Can "unity" be dangerous?

False unity can be dangerous. False unity is unity that is not based on Christ's Truth but on our own personal agendas, ideas, or whims. We all know this and have likely seen examples of this in our own lives or in history. Perhaps the most striking and horrible example one could think of would be Nazi Germany. It would appear that there was a certain widespread unity in favor of the Nazi agenda, otherwise they would not have been able to achieve their evil deeds. This is an example of unity that was not good. There are countless other examples one could cite. 

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 lately. Part 3 in our series, here are a few more of them:

• Though St. Mary's has been threatened with closure, (and make no doubt we continue to fight and do not believe we will be closed because it is not God's will), it is interesting that no mention has been made regarding the closure of either of the two churches in Buena. Now, we at St. Mary's have always held and continue to hold the position that no church closures are necessary or justified and we are loath to see any church close. We nevertheless wonder what sense it makes to leave Malaga with no church while leaving two churches in Buena. (Here we are not even counting the proposed large chapel planned to be built at the Padre Pio Shrine, also in Landisville.)

As you can see from the map below, Our Lady of Victories and St. Michael's, the two churches that make up Queen of the Angels Parish, are only 1.1 mile away from each other. According to Google Maps, you can walk this in about 20 minutes and drive it in 3.


View Larger Map

• Fr. Namiotka has proposed--with a pastor still in place in Newfield!--that the St. Rose of Lima rectory should be turned into office space. (Out of the other side of his mouth, he claims that he has always shown respect and deference for St. Rose's existing pastor.) Let's be realistic. If it is already "too far" to come all the way from Buena to St. Mary's for Mass or Benediction, then what sense does it make to put office space in Newfield??? Though St. Rose is supposed to be the seat of the unwanted merger, the most Namiotka has held out to them is the hope of office space along with the phrase, "for now." Anyone who believes in the practicality or the plausibility of these plans ought to have their head examined.
  

• Despite the fact that the Core Teams have pointed out gaping holes in the supposed "process" practically every meeting, including the fact that their voices are not being heard or respected and that the steps are not being followed, our convener, Fr. Namiotka, has utterly disregarded them and continued to plow through, continuing to do nothing but pretend to go through the steps. Members of the Core Teams feel utterly powerless because they believe Namiotka just does whatever he wants, the Core Team "process" itself being a complete farce. They fear that they will become the "fall guys" for the church merger/closure fiasco that no one is in favor of (except Ed Namiotka and the bishop).
  

Just a quick note to let you all know that several hard working parishioners (volunteers, of course) were able to fix St. Mary's church bell so that it may be rung on Sundays and other occasions. We hope to begin this very soon. No, we're not talking about a carillon recording. We're talking about the actual, real church bell, at least 88 years old, that has not been rung for about 45 years. It was a beautiful sound to hear! We hope to have a recording of the church bells ringing to share with you very soon. We're all very excited.

AKA: Sabotage and Brow Beating Dressed Up as Legitimate "Process" 

Left: A wolf in sheep's clothing. Below, the [becoming more apparent] wolf in wolf's clothing.

This blog is a continuation of the previous blog's "Status Chart of the Merger Manual Agenda Items for the Newfield, Malaga, and Buena Group," dated June 15, 2010.

Note:  At the beginning of Meeting 4 (Jan 12th), the merger date of January 2011 was announced without any input or coherent explanation.

 

The Following Are Dates of the Core Team Meetings where Agendas Were Supposedly Covered:

Mtgs 1-3: Nov 17^th (no minutes from any other meeting provided)

 

Mtg 4: Jan 12^th

 

Mtg 5: Mar 1^st

 

Mtg 6: April 6^th

 

Mtg 7: May 4^th

 

• There was also an additional meeting held on October 14, 2009, where the CORE TEAM met to vote on the Presbyteral Council's recommended plan that Collings Lakes remain stand-alone.

 

• Although this plan was presented as somehow originating with the CORE TEAM, it in fact did not. When the CORE TEAM had met earlier in the year with Msgrs. Burton and McGrath, the idea of Collings Lakes standing alone was never even brought up. Rather, the CORE TEAM had recommended a cluster instead of a merger.

 

• While this October 14, 2009 meeting did not cover anything other than the new proposal, it is worth noting that the original vote was 6-6. It was only after a very lengthy arm-twisting session, that the second vote was taken and resulted in an 8-4 tally in favor of the proposal. During this arm-twisting /brow-beating session, it was promised by the CONVENERS that there would be no timeline with the new proposal. They said that the merger process could take as long as necessary to do it right. A time period of 3-5 years was possible.

