, many people would not describe their attitude as either "optimistic" or "pessimistic," but often "neither" or "uncertain" or perhaps "wary." None of these were options, however. Any pollster knows that when you limit and control the respondants' options, you also control the results. In the worst of polls, you can ascertain your outcomes.

Options for self-identification were somewhat odd also. "Traditional" or "traditionalist" were not among the options, for example, but "born again" was. Have you ever met or heard of a "born again Catholic?" They also had "fundamentalist" and "evangelical" as options, but not "liberal," only "progressive."

More than ten percent of the respondants are not practicing Catholics in the sense that they go to mass less than once a month. Additionally,the number of people polled was small. Only 767 people identified as Catholic were polled, hardly a significant number of people, and who knows if the sample was representative since they give no indication of this on their site, nor do they share the margin of error or the poll results in a more raw form as in the Harris study. Based upon these facts alone, we would dismiss the Lemoyne-Zogby poll as nothing but propaganda for the USCCB.

Interestingly, the Catholic Register, a liberal publication, published an article back in September entitled, "Trust Evaporating: Poll Finds Clergy Trustworthiness Slips Preciptously." In the article they discuss Canadian Catholic findings, but also mention the above mentioned polls. A Fr. Clough stattes, "Who you don't know you don't trust," referring to the fact that the overall findings of the Canadian poll includes those who do not attend church. That seemed a little ironic to us, though, since in our own diocese it is, unfortunately, precisely those who we do know who we have come not to trust.

A Fr. Borean commented, "If I were bishop I would say, 'Gentlemen, you know we have something in front of us. We have to preach the gospel truly. When we do that there's no hidden interests, there's no personal agendas.'" Amen, Fr. Borean.

"Hypocrisy does not engender trust," said Father Clough. How true, how true.

Once again, Jim Walsh ought to be ashamed of this poor excuse for balanced journalism. Link here.

"We are grateful that the Congregation, after a thorough examination of this matter, has affirmed Bishop Galante's intention in both process and substance to strengthen parish life in this area of the diocese," the Rev. David Klein, the diocesan chancellor, said in a statement.

Cute. This Fr. Klein sounds like a regular charmer.

We seriously doubt that it is even Bishop Galante's intention is to "strengthen parish life." How could it be? He is destroying long-established communities of faith. To the Catholics we know, the clear opinion is that he and his small group of supporters on the inside are intentionally killing "parish life" in the service of their own warped agenda.

It seems to us that any Catholics who disagree with the bishop's unholy agenda he'd be just as happy to see leave the Church altogether, because that's precisely what's already beginning to happen. For shame! Churches and parishes are not disposable, and Rome ought to be defending the lay faithful from continued abuses from corrupt American bishops on high. In the cases of many dioceses, (and our own diocese remains to be proven since we do not have access to the evidence), first the bishops allow the stealing of the innocence of our youth and now they perpetrate the stealing of our churches to pay for their evil acts. No matter the reason given for this horrendous injustice, it still reeks.