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.

This Press of Atlantic City article says that

Parishes in Middle Township, Upper Township and Woodbine will not be merged, the Camden Diocese told its parishioners this week.

Bishop Joseph A. Galante informed members of St. Casimir's Roman Catholic Church in Woodbine and the Church of the Resurrection in Marmora that they would remain separate with their own priests. St. Elizabeth in Middle Township will continue to be served by St. Casimir.

But Galante encouraged the churches to work together and share resources.

Click above link to read the whole article. Coastal Broadcasting News also mentions the story.

Fr. Richard Hadyka to retire this month. He's only 68. As it turns out, he was located at my own home parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, from the time I was six until I was nine, during the time I  received the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. (He was not, however, pastor there.)

We don't know the details of Fr. Hadyka's situation. But it bears repeating that for a diocese supposedly short on priests, it seems an awful lot of them who are willing to continue on in their posts are being retired and relocated lately. We at Save St. Mary's aren't the only ones who have made this observation. But hey, we're in the process of making big, big, happy "parish families" and "Catholic communities" aren't we? Whatever it takes. I feel all warm and fuzzy.

Today, June 16th, is the feast day of Blessed William Greenwood, one of the Carthusian martyrs murdered by King Henry VIII. Because the monks and priests refused to show approval for the king's divorce and remarriage, and subsequent break with the One True Church, they died horrible deaths. Blessed William Greenwood died of starvation in Newgate Prison, and many others were hung, then disemboweled while still alive, and finally quartered. Check out this great website which will tell you a little more about a few of the martyrs at Tyburn. (It is the website of the Catholic Benedictine nuns located at Tyburn.)

Although their feast is not until the end of the summer (as one of the "Forty Martyrs of England and Wales"), and they died roughly 50 years later, this would be a good time to mention Saints Margaret Clitherow and Margaret Ward, pictured to the right in the painting above (left and right). Margaret Ward was executed for trying to rescue a priest from prison.

Margaret Ward was kept in irons for eight days, was hung up by the hands, and scourged, but absolutely refused to disclose the priest's whereabouts. At her trial, she admitted to having helped Fr. Watson to escape, and rejoiced in "having delivered an innocent lamb from the hands of those bloody wolves." She was offered a pardon if she would attend a Protestant service, but refused.

Margaret Clitherow (1556?-1586), whose feast day is March 25th (individually) also has a very interesting story. From Bert Ghezzi's Voices of the Saints:

St. Margaret Clitherow became a convert at her hometown of York in 1573 when it was dangerous to be a Catholic in England. Pope Pius V had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth in 1570, provoking an intense persecution of Catholics. Mass was outlawed, priests were regarded as traitors, and harboring them was a capital crime. Margaret disobeyed the law, keeping secret rooms in her house and at a neighbor's house where priests hid and celebrated Mass.

On March 10, 1586, sheriff's men raided Margaret's house. They found a schoolmaster with her children, whom they mistook for a priest, but he escaped through the secret chamber. The officers terrorized an 11-year-old Flemish boy who lived with the family. The frightened child led them to the priests' room, where they found vessels and books for Mass. So Margaret was taken to prison to await a hearing.

John Mush, Margaret's biographer, report that she accepted her persecution lightheartedly. She and Anne Tesh, her friend also betrayed by the boy, laughed so much that Margaret said, "Sister, we are having so much fun that I'm afraid unless we are separated we shall be in danger of losing the merit of our imprisonment." And just before she was to appear before the judge, Margaret decided to cheer the 35 other Catholic prisoners across the hall. "She looked out of a window towards them," writes Mush, "and she made a pair of gallows on her fingers and pleasantly laughed at them."

In the above picture, St. Margaret Clitherow is in the foreground, towards the center, just to the
left of the gallows, wearing the red and lavender dress. Margaret Ward is standing on the left,
just in front of the tree, with the red head covering. I presume the white-clad figures are 4
of the Carthusian monks martyred.

Margaret was charged with harboring and maintaining priests. When the judge asked her if she were guilty or not, she declined to enter a plea. The judge warned her that the law required the death penalty for anyone refusing to plead. He told Margaret that she would be stripped, arms stretched out and bound to stakes, and pressed to death with a sharp stone on her back. "I am not worthy of so good a death as this," was her reply.

Margaret believed that her death was inevitable. Had she pled to the charges, her husband and children would have to testify against her and her neighbor's guilt would have been exposed, possibilities she could not bear. Her love for her family intensified her suffering, but did not deter her. "I love my husband next to God in this world," she wrote.