 

• It was also stated that all of the churches could remain open under the new proposed plan. Conversely, it was threatened that St. Mary's would be imminently closed if we did not vote "yes." (Despite the threatening, St. Mary's core team members still voted "no.")

 

• Even though a 3-5 year timeline given, within three months of our vote to have Collings Lakes stand alone, we were given a target merger date - without any explanation, discussion, or input - of one year. The previous "Status Chart of the Merger Manual Agenda Items" shows how unrealistic this is, not to mention severely lacking in integrity.

What are we implying  here? Certainly not that St. Mary's wants to merge. Here we are showing that our convener, Fr. Ed Namiotka, is only superficially going through the steps of the "Destroying God's Gifts" process. He has made it perfectly clear that he has no intention of actually completing the steps, but just having the meetings so it looks like he's done what the Diocese requires.

The input of the various Core Teams, who were selected by the conveners, is totally and completely dismissed by him. Namiotka dismisses any input contrary to his agenda, which seems to be to destroy our parish and "merge" us against our will. While stating that he "has no intention of closing St. Mary's" numerous times to many people, he has also threatened to close us up if we don't do what he wants us to do, which is to go along with his merger process. In fact, at our little rosary rally last night, an elderly member of our parish asked us this: "I thought he said he was not going to close St. Mary's?" We think you can probably guess what our answer to his question was.

Despite the lack of substance, and the fact that the conveners previously stated a 3-5 year timeline was likely, Namiotka has suddenly decided that he wants us merged by January 2011. Someone breathing down your neck, Fr. Ed? Let us again state here that St. Mary's has NO intention of merging.

Have a nice second vacation, relaxing on those Caribbean beaches, Fr. Ed Namiotka. Must be nice. More to come.

