We have had lots of reasons, all of which we have previously debunked, (including the priest shortage lie,*) thrown at us as rationale for the merger/closer of our church. One of them is that, at approximately 250 families, we have no right to exist because we are simply too small a parish to justify.

Partly because my (Julie's) husband is not Catholic, my [largely evangelical protestant] workplace, extended family, and other acquaintances, we happen to know a lot of non-Catholic Christians. We also happen to have fairly frequent houseguests from all over the country because my husband's denomination is so small and geographically disparate, they often travel just to get together or for meetings. Currently we have a twenty-something couple, recently married, staying with us. They are both originally from the midwest but they are currently living in Washington, D.C. They both grew up in protestant churches, she the daughter of a pastor.

When the subject of, "and where do you attend?" comes up, the church closure fiasco inevitably arises. In the past our "priest convener" has said something to the effect of, "what must the protestants think of your not going along with your bishop?" It has always struck me as strange that anyone would think that protestants would not be sympathetic to our plight because they always seem to be. But why are they sympathetic?

Based on my conversations, I would some it up with a couple of pretty simple reasons, really. One, they understand that right is right and wrong is wrong, no matter who happens to espouse the view. Second, in their enthusiasm for growing the church, they understand that closing a church flies in the face of the propagation of the Gospel. Next, they understand that corruption causes more corruption and that it is all too common in all Christian circles for the everyday people in the pew to suffer as a result. But most of all, they are baffled by the following, which is far less abstract, and usually elicit a reply to this effect:

"Two hundred fifty families? That is considered small?" Apparently, by just about any protestant denomination's standards, a congregation anywhere near this size would be considered a great success. Last night was not the first time I have witnessed this reaction. Almost every single time the subject comes up, we are asked how large St. Mary's is. Our houseguest's (the daughter of the pastor) church back in Ohio has "no more than 200 people, probably less," and his in Kansas is even smaller. To have even fifty people in attendance over the course of a weekend would be just great to them. And if you buy into the priest shortage argument is legitimate, you should see the dearth of prospective pastors in their denomination, so this reaction is not due to their great abundance of ministerial candidates. And they should know. He (the one from Kansas) works for one of their denomination's few seminaries.

To top it all off, this apparent preference of so many priests and bishops for "bigger and better" flies in the face of contemporary trends, although they don't seem to recognize that. In their effort to be more protestant and less distinctively Catholic, they are missing the boat entirely. In this day and age of the house church movement, intentionally small Christian churches, and a movement away from the megachurch model, we are witnessng a yearning for the authentic on the part of younger generations in particular and the desire for true community. They also do not seem to be noticing the fact that there are many young protestants who are embracing distinctively Catholic practices without even knowing it,** while so many Catholic leaders seem to want to purge Catholicism of those annoying little things that they think separate us from the protestants.

Meanwhile, our protestant friends are mystified by the desire of someone charged with spreading the gospel to close a church, much less dozens of them. He (the one from Kansas) said, "That is terrible from an evangelism point of view." He took the words right out of my mouth. "Yeah," I said. "One thing I'm pretty sure of is that Christ did not say, "Go, therefore, and consolidate." They laughed and nodded. "My worry," I said, "is that what is currently happening is that so many people are so disgusted with the whole thing that they are leaving not just the Church, but any church, because they figure the gig is up and it's all a bunch of crap. Hundreds of souls will be lost." He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's definitely true."

Over a card game last night they asked, "Where would you go?" because they understand how important and irreplaceable a tight knit community is. Without my having to explain anything, they already know that it is not so easy to just jump from one church to another, as if where one worshiped was completely unimportant. (After about a year, they themselves are still looking for a place to worship in the D.C. area and have started a small house church out of their home that meets monthly.) "I don't know what will happen," I answered. "But I do know this. We've got to fight with everything we've got."


* You can search our site for articles regarding the stats on priests per capita in our diocese over time, as well as information on the removal of priests by the dozen, their forcible retirement, and the refusal of the current diocesan administration to allow in priests from the FSSP (headed out of Nebraska but located throughout the country) or religious orders abroad.

