The writer of this email requested to remain anonymous, but gave us permission to print this edited version:

I read the newsletter you printed on the Website.

Incarnation was a beautiful, intimate little church. It wasn't even my parish, but I would attend Mass there twice weekly at 7 p.m. They now have the Mass at the what I've dubbed "Auditorial Round House." Interesting tidbit--they are now, as of last week of February, discontinuing their nightly Mass. They still have two priests, however, for some reason, Mass twice weekly at 7 p.m. is no longer important.

Same thing with another local parish that used to have 3 priests. As soon as one was moved, and they're down to "only" two priests, they have now discontinued their 3 nights a week at 7 p.m. Mass.

All that is left for those Catholics who work in the day and want to attend daily Mass is the regularly scheduled Mass at 7 p.m. at St. Lawrence. I am so worried that if St. Lawrence stops their Mass, I will no longer be able to attend daily.

It seems there's a focused movement to discontinue Masses for anyone that is not elderly and retired. I mean must every parish in the diocese have an 8 or 9 a.m. Mass? Is there no way they can make it convenient for Catholics who are still young enough to work to be able to worship the Lord in a genuine Catholic Mass during the evening?

I honestly believe the diocese does not want us attending daily Mass or it would not be this hard to do so. I am curious as to why it seems Catholics are discouraged from attending daily Mass, unless you are a senior citizen and retired.

Our answer to that, Anonymous, would be that Bishop Galante and Company would like us to be, essentially, more protestant than Catholic. In reality, Galante, Vollmer, McGrath, and Co. would like to usher in a "new" church, a new type of "catholicism." They insist upon wanting our churches open every day (which is already the case with St. Mary's Malaga and has been for a long, long time), but at every turn they seem to be eliminating priests by forced retirement, removal to other diocese, or to military chaplaincy. Nor are they promoting vocations to the priesthood, which was identified as a pastoral priority by the laity as a result of the "Speak Up Sessions." (So much for listening. Perhaps we should have a series of "Listen Up" sessions now, huh???) And yet they want to add paid "lay ministers," so surely whatever additions they wish to make to parish life, daily mass (let alone convenient daily mass) is not high on the list of priorities. Social activities of various kinds and daycare, though, seem more likely.

In such a sad situation as we currently find ourselves, the problem seems to be a lack of faith at the highest level of Diocesan "administration" (to call it "leadership" might be misleading). If one truly believes that Christ Himself is Truly Present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and understands, at least on our limited human level, what graces may be received at the Holy Mass, they would be saying as many masses as they could, just as Fr. Romanowski and other good priests do. They would also be encouraging Eucharistic Adoration (which we have at St.Mary's four days a week), Legion of Mary, and other traditional Catholic devotional practices that draw us closer to Our Lord and His Mother. (Instead they promote prayers like these--scroll about three quarters of the way down and look for the italicized "prayer.")

We are reminded of an elderly and frail priest who once said mass at a wonderful church here in the diocese. It made many of us nervous just to see him process up the aisle, up the steps of the altar, or to the pulpit for fear he might fall. But for Fr. Kelly (eternal rest grant unto him oh Lord!), it was so clearly a joy and a privilege just to be able to say mass, and we think it's safe to say that sense of awe was clearly relayed to all assisting at mass. Perhaps it would be good for us to pray for the souls of all those truly devout priests who were circuit riders back in the early days of this country, who risked so much just to bring the Holy mass to Catholics in the New World and to found missions and parishes. They understood the meaning and importance of the mass.

Let us pray that the bishop and indeed all priests in the diocese may recapture that sense of awe at being in the Real Presence of His Majesty. May they experience the joy of bringing His Presence to the people! And may they again realize the Call they originally discerned when they entered the seminary. If they do, the problems we are now facing will indeed vanish and instead we'd see some real and positive change.

The Baptism of Our Lord is celebrated in conjunction with the Feast of the Epiphany. In the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church we always give due honor to both feasts. The sacramental nature of Our Lord's Church is stressed by Our Lord's institution of the Sacrament of Baptism. We must do everything we can to teach the true power of the sacraments in our lives.