"And I have care over my children as a mother ought to have. I trust I have done my duty by bringing them up in the fear of God, and so I trust now I am discharged of them. And for this cause I am willing to offer them freely to God who sent them to me, rather than I will yield one jot from my faith."

Thus, on the Friday in Passion Week, 1586, she was pressed to death under 800 pounds of weight. Fittingly, she must have thought, she died like Christ, with her arms extended, as on a cross.

Supposedly St. Margaret Clitherow was also pregnant at the time of her death. She was publicly stripped and humiliated, as Christ, prior to her barbaric execution. Later on, her two sons became priests and her daughter a nun in France.

The English martyrs are an inspiration to all of us. May we be granted the tremendous faith they had, and may we be willing to lay our lives on the line for the sake of the Truth if necessary. May we always be willing to defend our precious Faith.

Blessed Thomas Greenwood and Saints Margaret Ward and Margaret Clitherow, pray for us!

Clarifying a Misleading Diocesan Administrator on Prayer

When Marilyn Vollmer tried to explain prayer to the multitudes, she said we often don't receive what we pray for. I thought and prayed about that point when I was in first grade. I later found out that we often get something better than what we pray for.* In fact, true prayer--which Marilyn Vollmer ought to study because her immortal soul depends on it--always has a primary goal to give honor and glory to God.

Our Lord teaches us that fact in the Our Father. The fact that the first words and the Name of that prayer are stressing the relationship we have with God. Any other reason for praying is secondary, far down on the list of genuine prayer. "Lifting of the mind and heart to God" says everything. No conveners or facilitators need apply.


Prayer and Our Blessed Mother

In our battle against the devil Catholics make the consecration to Our Lord through the Immaculate Heart of Mary and that is true prayer. Our Blessed Mother's prayer, which is subordinate to the Our Father but flows from it, gives all honor and glory to God. "My soul doth magnify the Lord" (St. Luke 1:46). The actions of our Blessed Mother and St. Elizabeth portray the perfection of prayer.

First, there is the salutation of our Blessed Mother that leads to the sanctification of her child, St. John, in her womb. This encounter is the model for all who hold human life sacred. When prayer is performed properly, great and majestic events take place.

Our Blessed Mother greets us in every prayer because she is always united to Our Lord and brings Our Lord to us. St. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost (St. Luke 1:41). This is what happens to us in our devotion to our Blessed Mother. Unbelievers don't allow these words to penetrate the heart. Believers never doubt nor fear the encounter with Jesus through the intercession of His Mother.


Proper Lenten Prayer and Practices

That is why our prayers enable us to prepare for Lent properly as in the Latin Ordo (calendar of the saints). We dismiss the apostates'** practices of stones in the holy water font, having the Resurrected Lord in place of the Crucified Lord, failure to practice bodily mortification (we practice penance), substituting yoga instead of the Stations of the Cross, and ignoring the law of abstinence on Fridays. The apostates in the Church like to tell us how they enjoyed their vacations. There aren't any vacations in Hell.***


Holy Examples are No Accident: They are God's Grace!

Sr.Mary Celine of the Felician Sisters of Lodi taught us the above in the seventh grade. We knew of that material on prayer before that, but Sr. Mary Celine stood out by living that prayer in a cheerful way. It was a grace for me to find out that Sr. Mary Celine often visited a family at St. Mary's, Malaga long before I came here. Those graces never stop coming to our Shrine Parish!

Praised be Jesus Christ,
Now and Forever!
Father Jerome C. Romanowski, Pastor


* From the Editor: God answers all prayers of his children! But the problem of the current diocesan administration is something we've long known at Savestmarys: they have no hope.
 

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.... We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1817-1821)

See also the following texts, all of which show how those people currently running the diocese into the ground lack are confusing the faithful with their words:

• John 16: 23-24: Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.

• Mark 11: 21-23: And Peter remembering, said to him: Rabbi, behold the fig tree, which thou didst curse, is withered away. And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God. Amen I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him. Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you.

• Matthew 21: 18-22: And in the morning, returning into the city, he was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: How is it presently withered away? And Jesus answering, said to them: Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

• Interestingly, see James 4:1-5, the section summarized as, "The evils that flow from yielding to concupiscence and being friends to this world." Perhaps this is why Ms. Volmer does not receive that for which she purports to pray.
  