** Search the internet if you want, but everything from the use of incense, candles, liturgy of the hours, lectio divina, "the new monasticism," and even praying the rosary are becoming wildly popular among many young, evangelical protestants (one of our houseguests included, to my great surprise...apparently he thinks some of these things are "Episcopalian" in origin).

Snip:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read this article about Diocese of Peoria

Dear Committee to Save St. Mary's Malaga,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,
(We have withheld his name.)

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

St. John Vianney parishioners, our prayers are with you. It is time to again stand up and voice your opposition to this evil act. Do what is necessary to make your position clear.

Here is the [poor] Courier Post article in which they mislead the reader by making it appear that St. John Vianney* is much younger than it is. Also, notice how idiotic and deceptive the reasoning is. The CP only speaks to core team members, not to those unhappy with the loss of their parish. Anyone who thinks that people in the diocese, much less SJV parisihoners, are "accepting" and in favor of this merger plan is deluding themselves.

In case you haven't already guessed, St. John Vianney is a beautiful little country parish. It is small, old, and traditional. No wonder the bishop wants it gone.

It is sad that its pastor, a priest we happen to like very much, has not supported his parishioners and the rights of the parish to its existance as stipulated by canon law and Church history. This has been the case throughout the diocese. Some care too much for the stability of their status and their standing with the bishop and not enough for the tending of their flock and standing in opposition to that which is overtly wrong.

They hope to "get people back" by closing their parish??? What kind of reasoning is that? The only people who buy this line of reasoning are some on the core teams. By doing this, they are effectively slamming the door in the face to those who ever thought of returning to the Church, but that's just as well to Galante, who has a "new church" in mind that bears little resemblance to the Church we know. Scroll down to the comments.

Snip:

The parishes -- St. Margaret in Woodbury Heights and St. John Vianney in Deptford -- are to merge Jan. 13, Galante said. The new parish will be called Infant Jesus....

The merged parish, with its seat in Woodbury Heights, will serve 3,300 families. It will be led by the Rev. Joseph T. Szolack, the current pastor of St. Margaret's.

St. John Vianney Church will serve as a worship site "as needed by the new parish," the diocese said in a statement.

St. Margaret's Parish was founded in 1961 during a period of suburban growth in Woodbury Heights. St. John Vianney became a parish in 1971.

Merger preparations began in November 2008 when a "core team," with members from each parish, held an initial meeting with Szolack. Parish members since that time have worshipped together and shared social activities, such as a carnival and pancake breakfasts, the diocese said.

"Initially there was some uncertainty as to how this would all work," said Mark Cipolone, a core team member from St. Margaret's. "Now, parishioners are accepting and looking to moving forward."

Cipolone acknowledged a desire to see the survival of St. Margaret's, which was founded in 1961, and St. John Vianney, a parish since 1971.

"Given the realities, we have to do it," he said. "We have to get people to come back."

Galante's announcement came two days after the merger of three parishes in Camden County. Those parishes -- St. Luke in Stratford, St. Lawrence in Lindenwold and Our Lady of Grace in Somerdale -- are now Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

The next merger is to take effect Dec. 23, when two Cherry Hill parishes -- St. Pius X and Holy Rosary -- are to become Holy Eucharist Parish.

So far, 17 parishes have merged since late July, reducing the diocesan total by nine.

Comments:

Replying to armageddon:

Bishop Galante is in the wrong pew....
He should be our next Governor......

Yes, he should merge public school districts but leave our churches and parishes alone.
12/12/2009 8:12:25 AM

Maybe the parishioners at St. Margaret are coming to "accept" it but I can assure you those at St. John Vianney, which incidentally has been there long before 1971 (as St. Agnes), are not "accepting" it. And before anyone says anything, St. John Vianney is a full parish on Sundays and in the black.
12/12/2009 12:39:37 PM

Replying to watertoo:

Maybe the parishioners at St. Margaret are coming to "accept" it but I can assure you those at St. John Vianney, which incidentally has been there long before 1971 (as St. Agnes), are not "accepting" it. And before anyone says anything, St. John Vianney is a full parish on Sundays and in the black.