ITEM #	DESCRIPTION	STATUS COMMENTS
1-1	Decide who will take minutes at this meeting.	COMPLETE.
1-2	Review the overall process of merging to ensure common understanding.	COMPLETE (more or less).
1-3	Prepare a common announcement to inform parishes that the merger process is starting. Decide the date of the announcement so all parishes receive the same information at the same time.	COMPLETE.
1-4	Decide how to introduce the CORE TEAM members to the merging parishes.	Not done.
1-5	Set the date, time, and place of the next 2, 3, and 4 meetings. Rotate the locations among the merging parishes whenever possible.	Not done during Meeting 1.
1-6	Ask Pastors to complete the "Facts About the Parish" form for Meeting 4 and make the needed number of copies (see Merger Manual, Appendices: Section B, Forms)	Not done or at least never distributed.
1-7	Decide who will inform the participants of meeting 4 of the venue and whether you will have written agendas, how they will be created, distributed, and who will take minutes.	Not done - probably why Meeting 4 was a disaster.
1-8	Prepare for the Meeting 2 agenda, setting a typical format, and normal length of meetings.	Not done, but then neither was Meeting 2 agenda.
2/3-1	Orientation to the role and focus of the work of the CORE TEAM in the merger process. The focus should always be to bring the merging parishes into one, to prepare for the administration and staff of the new parish, to strengthen ministries toward greater vibrancy.	COMPLETE (more or less).
2/3-2	Decide whether there has been sufficient attention paid to the grieving process. If needed revisit and arrange for any of the six processes for Coping with Change (see Section A-6) to aid the merging parishes with grieving.	Not done.
2/3-3	Discuss and decide on some community-building events or processes which can bring the merging communities together.	Not done - discussed having event on Feb 14, but never did. Communicated some Christmas events to other parishes. "Community" Penance service - around 25 attended from all 3 parishes - almost all from Q of A.
2/3-4	At Meeting 2, distribute and discuss the information provided on the form "Facts About the Present Parish" (Appendices: Section B) completed by the pastors. Parish Profiles already completed for priests applying to be CONVENERS should also be made available.	Not done.
2/3-5	Arrange to gather information about the history, customs, and traditions of each parish.	Not done.
2/3-6	Name the values, skills, and present feelings the parishes hold in common.	Not done.
2/3-7	Brainstorm effective ways to communicate to the parishes as a whole.	Not done.
2/3-8	Prepare for Meeting 4 with the Pastoral Councils, Finance Councils.	Not done other than to set date and place.
4-1	Orientation to the merger process to ensure common understandings.	COMPLETE (more or less).
4-2	Clarification of the different leadership roles in the merger process.	COMPLETE (more or less).
4-3	Pastoral Councils members discuss their own Parish Overview Worksheets (Merger Manual, Appendices: Section B Forms) and the Financial Summaries.	Not done - at time of meeting only Q of A had been given the worksheets. Financial summaries not discussed at all - only cost of priests discussed in generic terms.
4-4	There is no meeting 4, agenda 4 item listed.	N/A
4-5	Observations and discussion areas should be reflected in the minutes.	Not done.
5-1	Decide which values and priorities need to be brought forward to the new parish based on the data gathered about each parish in the merger and the input from the Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils, Parish Profiles, history, customs, and traditions will need to be considered in accord with the Facets of a Vibrant Parish. It is important that the new parish moves toward vibrancy. Past practices of all the parishes need to be considered to see which ones should be brought forward, modified, improved, or consolidated.	Not done.
5-2	Discuss an initial outline of a plan and timeline, using the general outline of sections in the Merger Manual, to accomplish tasks in order to establish the new parish.	Not done.
5-3	Decide what committees are needed to assist their work. Be clear about their goal, the scope of their task and put that in writing. Decide on the means of selecting membership and chairpersons and how committees will report. (Short written reports are very helpful to keep CORE TEAM meetings moving).	Never discussed what committees are needed - mandated, then discussed each committee briefly.
5-4	Decide on ways to communicate with the parishioners and councils of the merging parishes (see Merger Manual, Section A, "Communicating during a Time of Change," p.7).	Not done.
5-5	Set a visit time to walk through each of the facilities of the current parishes.	Only partially done prior to Malaga having CORE TEAM members . Convener stated that he has no intention of completing.
5-6	Prepare for the Meeting 6 agenda.	Not done.
6-1	Written reports given by committee chairpersons.	Three committees presented written reports - all were very formational/preliminary.
6-2	Continue discussion regarding a draft of an overall plan. In the planning always focus on ways to bring the parish communities together, spiritually, socially, and ministerially.	Not done.
6-3	Begin to develop a comprehensive draft of a plan of how the new parish will use the existing facilities. Ultimately this plan is presented for diocesan review to ensure that it complies with both canon law and civil law.	Not even started - listed some of facilities to be considered.
6-4	Begin working with the naming process for the new parish. This is not intended to be accomplished in one session (See sample process, Merger Manual, SECTION D-7, page 51-55.)	Not even started.
6-5	Prepare for Meeting 7 agenda.	Not done.
7-1	Report on the social, liturgical, and information calendar for promoting unity among parishes.	Pushed off until September for social. No mention of liturgical or informational.
7-2	Complete the draft regarding the use of the facilities so it can be submitted for review by the Diocesan Merger Review Committee.	Not even started - committee has not met.
7-3	Report on the continuing engagement of the parish with the process of naming the parish.	Pushed back to September.
7-4	Discuss how to blend parish ministries and what methods are appropriate for each ministry and program.	Talked briefly of what will do in future, mostly related to music. No substantive discussion.
7-5	Discuss the composition and role of a staffing committee to assist the PRIEST CONVENER and CORE TEAM with the hiring of personnel for the new parish.	COMPLETE.
7-6	Prepare the Meeting 8 agenda.	Not done.

For those of you who received the July 2nd Catholic Star Herald propaganda sheet (oops, we mean the Diocesan newspaper), you may have noticed an article on page 13 about the "Marriage Encounter" weekend. There's a little inset picture on the bottom with gray haired couples in matching turquoise t-shirts embracing each other. Needless to say, we're really glad we weren't there. Fr. Ed Namiotka, our current "pastor" at St. Mary's (at least officially), is really big into this Marriage Encounter stuff. Good to know he's got time for something, because he certainly doesn't seem to have any for us at St. Mary's! 

We all remember this Looney Tunes episode. Against his will, Bugs Bunny is forced into a rocket to the Moon [the crazy world that is the Diocese of Camden] where he discovers Marvin the Martian [priest "convener" or bishop, take your pick] who casually informs him that his plan, "Project Earth" ["Gathering God's Gifts"] is really to destroy the Earth [St. Mary's and other churches in the Diocese]. However, Marvin the Martian seems to be a congenial little alien, so Bugs is not immediately alarmed.

"One man's meat is another man's poison, I always say...[he walks away munching his carrot]...[delayed reaction] BLOW UP THE EARTH???!!!"