  From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence, from your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not: you kill, and envy, and can not obtain. You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences. Adulterers, know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture saith in vain: To envy doth the spirit covet which dwelleth in you.

• Again, if we keep his commandments. See 1John 3:21-22: Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God: And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.

• Matthew 7: 6-10: Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning upon you, they tear you. Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent?

• Luke 11: 9-13: And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

**Footnote from Father Romanowski: An apostate is one who denounces the teachings of the Catholic Church and instead malpractices a denomination (that is, a cult).

***Emphasis above from the Editor.

Last weekend, on November 15th, Leah and Julie (me) attended an information session for the shiny, new lay ministry program that Bishop Galante (etc.) is initiating. It was held at Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Absecon, which happens to be the parish in which I was raised and received the sacraments. The introductory session, led by Roseann Quinn (yet another undercover "sister" who works for the diocese) was rather dry. I was expecting more information on the broader vision for the lay ministry program; you know, how they intend to implement it in the long run. But almost nothing was said about this. (Other than that the requisite, "we want more vibrant and dynamic parishes.") Instead they focused on the various degree and certificate programs affiliated with the College of St. Elizabeth and Georgian Court.

$$$

But no information was given about the programs before discussing money. What we did get, to my surprise, was a commercial advertisement. Literally. Roseann broke down the cost of the courses/program various times, each time emphasizing how cheap it is. I believe she even used the word, "cheap." I felt like I was witnessing one of those infomercials you see on tv late at night. It was a bargain basement sale. Roseann Quinn literally said that the tuition costs were "83% off." But wait! There's more! They even pushed up the application deadline from the one printed in the booklet, you know, in the spirit of "Don't delay, act NOW! This is a limited time offer!" The application date is now December 15th for the diocese (and as I recall December 5th for the graduate program at Georgian Court). Frankly, I was disgusted with the manner of the presentation. These people weren't attending because they were interested in purchasing Ginsu Knives.

While I appreciate the fact that the schools and diocese are going to such great lengths to make these programs affordable, on the other hand I personally would have emphasized the quality of the program and degrees the students would be receiving, the excellent professors and curricula, and the overall vision, with the ultimate affordability making said program a realistic option for those interested. When you initiate an educational program, the number one thing to put out there, to my mind, would not be, "Do this! It's cheap!" Again, I quote,

"If you feel the energy of the spirit working in you, keep up that energy. Don't delay. You'll never get a better bargain."

Two Thoughts

I came away from the information session with two distinct thoughts.

1. I don't think that the Diocese of Camden was being honest in its presentation of the program(s) and their overall intentions of, essentially, replacing priests with "lay ministers." Since I already have a Masters in Religion, the importance of study and knowing one's faith (as well as others) is not something that's lost on me. I do think it's important for all Catholics to better know and understand the Faith. It was interesting and quite telling, though, that Roseann claimed that six points "percolated up from the Speak Up Sessions" that "we as Church developed." The "diocese heard loud and clear that we as laity need to be empowered and educated." Well, what they "heard" is neither here nor there, since they hear what they want to hear. (I'm sure they also heard, "Close my church! Please!") Anyway, she listed these six percolations as:

    1. Liturgy
    2. Lay ministry
    3. Youth/young adult ministry
    4. Priestly vocations
    5. Lifelong formation
    6. Compassionate outreach

She then went on to say that senior ministry was just added, since "it wasn't anywhere except for housing." (Housing. Ha ha, she said it, I didn't...) She also said that consultants were brought in for families, youth, and RE (lifelong faith formation). In other words, Roseann went over every point...except priestly vocations. What, pray tell Roseann, is the diocese planning to do to ENCOURAGE (not DIScourage) priestly vocations??? Is there no fancy, high-paid consultant you can hire to solve that problem? (Or maybe they already have, and the consultant advised them to send priests away, because with every priest you get rid of you get three new ones somehow?) I myself find it remarkable that the laity's outcry for priestly vocations even got onto the actual list, considering the bishop's and his cronies' poor listening skills.

In any case, if you plan on applying for one of these certificate or degree programs, be prepared to be "empowered." Peace, man, power to the people! Be free. Liberate yourselves, dudes. Be assured that this program will "allow more pastoral time for priests." Yeah, a whooollllle lot more pastoral time. It's called retirement.