It is not fair that they are closing a fully self-sufficient church like St. John Vianney. I wish that the Courier Post would interview other church goers besides core team members.
12/12/2009 1:28:02 PM

Geographically, how do they justify elderly parish members that live in Deptford traveling to Woodbury Heights? It is not around the corner!! This is one of many reasons I have left my catholic background. There is no thought to the people just to the politics!!
12/12/2009 6:16:53 PM

The obese bishop must be removed. He is uneducated and stupid. Anyone who puts money in the plate is a fool. Remember the house of charity is the bishp's home.
12/12/2009 8:06:04 PM

* The SJV website has been significantly downsized from what it once was. It was once one of the best church websites in the diocese. Guess they were told to downsize it to only the absolutely essential information. Are the parishioners being told it's time to roll over and die?

We can't link to the article for you since the Diocese of Camden, oops I meant the "Catholic Star Herald," took the article down. One wonders, why? Do they have something to hide? Why is it they do not want people to know the truth of the matter? When you're in the Truth, you have nothing to hide. But then, I guess we all know by now that our current diocesan administration is very far from the Truth.

We will share the article with you when we get it, but for now, the gist of it is this: the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy has notified St. Vincent Pallotti that their request for recourse regarding the merger was not upheld. The Congregation wrote that "decisions as to the location of the offices of the merged parish, and the appointment of the pastor for that parish, fall within the direct competence only of the local bishop, and therefore outside the scope of a canonical recourse."

I admit that watching the show, "Little House on the Prairie" is one of my guilty pleasures. I've liked this show ever since I was a small child. While traveling across the country once, I accidentally (but happily) found myself following the same trail that the real Ingalls family once followed and visited one of the museums associated with the famous pioneer family. Now my husband and I are reading the book series aloud to our children, and this nicely coincides with a homeschooler class my son is taking entitled, "Westward Ho."

In any case, I think that one of the central attractive qualities of this series is the real life struggle between good and evil. While members of the Ingalls family do not always make the right choices initially, with the help of God and by strengthening each other, in the end they always chooses the side of right.

I was reading a quote from one of the writers of the show the other day. He was commenting on the episode, "The Bully Boys" (see last few minutes of episode and transcription below). In this episode a group of thugs threaten the way of life of the entire town. By the end of the episode, virtually the entire town has been abused in some way. The writer states that what makes this episode different from many is the fact that it is acknowledged that some people are essentially bad. The soft-spoken and Christ-like Reverend Alden sums up the sentiments of the writer in his sermon, which precipitates the driving of the thugs from the community.

The reason why I am bothering to share this with you is that I think we face a similar situation on a much broader scale here in our diocese. While some bullies stand outside a church or community, some appear to be a part of it. They wield their membership and, in some cases, their authority in abusive ways. They lie, threaten others, and may even steal what does not belong to them.

Unlike the villains in this Little House episode, there are some in leadership positions in our diocese and throughout the Church who are basically just thugs and bullies. Like the tv show bullies, they think nothing of pushing people and communities around. The common street criminals, the thieving corporate CEOs, the scheming Washington politicians, and certain corrupt Church officials have one thing in common: they are out for only themselves and do not consider the wellbeing and rights of others, much less the propagation of the Faith and the Gospel. They are career-oriented opportunists. Therefore it is imperative that we pray daily not only for ourselves and our parishes, but for the conversion of all Church leaders to Christ and His Church.

In a simple and straightforward way, this episode manages to relay a few very important truths:

1. Contrary to the modern world's popular opinion, good and evil exist. Good and evil are not subjectively determined. They are not matters of perception, but are objectively true.

2. In all of our lives, we have a choice to make. We must daily choose between good and evil, right and wrong, Jesus Christ and The Deceiver. Every day when we wake up in the morning, this is the choice that is before us. We must choose our side. This is called free will. However, we cannot be on the side of both Christ and The Evil One simultaneously. When we fall, when we have made a wrong decision and sinned, we confess it, we disown it, and we choose Christ's side again.