Preparation is necessary to see the ongoing work of the sacraments. That is why we teach the permanent character imprinted on the soul by the three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders. This means that these sacraments operate in the soul constantly.

The Holy Spirit is the True Guest of our souls from the moment that water is poured on the head of the child or adult when he chooses to be baptized. How wonderful it is to recognize the gifts that God bestows on us. Recognize the total forgiveness that God gives to a newly baptized soul--total forgiveness, mercy with no punishment due to sin.

I emphasize the point that when we have faith in God's mercy in the soul of one individual, we recognize that same perfection is appealing to everyone. We see that in our daily lives how we can withstand the assaults of the devil which we always know from the depth of our being that is because of God's grace that we protect and nourish through the all powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother of God.
 

St. Faustina reminds us--no, implores us--to live in that mercy which is the Divine Life. St.Mary's Shrine Parish has been called and chosen by God to bring His mercy continuously into the world and we have the true Sign of the Blessed Mother's words given to us, imprinted on our souls because of our vocation:

Then I saw the Blessed Virgin, unspeakably beautiful. She came down from the altar to my kneeler, held me close and said to me,I am Mother to you all, thanks to the unfathomable mercy of God most pleasing to me is that soul which faithfully carries out the will of God. She gave me to understand that I had faithfully fulfilled the will of God and had thus found favor in His eyes. Be courageous. Do not fear apparent obstacles, but fix your gaze upon the Passion of my Son, and in this way you will be victorious.
--The Diary of St. Faustina

Short interpretation: Believe in the power of the sacraments and know God's Will.

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

Our pastor sure doesn't mince words. In this latest piece from Father, he calls it as he sees it! At St. Mary's we don't pussy-foot around when it comes to things eternal and risk posed to our immortal souls.

This information was submitted to by email me for posting today:

From the Catholic Star Herald, May 15th, 2008:

...consultations are now taking place with parish representatives to determine pastoral needs before the naming in August of the priests who eventually will become pastors of merged parishes when the new parishes are formally established by decree (a timeline was published in the May 2 Catholic Star Herald showing the process).  Existing pastors will cease to be pastors when the decrees establishing the newly-merged parishes are promulgated. Until then, parish life will continue under the direction of the present pastor.

Also a timeline from the Catholic Star Herald:

1. April-Fall 2008

Parishes utilize "Coping with Change Together" resources beginning in spring 2008. For more information about parish resources that are available, see www.GatheringGodsGifts.org.

2. May 1-June 15, 2008                       

In advance of the naming of pastors for newly merged parishes, consultations will occur to determine the pastoral needs of parish communities that will merge or be open due to a pastor resignation. Representatives from the Priest Personnel Board and diocesan or parish staff will meet with eight to 10 representatives from the parishes (typically those who currently are on parish pastoral and finance councils) to determine the pastoral needs of the newly configured parish(es).

3. May 15, 2008                        

Pastors of parishes that will remain stand-alone or clustered and who choose not to continue in their present assignments are to indicate by May 15 their intention to resign at a date to be determined.

4. June 1, 2008                                   

The Vicar for Clergy publishes the list of parish openings and invites priests to indicate their preferences and to apply for available parish assignments.

5. July 15, 2008                       

Priests will have until July 15 to apply for open parishes.

6. Early August                                   

The Priest Personnel and Policy Board deliberates and consults with the individual priests involved and submits recommendations to Bishop Galante for his consideration.

7. Mid-August           

Bishop announces to parishioners the names of the priests who eventually will become pastors when the new parishes are established formally by decree. There will be much work to be done before that can happen, pastorally, canonically and administratively. When the parish has completed its work, Bishop Galante will issue the decree, at which time the new parish comes into existence.  Existing pastors de facto cease to be pastors when the decrees establishing the newly-merged parishes are promulgated.  Until then, current pastors continue their ministry to the people of their parishes.