2. On the face of it, though, the Georgian Court program appears acceptable. I must say that I was impressed with the woman who came from Georgian Court who, after we went to smaller groups, discussed the graduate program. She was very nice and entertained all manner of questions in a professional manner. I have no idea the quality or content or "Catholicity" of the Georgian Court theology program, although I did have a younger relative graduate from that school recently in a different field. I believe she liked the school overall despite some difficulties here and there. However her degree is not in theology.

What's more in question, I think, is what the Diocese of Camden plans on doing with recipients of the degrees and what it does not do to increase religious or priestly vocations.  What we have to fear is how our current bishop and his "administration" plan on changing the Church as we know it.

Remarks Interesting Or Disturbing

First, the more or less disturbing things.

"Prayer"
The day started out with "prayer," although it was no prayer that I would recognize as Catholic. As it turned out, it was not Catholic at all. Roseann had obtained a "prayer" written by well known Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, ordained pastor in the liberal United Church of Christ. She made a point of saying what a fan she is of Dr. Brueggemann. Of course there was no Sign of the Cross, and naturally no other "formula" prayers you and I would be familiar with. There was certainly no talk of the saints, angels, or the Blessed Mother of God. Here it is:

An Answering and Refusing

We confess you to be a God who calls,
                                           who wills,
                                           who summons,
                                           who has concrete intentions for your creation,
                                           and addresses human agents who do your will.
We imagine ourselves called by you...
        Yet a strange lot:
                 called but cowardly,
                 obedient but self-indulgent,
                 devoted to you, but otherwise preoccupied.
In our strange mix an answering and refusing,
          We give thanks for your call.
          We pray this day,
                for ourselves, fresh vision;
                for our friends, great courage,
                for theological students
                         in places more dangerous than ours,
                                                 deep freedom.
As we seek to answer your call, may we be haunted by your large purposes,
We pray in the name of the utterly called Jesus. Amen.

Well, I could comment quite a bit on this prayer, my fellow "human agents," but my "fresh vision" and limited space disallows me. Just one thing though: Although I call the Third Person of the Holy Trinity the "Holy Ghost," I never imagined that He "haunted" me. Kind of bizarre. There were also a few moments of ummm...what did she call it...centering prayer? As a closing "prayer," they read the mission statement for the Diocese of Camden. Needless to say I skipped out on that and went to visit Our Lord in the church for a few minutes. I came back toward the end of the mission statement prayer recitation.

That Ol' Time Religion Ain't Our Religion?
Roseann also said that if the last religious education was that which you experienced in the 1950s, you need an update. The implication was decidedly that if your initial religious education and formation as a young Catholic occurred prior to Vatican II, you need a faith update. I personally found this shocking, because the Faith is eternal and, of course, does not change.

And finally, a couple of things I found interesting.

1. The person sitting next to us saw my St. Mary's Malaga shirt under my jacket and asked us how the efforts were going. She seemed depressed about what she saw as the immanent closure of her church, which is currently categorized as a "secondary worship site." Apparently no one at her church believes the nonsense about "worship sites" and is of the mind that their beautiful, historical church will ultimately be closed.

2. Several in the group asked Roseann questions related to the merger situation. One asked about their current pastor letter of recommendation would suffice; one asked whether, once they got the degree, they would be ministering at their current church if it was slated for merger; and one asked if they would actually be put to use in the newly constructed diocese if they went through all the effort of obtaining a degree. In response, Roseann answered, "Priest conveners have no authority until the new parish is actually established, and that will be a ways off." She also said, "If you are recommended by your pastor then you would work in your current ministry....but there is no guarantee."

3. The Diocese of Camden has apparently hired a man named Travis Lawmaster who is originally from the Archdiocese of Newark, which as many of us know is in just fabulous shape. (?!?!) He was at the information session. Travis was hired to do youth and young adult ministry so that we may have "vibrant, faith filled communities," "a seamless garment of formation," and "relational ministry." Though he's probably a nice enough guy, I have no idea what he was talking about, but wish him the best of luck with his garment and relational vibrancy and whatnot.

We've long known about the lay leadership program that Bishop Galante has been planning for the Diocese of Camden. In this brief article, we read about the signing ceremony with the College of St. Elizabeth. In the past, Galante has cited an alleged priest shortage as a rationale for the need for lay "ministers, but he continues to send priests away for "training," as military chaplains, and has even forced retirements and sent priests he disliked  to treatment centers or to different dioceses. Usually the priests who are sent away are of the most orthodox ones in the Camden Diocese. This hardly seems accidental. Of course Galante also says that church attendance is down, and that we need to consolidate (close) our churches, but with fewer churches, wouldn't it follow that fewer priests would be needed? The real agenda here is instituting a liberal lay leadership program and pushing for married and, probably, for female priests.

