Was reading the Bible today and this seemed especially relevant:

Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. I know that, after my departure, ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And of your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. -Acts 20: 28-30

See also Titus 1: 7-16.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on pressofatlanticcity.com:  August 12, 2010

By Christopher Ramirez, Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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

The fireworks were exceptional and a surprise to all! No one expected them to be as good and as large and as long as they were. What a wonderful way to end a wonderful day; a way to first and foremost honor Our Lady, to celebrate the hard work of the Feast planners, and to just say, "Yea St. Mary's!" No video can capture fireworks, you have to be there, but here you go anyway! Click on HD button on lower right to watch in high definition. (This is just the beginning of the display.)

 

Malaga Fire Company the Pyrotechnico fireworks company

(You can click on the "HD" button on the lower right of the video to watch in high definition.)


In this second video (below), you can hear the church bell ringing in the background. This church bell, manually rung by our music director, has not been rung in at least 45 years. We're not entirely sure why...it had to be repaired recently only in that it needed new rope, but we suspect it was not because of the rope that the bell was not used. We do know that, around that time, the advent of electronically rung bells spelled the disuse of traditional, manually rung bells like ours. We have both now, which is also nice. This was the first Feast since at least 1965 that St. Mary's bell has rung.

Our Lady is removed from the altar and carefully placed on the handmade barque. See also our Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/savestmarys

We hope top have a few more pictures for you soon. The church was absolutely packed during Mass and the Feast activities were very well attended. The music was great, the food was great (my personal favorites were the snow cones and Maria Fricano of La Pizza's crepes!!!). The fireworks were fabulous! Enjoy the slideshow.


Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Despite the fact that Fr. Namiotka's sermon on this festive day went something like this [below], we did not let it dampen our celebration! Ok, the video clip is a slight exaggeration, but the gist was definitely the same--various tales of horrific, sudden death and the shortness of our lives, how "death comes unexpectedly." What a hilarious and classic scene from Disney's version of Pollyanna. Enjoy the incomparable Karl Malden in this all-time great movie scene.

At this year's Feast of the Assumption, in addition to our regular Mass and a beautiful procession with our new barque lovingly made last year by a parishioner, we will also have:

• fun stuff for the kids, like inflatables
• trackless train  for the kids
  
• brand new games for adults and kids
  
• hay ride (see photo below)
  
• musical entertainment (great bands, right)
  
• seafood
  
• chicken bbq
• yummy baked goods
• water ice from Toni's Treats
  
• funnel cake
• beer & Plagido's wine
  
• Chinese auction
• 50-50 raffle
• some fireworks at the end of the night
• commemorative t-shirts, $12 (above right)
  

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

...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 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This American Life Episode 404

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

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

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

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.

                                        

Our beautiful stations of the cross have been moved inside! They've been inside for a few weeks now and boy, what an improvement to the church interior. They look gorgeous and are readily available for prayer no matter what the weather. Since St. Mary's is open so often, this makes it very convenient. What's especially nice is that for the nearly 3 days/nights week of Eucharistic Adoration, one can make the Stations in the presence of Our Eucharistic Lord.