8. Late August                       

The process of naming priests to open parishes occurs a second time to address the vacancies that will occur as a result of the assignments announced in mid-August. At this time, a list of parish openings will be published.  Priests will have until September 2 to apply for these openings. After deliberation by the Priest Personnel and Policy Board, recommendations will be forwarded to Bishop Galante for his consideration. The assignments for these openings are expected to be announced in late September.

And yet oddly, in an article dated May 28, from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington Click here for link:

Bishop Ireton principal Fr. Matthew Hillyard, O.S.F.S, has been assigned as the Rector of the Cathedral parish in Camden, N.J., thus ending the presence of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales at Bishop Ireton High School."

The commenter who sent me this says:

More lies by Galante?  Another "process" where decisions have already been made, before anything meaningful has been done based on the consultations and before applications were even due for priests to apply for this position and before the priest personnel board has reviewed the applications and compared them to the needs of the new parish?  I'm not sure what a "rector" is, but I suspect it means he will be the new pastor, and if so this may be an opportunity to clearly show Galante for what he really is.

Julie now: Notice that in everything they talk about "process." As we were walking out of the "meeting" with Bishop Galante at St.Mary's the other night, I was very close to Kevin from the Council of Churches, who was speaking to "Sister" Marilyn vollmer, trying to get some answers out of her. He was asking her where this (consolidation) program came from and if they brought it with them from LA and Texas. She corrected him, "It's not a program, it's a process."

Pardon my French, but what a load of horse doodoo. Apparently Kevin wasn't buying it either because he followed up quickly and politely with, "Ok, then where'd the 'process' come from?" It was pretty darn funny. But why? Why do they insist on referring to this diocesan massacre as a "process?"

In the sense that it's a process by which they attempt to destroy us and make us less Catholic, one step at a time, I guess it is a process. But seriously, in saying that this is a "process," the diocesan bureaucrats are claiming there's no preconceived or premeditated "plan"... as if this "diocesan restructuring" has simply to do with this diocese and its "needs." In saying it's a "process," they claim that they're "listening" to the Holy Spirit, taking things a little at a time, and "listening" to all of us. This way when they steamroll us and bulldoze our churches they can claim that it was all done for us--for our own good-- because they listened to us. That they are only doing what they see as needed. How many times have we heard Bishop Galante say that his, "conscience would not allow [him] to do otherwise"?

In fact, this IS A PROGRAM and it's one that other diocese and other bishops have instituted around the country. It's a program that attempts to destroy the Faith. They don't want us to connect the dots and realize what's going on: that they want to make us into the "Catholic-Style Community Churches." The other night at St.Mary's, I was surprised to hear the bishop come right out and admit that he was modeling the new churches on the Evangelical Protestant community churches he views as so "successful." He spoke of Gloucester County Community Church specifically. (For their website click here. Notice their church is  less hidiously ugly than St. John's in Naples, FL.) Folks, this is happening all across the country--not just herein the Diocese of Camden. Have no doubt that there is an agenda here.

Well, don't believe the lies. Refuse and resist--speak out against the scheming of Bishop Galante and his "other bishop," "Sister" Marilyn vollmer. Insist you want to be Catholic and you don't want any of the liberal nonsense. Fight for your church and your faith. We must. It's what Christ calls us to do.

 

Bishop Galante, be advised: If you should choose to keep up this unholy battle to close the shrine parish of St. Mary's Malaga, you will have a tremendous uphill battle ahead of you. We will fight you all the way to Rome if that's what it takes. The pressure will not cease, it will only increase. We will use canon law and civil law to protect what is holy and True.

Warning: Plainspoken Julie below. Feel free to add you two cents about this evening!

Tonight, Bishop Joseph Galante visited our little church. It was packed to overflowing and people picketed out in the street. It was an impressive turnout, to say the least. Interestingly, Bishop Galante brought a whole cavalcade of people along with him, including Roberta Small and "Sister" Marilyn vollmer, commonly known around the diocesan offices and beyond as "the other bishop." (He brought her along with him from Texas when he came to NJ.) You'd never know she was a "religious." He also brought along Fr. Carmen Carlone, pastor of St. Joe's in Hammonton.