We have long known of two lay men who want to be diocesan priests here--both of whom Rome recently rejected, presumably because they are married--who are still taking seminary classes down at Baltimore's "pink palace," St. Mary's. Not only this, but to the best of our knowledge, both are living in housing paid for by the Diocese of Camden, and one is currently employed by the Diocese. The latter individual I spoke with myself a couple months ago, and he informed me that Bishop Galante asked him if he was interested in being a priest within minutes of meeting him, full aware of his age (he appeared to be in his late 50s), evangelical protestant religious background, poor health, and marital status. If Rome has told these men "no," then why are they still training for the priesthood and, last we heard, still living in diocesan housing? Your guess is a good as mine.

(Article link below)

Again, the thing the Diocese just doesn't seem to get is that they are not giving any local demographic statistics to justify the trends they say exist. Just because a general trend is occurring nationally doesn't mean that that same trend can be applied to every specific region. This is a basic principle of sociology, of course. But apparently the bishop and Mr. Walton think that if they throw a bunch of numbers out to the population at large they'll be dumb enough to buy it. Many don't trust the bishops after they mishandled the sex abuse scandal or think fighting a bishop is useless since they'll run roughshod over the laity anyway. What difference will these misleading numbers make to them?

As I've said before, here in South Jersey, there are only two urban centers, by definition: Camden and Atlantic City. Even if there is a Catholic exodus from these areas, church closure is not necessarily the answer. At St. Bart's in Camden, for example, which is a parish that was established in particular for the Black Catholic population, parishioners drive from various locations to attend this church. In other words, just because the Catholic population in an area may shift, this does not always mean that the church is underutilized.*

People are attached to their churches for many reasons, and it has been shown in recent years that the local (or most geographically expedient) church is not always the one people choose to attend. I myself drive past countless Catholic churches to attend the two churches to which I belong. My neighbors on one side attend one Catholic church, across the street another, and next door to me on the other side yet another. We all live in the same town on the same block and between the four houses we attend five different churches in a total of three different towns. At one church I attend, I don't think I know any parishioner who actually lives in that particular town.

About the most they give us in this article is the following: "Local shifts in population also have occurred." ??? They continue to fail to give any specific information about particular parishes which are situated in areas with significantly decreased Catholic populations. While I'm sure there are a few such parishes, I hardly believe the far-reaching changes the bishop proposes in any way meet the actual statistical data. I am so confident that they are wrong in their conclusions, in fact, that if I had all the time in the world I'd pour over the census data myself. (Unfortunately I have a job and two young children, so I don't anticipate this happening.)

There are at least two things the Diocese, intent on only sociological planning (and poor planning at that) rather than Godly action, have missed altogether:

1. These days, particularly due to the fact that there are churches that do not unapologetically embrace the fullness of the Church's teachings, people will drive to get to a Catholic church they want to and in conscience can attend. St. Mary's and St. Bart's are only two such churches in the diocese. There are definitely others: St. Peter's in Merchantville, the Cathedral in Camden, Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, St. Catherine's in Clayton, St. Lawrence in Lindenwold, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Absecon, etc.

2. We are to evangelize! We are Christians! The bishop's answer to decreasing numbers of practicing Catholics is to close the churches they were baptized and received the sacraments in? Take away the only church that fallen-away Catholics have any attachment to and you take away their last remaining connection to the faith. Besides this, if population changes are truly occurring to the point where drastic action is needed, that drastic action is evangelization, not church closure!!! Maybe instead of investing all this time and money on how to close down churches and turn a profit from property sales, he should be thinking instead about how to win hearts and minds for Christ and his One, True Church. Fill up those pews again, then, don't take away people's houses of God! (Boy I bet they're glad they didn't pack it in in Europe when church attendance fell away. The tourist trade at all those old churches is quite lucrative.)

In any case, without exerting ourselves, we can use their own information to disprove their argument. In the past, the bishop has talked about major population increases in the Pitman area, for example. In fact, Bishop Galante has on several occasions sung the praises of the evangelical protestant Gloucester County Community Church. Well GCCC is two blocks from the Pitman line, and yet he wants to close down Our Lady Queen of Peace in Pitman? That makes no sense. In just about every instance I can think of, Galante and McGrath are seeking to close churches in areas where there is significant population growth.