Bugs is finally lured onto the rocket (while previously he had been kicking and screaming), with a truckload of carrots. How many carrots (and sticks) have the people in the Diocese been lured with? A [Catholic] friend of ours said to us recently, "Can't fight the Church. You'll never win." Well the bottom line is this (and this is what we said to our friend): Whether the wrong comes from outside the Church or inside, it's still wrong. Evil is evil no matter who perpetrates it. No matter what the seeming chances are of "winning," the battle for all that is good and true is always worth waging.

We can't sit idly by and let these people blow up our worlds! "All the people I know are on the Earth! The nerve of this character!" We must warn others to take precautions when they are about to be destroyed. "Come in, Bugs Bunny to Earth! Urgent! Urgent!"

Enjoy the video.

In a recent bulletin,* Fr. Edward Namiotka used his bully pulpit to elaborate on his pipe dream of destroying our parish in the name of "merger." We will elaborate on his points in coming posts, but today we will begin with his desire to ensure his continued comfort.

In discussing what supposedly was accomplished at a core team meeting, he says,

During the meeting I suggested that Queen of the Angels Rectory is best suited as the future residence of priests since there are 3 suites (bedroom, sitting room, and private bath) in this building. It easily and comfortably accommodates three priests without any necessary renovations. The parish office could be located in another building.

Of course, this parish, "Queen of the Angels Parish," is where Namiotka has been located and it is the parish that he has repeatedly referred to as "my parish." (We at St. Mary's are like sheep without a shepherd other than Our Lord Himself.)


We find it interesting that in the face of devastating so many people, Namiotka is concerned primarily with his own personal "comfort." If you were to see the exterior of this rectory building in Landisville [above and below], you would probably notice that it is a rather large house to accommodate only three adults. It is certainly much larger than the homes of most people we know. Of course, we don't happen to know anyone who has a one-bathroom-per-person home.

Following is the content of a May 4, 2010 letter to Bishop Galante (emphasis is ours).  The letter, which speaks for itself, was signed by the members Newfield's Parish Council and Newfield's Core Team. The letter was publicly posted on the door of St. Rose.

 

Dear Bishop,

As members of the St. Rose of Lima Parish Council and responsible and constructive members of our local community, we wish to share with you some of the concerns about our local merger.

Change is a part of life and is to be expected in both Church and any social group or organization.

You will remember the great interest amd turnout when you arrived here for the Speak Up Sessions.  St. Rose was among the top parishes in number of attendum at these sessions.

We have cooperated fully with the deanery meetings concerning mergers.

When you announced in the Cathedral your intention for the new entity, St. Rose of Lima, Newfield, Queen of the Angels including St. Michael of Minotola and Our Lady of Victories of Landisville, St. Mary's of Malaga and Our Lady of the Lakes, Collings Lakes, under the two Co-Conveners, Fr. John Cavagnaro and Fr. Ed Namiotka, we participated in all that was required of us.

As of December 2009, we learned that Our Lady of the Lakes had been removed from the new entity and that Fr. Ed Namiotka is the sole convener.  Where things may have been bad in the past, they have now become worse.  We are concerned that we are considered part of a rebellious group.

We have experienced change with Collings Lakes now out of the mix.  The fact that the two co-conveners could not work together is known by all.

In place of moving forward, building unity and consensus, the Convener has placed us on the fast track to merge in January of 2011.  The meeting of the Parish Councils and the Core Groups ended with the Convener enraged and leaving the meeting with business unfinished.  Many questions remain unanswered.

The Convener is moving on with the merger for January.  He is having meetings just to have meetings and to get them over with.  Many questions remain unanswered with little positive outcome.  The Core Group members were picked by the Convener and some now feel like they are puppets, being told to do this or else you will be replaced. 

You must be made aware of this sham as we do not want this to reflect on you or your office.  Transparency is very important.

A January deadline with the manual not being followed, we fear will only create rebellion and lawsuits which will benefit no one.

...But never you fear! The fight continues on!

What was said?

When we questioned a core team member (who, by the way, was not from Malaga) about the April 6th "core team" meeting, they stated that "priest convener" Fr. Ed Namiotka,  intends to ram through a merger no matter what anyone says. He apparently stated that, as he has done to the present, he has no intention of actually following the steps outlined in the merger manual, but only having the meetings and not actually doing what the merger manual states should be done. In this way he intends to push a merger through by January 2011, even if he has to meet "without St. Mary's core team." How can you have a "process" with "representatives" but then refuse to meet with them and listen to what they say? What's the big rush, Father? Someone breathing down your neck?