As an aside, I joined St. Joe's awhile ago even though I never, ever attend (except once a year for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and that's about all I can stand). I joined hoping that I might be able to request "as a parishioner," that they offer Eucharistic adoration there. While I'm no longer a member there (and was in name only--the "liturgies" there were that appalling), when I attended the "welcome to the parish" event "Father" Carmen sported a salmon pink tank top, capris, and leather thong sandals. He's a real character. I have never seen him in a collar, actually, until tonight. He must've had that suit specially dusted off and pressed for the occasion. He looked good. But I digress.

The bishop and Msgr. Joyce, the slick moderator with the shiny shoes, gave us "one hour and ten minutes," with 2 minutes per person, to say our piece. Lots of incredible things were said, I couldn't even hope to repeat them all here. There was so much courage and conviction in the room, and lots of applause for points well-made. If the bishop got nothing else from our meeting, he must know this: that we are not, I repeat NOT going to give up until we obtain victory not just for St. Mary's, but for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament who must be so outraged and offended by the actions of this bishop.

Friends of St. Mary's, let the Blessed Sacrament be at the very center of our struggle. So many tonight spoke to the bishop about their love of the Blessed Sacrament. Several children spoke about their experiences at Eucharistic adoration, and one girl who looked to be about ten said that she'd gone to adoration at 3AM this past night for the sake of our church, and walked off in tears. One little boy of about eight told the bishop he wanted to be a priest at St. Mary's! One man, who does not drive, takes the bus all the way from Margate to attend St.Mary's and to go to adoration there. How inspiring. And he wasn't the only one. Person after person stood up and said how far they go to get to St. Mary's and how they pass this church and that one because what St. Mary's has is truly special. And yet to the bishop, the level of commitment and love for the Lord that exists at St. Mary's is simply not "vibrant" enough.

I myself witnessed to the bishop of the heresy preached on the website of the parish of St. John the Evangelist, the millionaire South Florida church he holds up as the model he believes South Jersey churches should become. At St. John the Evangelist, they believe that the bread and wine remain after the consecration as the Lutherans do and as the Council of Trent condemned. That's called consubstantiation. It's heresy. He just sat there smugly and shook his head at me. But I spoke the truth, and he knows it. The truth cannot and must not be hidden!

One wonderful woman spoke with such conviction about the fact that clearly, this whole thing must be about money, and that we must withhold our money from the diocese if they won't listen to us. They're our churches, we've paid for them, and they want to take them away from us anyway. I completely agree with her--I will not give a dime until St. Mary's is safe.

The bishop admitted that the "community church" model of megachurch that attracts many people--you know, that lukewarm, happy clappy, superficial religion--should be what we model our future churches on. Boy does he have it all wrong. He thinks Catholics are going over to the evangelicals because they want to be entertained. He's wrong. They are seeking out truth and not hypocrisy. I question whether they find it there in those sorts of churches, of course, but I understand what they're looking for. Bishop Galante expressed that he thinks "young people" want a paid youth minister and all sorts of services and "ministries"--all the "ministry" money can buy. He's wrong. The bishop couldn't be more wrong. Youth want the Truth, pure and simple. They want to be real Catholics, not sugar-coated, watered-down ones. And if they can't be that or do not know how to be that, they're going to leave. More of the same old crap that they've been feeding us over the past 40 years isn't going to make the situation better, it's going to make it worse. Non-practicing Catholics (including a sibling of mine) are completely disgusted by this whole situation. Closing the churches that are their last remaining physical connections to the Catholic faith will only distance them further.

When Bishop Galante had the opportunity to speak at the end (and some of the points he made I've mentioned above), he was extremely unconvincing. It was really just the same stuff he's been saying for months, so no surprises there. However, he may have been surprised by our allergic reaction to his remarks and the continual interjections from the peanut gallery (myself included, I was very hot under the collar). His rationale is completely nonsensical and we all saw through it tonight. It was wonderful that he impressed, convinced, or persuaded no one. We were truly united as a community, a thing Galante supposedly seeks to encourage--by tearing down our churches and building up artificial communities. He came in knowing he had his own plans and that he would not truly listen to us. The whole thing was for show, really, just to pretend he actually cares, just like the "speak up sessions." None of us fell for it.