Again, take the Malaga and Waterford areas. Both these areas are experiencing development, population influx not decrease, and yet Galante and McGrath want to close both these churches (St. Mary's and St. Anthony's). The rationale given (among many depending on the day of the week) is that people don't live in these areas anymore and demographics are shifting. Huh? Just goes to show they haven't done their homework and actually explored these geographic areas. Have exploratory/preliminary studies been done? Doesn't seem like it. All you have to do is look around and see houses going up and know people are moving in, not out.

So far as I can tell, the real reason for the destruction of the Diocese is that Galante, McGrath, and vollmer simply do not like traditional Catholic churches, particularly not small ones. It's an issue of preference. They embrace a different model of church altogether and wish to radically change the face of Catholicism in South Jersey. Just look at the churches the bishop seems to like: Gloucester County Community Church and St. John the Evangelist in Naples, FL. One is protestant and the other a liberal McMegachurch. But if they gave their true reasons, who would be behind them? Hardly anyone is now, can you imagine if they were administered a truth serum and were forced to lay bare their real motivations? We must pray for their conversion, it's our best hope and their best hope. Bishop Galante is the bishop of our Diocese, we must pray for his soul and those who will be affected by these actions!


*Of course, while claiming to promote "unity within our diversity," according to the mission statement of the Diocese, Galante plans to close the only Catholic church in the diocese that was established for the Black population. What an insult. But that is another matter.


Read here if you want to waste your time with more propaganda.

In every parish there are a few people who have a fierce attachment to their church. They provide the skills and energy, often behind the scenes, that support the spiritual work of the pastor. At St. Mary's, no living person better exemplifies this than Miss Antoinette Cesare.
Antoinette was nine years old when St. Mary's was built in 1922, and she recalls a lot about the church's early history:

She fondly remembers the day the bell was dedicated, a few months after the first Mass was said at St. Mary's. "The bell was on the ground in front of the church, and Bishop Walsh blessed it with Mrs. Elizabeth Diamond, a parishioner, as sponsor. Workmen carried the heavy bell into the church and then raised it up into the steeple with ropes and pulleys," she said. "I was small," she added wistfully, "but I can still remember it."

She recalls the Schad construction firm, which built St. Mary's Church. One of the builder's sons, James Schad, eventually became auxiliary bishop of the Camden diocese. Antoinette remembers Bishop Schad saying, "Because my father built it, St. Mary's has always been special to me."

Antoinette had this to say about the founders' roll: "During the early days, it was in a dark frame, but in the 1950s Father O'Connor had it put in a lighter frame to match the new paneling that we put in the church at that time."

These are just a few of the recollections Antoinette related last May when I visited her in the Cesare home. Overflowing with fresh irises from the family garden, the hip-roofed farmhouse was built by Antoinette's parents during the 1920s. In this house she has lived all her adult life--with her sisters, Angeline, Mildred, and Rose. (Their nephew, Mr. Stephen Michael Cesare, spends a lot of time here to ensure that all is well with his aunts.)

Antoinette's light complexion, blue eyes, and blond hair belie her southern Italian ancestry. However, the commingling of a Neapolitan phrase, now and then, with her rural south Jersey phraseology makes her Italian heritage abundantly clear.

She spent her early years helping her parents on the farm. As a teenager, Antoinette began to work at the Kimble Glass Company, where she remained forty-four years calibrating scientific glassware. Despite the demands of the family home and her work at Kimble Glass, Antoinette has made time for St. Mary's continuously over the past sixty-eight years. She still cleans the church and holds dear the forty-five years that she used to do it with Mrs. Betty Rein, whose health now prevents her from doing volunteer work. Furthermore, the eighteen years as prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, and the electronic carillon that she (together with her sisters) donated are just the tip of an iceberg of contributions that she has made to St. Mary's.

When I visited Antoinette and her sisters last May, I arrived at ten o'clock in a morning drizzle. When I left four hours later--surfeited with reminiscences and Old World edibles--the sun had come out, and it was a perfect spring afternoon in south Jersey. As I started to drive away, Antoinette stopped me and said, "Here's your umbrella, Billy."

Being called by that old familiar name reinforced what I had sensed all along during the visit: I was in the presence of a woman with a rich repository of lore going back many years--in a house whose inhabitants had enriched St. Mary's spiritual life incalculably.