It is ironic that out of one side of his mouth he claims that this process is honest and open-ended, but in reality he intends to do precisely what he wants, even if it means just superficially glossing over the steps and forcing the merger and consequential closure of our church. For shame!

Moreover, more than once he has threatened to replace core team members if they fail to do just as he wants them to do. Yes, it's a puppet process.

St. Mary's is Unified in Opposition

St. Mary's parish has been completely unified in opposing this merger and closure since day one and has been consistent in this position. St. Mary's core team, our "representatives" according to our "convener's" own words, have consistently advocated that the "process" needs to be re-started from Step 1 since none of the steps have even been followed in the least. Our "representatives" have not been listened to but have instead been told that their "representation" of us will specifically not be listened to and that our "convener" will do what he wants to do. Some representation! What a farce!

Secrecy is the Name of the Game

Further, he has told us, the parishioners of St. Mary's, that these meetings are "closed meetings." He has previously told the core team members that what goes on at these meetings is to be kept "under the veil of secrecy" due to all the arm-twisting and intimidation that goes on there. If this "process" was truly a "representative" one, if this "process" was truly honest, there would be no secrets because there would be nothing to hide. Apparently there is plenty to hide in the Church and too many bishops and priests are well practiced at employing the "veil of secrecy" method of doing business. This veil of secrecy gives our religion a bad name.

But we all know this is not a process and St. Mary's Parish has said so since the beginning. It is a program of intimidation and the forced closure of churches. Well we at St. Mary's intend to fight this sabotage and evildoing because it is wrong. WE WILL NOT BE COMPLICIT IN THE CLOSURE OF OUR CHURCH. WE WILL FIGHT IT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. We will continue on as we always have, functioning as a true parish family, not an artificially concocted one.

Whose Will is it these "Priest Conveners" are Doing, Anyway?

Again we say, what kind of priest goes around and closing churches? And whose will is he doing? Surely not God's, because God would never advocate lying, intimidation, secrecy, and the closure of His House. One can only wonder what such a priest hopes to obtain in the end, after doing such nefarious work.

But the Church Herself teaches that one cannot do evil in the name of good (or even in the name of some reward one hopes to obtain someday for one's obedience/complicity). Just because a bishop says, "Jump!" does not mean one should respond, "How high?" If nothing else, the fallout from the child abuse scandals should be proof enough of that. No, we must be ever-vigilant and remember that although evil will never prevail against the Church, evil can certainly penetrate.

There is only One's will to be done here and that is God's. There is no gray area. God requires our obedience to Him first and foremost, and nothing can contradict that. As St. Thomas More said, "I am the king's good servant, but God's first." In the end, before His throne, we the faithful have to answer to Him and will have to explain how we defended the Church (or didn't). Priests and bishops will also have to answer for how they defended the Church--or were instrumental in leading souls away from the Church by closing churches down.

The Semantic Game

When I first met our current pastor/priest convener, I made it clear to him that, "You won't have an easy time closing us, Father." Looking startled, he responded, "I'm not here to close the church." I looked right at him and I said, "Good. Glad to hear that." Needless to say, I intend to hold him to his word. Though I fully realize that to him it's probably merely a game of semantics, that he feels that somehow he's not technically "here" to "close" the church but only to "merge" it and attend to our spiritual needs (although he's shown his intense dislike of us so many times since he first arrived that it seems that's just as much his role). Others at St. Mary's have likened this "I'm not here to close the church" response to going to the movies and using the restroom facilities. We did not go to the movies specifically to use the restroom, we just happened to do that while we were there.

Anyway, we all know what happens at the end of "merger." The people of St. John Vianney and other parishes can attest to that outcome and to the many lies they were fed in the "process." Therefore we must be so careful to listen to what is being said and not said, sift through the verbiage, and figure out what is really happening. We must be careful that we ourselves do not fall into the devil's trap of lies and semantic games. God doesn't want us to play fast and loose with semantics. The Lord Himself said, "But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no,"* We should be direct and truthful with our words, and our lives ought to follow suit.

In any case, at St. Mary's, we're not stupid. We will clearly see if he was telling the truth over a year ago. What's he really here to do? So far as we can tell, he's a convener, and as a convener he's agreed (not been forced, but has agreed) to try to "convene" (force the merger of) four churches. But what's the carrot? Time will tell.