In a nutshell, Bishop Galante is still claiming there will be a priest shortage, that Catholics are not attending mass, that churches need to be open seven days a week, "vibrant" liturgies need to happen everywhere (whatever the hell that means--I guess holy, Catholic liturgies are less important), that we need to have peppier music, and that outreach is centrally important. Of course, all of us sitting in the pews, in answer to every point he made about how the churches need to change, said, "we ARE doing that." St. Mary's is open all the time. It is "vibrant" liturgically, it does do outreach (but in a personal rather than a "slick" sort of way), and does have authentic, Catholic music.

The bishop also stood up and shamefully lied about several things, such as the financial motivation. He said that the assets of a parish, once merged, remain within the new entity. He failed to mentioned all the money grabbing that would occur after the "merge" (closure) and his power to control said assets. He failed to address several questions posed by the parishioners, including one very important one posed by Leah Vassallo, which was, basically, "What could St. Mary's do to demonstrate its 'vibrancy' to you, Bishop? Do you even think it's possible for a small church community of about 250 families, such as ours, to be vibrant?" After the bishop finished speaking (after having been interrupted numerous times by the faithful in the pews), Leah demanded he answer her question, and he completely ignored her. But in a way, I think he did answer her question. He talked about nothing but numbers and "big" churches, paid ministries, and bringing in masses of people. (Of course, when you close all these churches the megachurches will have to be large and bustling--they'll be the only places left to go! May God spare us that abomination!) While he conceded that even large churches could fail to be vibrant, the definite implication was that this was an exception. Big=vibrant to the bishop.

Bishop Galante was also confronted about his use of the name "Wawa" to refer to our little churches. Wonderfully, the speaker, our cameraman and a self-identified "Catholic in name only" and "doubting Thomas," said that Wawa was so successful because "there's one on every corner" and you can easily find them! Also, you always know you can get good food there and good service. Haha! What a wonderful point. Perhaps we should claim the term "Wawa church." As in, "My church is a Wawa church! You can find St. Mary's always open on the corner of 40 & 47!"

Finally I ought to mention that Bishop Galante stated that he could have come to this diocese and had an easy last few years before retirement, to which all of us applauded and said, "Why don't you?!" He was not happy with this remark and several times over admonished us to act as Christians. Last time I checked, it's our job as Christians to stand up and tell the truth. "Nicey-nice" ain't synonymous with Christian. But again, I digress. Anyway, the bishop said his "conscience wouldn't allow him" to keep things as they are, the "status quo" as he calls it.

As the days go on, Friends of St. Mary's, I am increasingly convicted. I know that we are doing the right thing, that God is on our side, and that we are doing His will. And the more unsavory information I learn of the bishop and his past, the more I realize that something unholy is afoot. We must continue to pray for the bishop, for nothing is impossible with God, and for the priests of our diocese. And let us keep working to save A Light in the Diocese: St. Mary's!

(PS: My four-year-old son Theo would like to add, "St. Mary's is a special church." He typed that himself.)





Friends of St. Mary's Malaga: Please email me, call me, comment here, or send letters detailing your experiences of this evening and opinion of the bishop's scheme. Feel free to comment below.

philadelphia weekly article link here
(from May 31, 2006, 2 years ago. Scroll down to "The Tierney I saw was a bully")

So far as I can tell, Tierney was the PR man for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. There are other connections I cannot at this time mention, but I thought you'd enjoy the parallel here:

When I knew Tierney, I was trying to write about what the archdiocese did with its money, and the cold and callous way his eminence treated his fellow Catholics while he eliminated 20 or so churches and schools in the poorest sections of town. Whether the churches should've been closed is a debate about money and resources; what can't be debated is the un-Christian way the Catholics in these parishes were treated by the cardinal, and his paid mouthpiece, Brian Tierney.

I was a witness. Many of these churches were built and maintained by contributions from the poor people in the neighborhoods. But when the churches went down, everything from the bricks to the crucifixes remained the property of the archdiocese.

These were places where people were baptized, married and buried, and the Catholics who supported them for decades had no rights and no say when they were shut down. If the parishes had to be closed, the cardinal could've comforted the afflicted by holding the last mass, and leading the procession over to the new church. But his response was to refuse to meet with any of these people, including nuns and Catholic school kids who picketed his cathedral.

At the Inquirer I was trying to cover the turmoil and demonstrations the cardinal had incited. It was Bevilacqua's fellow Catholics who gave me secret documents that showed that during a time when the church was going through an alleged financial crisis, and money was so tight that they had to close poor churches and schools, the cardinal secretly spent $5 million to renovate and redecorate archdiocese offices, his mansion and seaside villa.

And where was Brian Tierney during all this?

He was doing what he does best, working to suppress the truth [about the sex abuse scandal] by attacking me in several meetings with my editors. I was under orders from my bosses not to say anything, for fear of further antagonizing him. At one of these meetings Tierney and two associates took turns verbally beating me up in front of my cowardly editors, while they just sat there.

Any of this sound familiar, folks? Bishop Galante can say that he had "speak up sessions" with us, came to our churches and "heard our concerns," etc., but we all know (not only in our hearts but from confidential sources, mind you) that the church "mergers" (closings, really) were a done deal. The bishop has an agenda. He wants to:

1. Get rid of priests BY THE DOZEN who he dislikes because they are orthodox, devout, or don't go in for various liberal agenda points. He is forcibly retiring them, attempting to get them to resign, or attempting to force them to seek "psychological" help to deprogram them from their bizarre Catholic ways. This has already happened and continues. And yet, Fr. Maggart of Assumption Parish is supposedly getting married and is only "on leave." Why? So he can still collect a paycheck? (The information about priests being forced out is widely known, plus we have proof.)
   
2. After dismissing all these priests and creating an environment hostile to attraction of priestly vocations, he then claims there's a vocations crisis, that we won't have enough priests, and need to close down churches. Most notably, churches targeted for closure are ones that are smaller, older, and are more characteristically Catholic in architecture, culture, etc. Now we're virtually stripped of our religion and culture and history as we know it, not to mention some of our best priests. Now we're ready for Phase 3.
3. Establish Protestant-style megachurches lacking traditional sacramentals (see this link and this one) in favor of abstract and modern-looking museum pieces lacking warmth or any real connection to our Catholic faith. Allow so much lay involvement that priests become an afterthought. The sacraments as we know them become inaccessible.
   
4. In the midst of all this, the bishop changes seminaries because he has theological differences with St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philly. Now he's sending many seminarians of the diocese to St.Mary's, which is commonly referred to as "The Pink Palace," in Baltimore.

Now the devil can run rampant. Our churches are alien to us, the priests are teaching things "unfamiliar," and the sacraments increasingly inaccessible and "different." No, this is not some weird dream scenario. This is what's happening now. The sacraments, sacramentals, and holy priests are what help keep us close to God and are our bulwark against the forces of evil in the world. Pray hard.

The Schad construction firm built St. Mary's. Yes, Schad as in "Bishop Schad." Bishop Schad said, "Because my father built it, St. Mary's has always been special to me," remembered Antoinette Cesare, a lifetime member of St.Mary's, in 1997. Antoinette Cesare remembers when St. Mary's was built back in 1922. She was nine years old at the time. Recently the Sacred Heart school, together with St. Francis and St. Isidore schools, was renamed "Bishop Schad Regional School." Sacred Heart Church in Vineland, the beautiful and historical church built by my own ancestors, is now being threatened with closure. Beside the doors to Sacred Heart hang the names of my grandparents, Jacob and Laura (Piccioni) DeMarchi, who contributed to the "new," larger church on Landis Avenue. And the little church built by Bishop Schad's own father is also being threatened with closure by our current bishop, Joseph Galante.

(Historical information thanks to William Sansalone's wonderful and thorough history of St. Mary's Malaga, 1997.)