I personally have always believed Fr. Namiotka's here to try to shut us down, and every action has been to that end. If that is the case, and that seems to be what he came right out and said at the core team meeting the other night, then we have different interests a heart and have chosen up sides. Everyday when we wake up in the morning we choose--will we do God's will today or someone else's?

* Matthew 5:37, James 5:12 

Springtime is picketnic time at St. Mary's.  Since the "merger" is being rammed down our throats without even following the diocese's own "merger manual," we decided it was time to dust off those old picket signs, and even make a few new ones.  

           

Forty-five people turned out for the rally, which included a picnic.

            

We had just finished eating as the core team members started arriving, including Kathie Ramos (pictured on left), from St. Mary's, and Kathy Valla (pictured on right), from St. Rose of Lima.  

            

Finally, Fr. Ed arrived, driven by Buena core team member Kitty Finn.  Fellow Buena core team member May Vassallo is seen in the back seat.

                                       

Fr. Ed started to get out of the car, but decided to flee the scene instead, shouting from the car to the other core team members that the meeting would be moved to Newfield.

Luckily, our new banner is lightweight and easily portable.  It can go anywhere - Newfield, Buena, or even Sacred Heart High School.

                                        

I held onto this from back on Jan. 17th. It was from the first reading in the [novus ordo] mass, from Isaiah 62:1 (This link is to the Douay-Rheims translation.)

For Zion's sake,  will not be silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
and her victory like a burning torch.

Interestingly, if you read further down, you see allusions made by the great prophet to the bride and the bridegroom. The bride is the Church that was to come, and the bridegroom Jesus Christ, the Savior who was to come. Jerusalem, however, is also representative of the Church, which is the holy ones, the holy land, for whom the Lord Himself would make even the impossible possible. The Church, of course, is composed of churches composed of the faithful, without which there is no outward manifestation of the Church here on earth. From the Douay-Rheims:

Upon thy wails, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace, And give him no silence till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (62:6-7)

Who are those watchmen? Surely we have been given the Scriptures not just to ponder on the events of thousands of years ago, but because they apply to us today. So what watchmen has God appointed? The watchmen are every baptized and confirmed member of the Church who by virtue of these sacraments has vowed to protect Her. The long history of the Church has demonstrated that attacks come commonly not just from without, but from within, and sadly even from the highest places. Our day is certainly no exception.

Therefore, as citizens of Jerusalem the holy city, we are to "prepare the way for the people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people" (62:10). We, the Church, are "a city sought after, and not forsaken" (62:12).

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.)

Wildwood Catholic HS will remain open thanks to the efforts of those who worked to save it. The diocesan spin is that a "priest team" is responsible for the plan approved by the bishop, but we all know that nothing could be further from the case. It was the laity who organized the resistance, worked on the plan, and saved the school. It is our hope that those who worked to save Wildwood Catholic will remember that theirs is not the only fight. Our congratulations and blessings to them.

Read Press of AC article HERE

Snip:

NORTH WILDWOOD -- Wildwood Catholic High School is not closing, Principal Richard Turco said Thursday.

On Jan. 5, Turco announced to the school's 194 students that the Diocese of Camden, headed by Bishop Joseph Galante, planned to close the high school.

The diocese cited falling enrollment -- the school can hold as many as 400 students -- and falling revenues -- growing debt of more than $685,000 and annual deficits that are expected to top $500,000 this year and almost $900,000 next year -- as the reasons behind the closure.

Turco said he received word from Father Michael Field, pastor of St. Ann's parish, Thursday afternoon, just after the school's students had gone home for the day, that Galante approved a plan developed by the community and parish to keep the school open.

"We need to contact everyone and tell them there is no end," Turco said.

Diocese spokesman Andrew Walton said the bishop accepted the decision of the parish priest team, made up of  Field, Father Joseph Wallace and Father Gustavo Agudelo, to keep the school open.

"Bishop is pleased that the plan has been developed and really heartened by the community's response," Walton said. [In other words, those in power in the diocese have bigger fish to fry, it's a public relations nightmare, and for whatever reason don't feel like fighting anymore.]

He said the parish priest team presented its plan last week, and "Bishop Galante has accepted the decision of the priest team and believes they have developed a viable plan that would allow the school to open for the coming year."

The school falls under the purview of the diocese, but is supported financially by tuition and parishioners from the recently merged Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, created by merging St. Ann's in Wildwood and Assumption Church in Wildwood Crest.

Tuition is $6,280 for a family's first child...

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/  

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.