3. "Turning the other cheek" is indeed noble, but as demonstrated by Our Lord, does not automatically exclude the necessity of resisting the devil and "those who do his bidding."

4. A real community does not "stand alone against those who do the devil's work," but is unified by God in its insistence that evil be thwarted and right defended.*

Though the show depicts a protestant congregation, I think a valid fifth point may also be taken:

5. A pastor has an obligation to defend his flock from those who mean to harm it, from the attacks of the devil.

Transcription:

Rev. Alden: With your indulgence I would like to dispense with the hymn and go directly to my subject this morning: Heaven and hell. Sometimes we forget, in our contemplation of our reward in Heaven, that there even is a hell. But we might do well this morning to remember that hell has a purpose too. And the devil doesn't sit down there all by himself. Now I've told you that there's good in all people. But that doesn't mean that all people lead good lives. There are those who lie, who steal, who abuse those around them. Last week I told you that it was noble and courageous to turn the other cheek. Well, that's true, but this week one of you reminded me that there are times that the devil is in our midst; that no endurance, no nobility, will defend us against those who do his bidding.

Thug #1: Reverend, all that talk about the devil, you wouldn't be slurring me and my brothers, would ya?

Rev. Alden: More than that. It's strange that it took the children in this town to teach us the lesson: that we are a town, we're a community, we're a congregation. And no man should stand alone against those who do the devil's work.

Thug #2: What are you planning to do, preacher?

Rev. Alden: I intend to see you out of this church and out of this community.

Thug #2: Well that's pretty hard words but it looks like you're still standing pretty much alone.

[Reverend Alden and Isaiah Edwards slam the thugs against the wall.]

Rev. Alden: Am I?!

Thug #2: All right, all right, we'll be out of here by nightfall.

Rev. Alden: You'll go NOW. And you'll take only those things you brought with you. And maybe next time you'll think twice about taking advantage of good, decent people.

Thug #1: Tell him we'll do it, Sam, we'll do it.

Rev. Alden: [to Isaiah Edwards] Isaiah, your men can handle this?

Isaiah Edwards: Amen, Reverend!

Rev. Alden: [to Caroline Ingalls] Caroline, if you'll lead the ladies in a hymn, we'll be right back.

[Rev. Alden, Isaiah Edwards, and the men of the community march the thugs out of town. The congregation sings, "Onward Christian soldiers..."]


* St. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, Book II:

(Regarding pastors): ...but he who has human beings entrusted to him, the rational flock of Christ, incurs a penalty in the first place for the loss of the sheep, which goes beyond material things and touches his own life: and in the second place he has to carry on a far greater and more difficult contest. For he has not to contend with wolves, nor to dread robbers, nor to consider how he may avert pestilence from the flock. With whom then has he to fight? With whom has he to wrestle? Listen to the words of St. Paul: We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

(Regarding wolves in sheep's clothing): ....even should they capture the whole flock, they do not leave the shepherd unmolested, but attack him all the more, and wax bolder, ceasing not until they have either overthrown him, or have themselves been vanquished. Again, the afflictions of sheep are manifest...

This was originally posted January 31, 2009. We thought it was worth republishing.

Catholic theology and Church teaching are not accidental. Holy Mother Church teaches unchanging, eternal Truths. Moreover, these Truths are all connected and interconnected. Like all systems, each Truth depends upon the other; they are the structures that support the building. We do not, after all, have an atomistic system wherein one truth may stand up as a pillar without the others. Generally speaking, it is not possible, nor is it logical, to accept one teaching of the Catholic Church and dispense with the others, as if one was unrelated to the next. Once we begin to do this, the structure loses its supports and comes tumbling down.

Take, for example, our church buildings and chapels. They are designed for the worship of Christ, the King of the Universe. They are supposed to give us a glimpse of heaven. They are to surround us with examples of how we should live (depictions of the lives of Christ and the saints), who we are and were designed to be (holy sons and daughters of Our Lord), and the physical and spiritual means of getting there.


As Catholics, we believe that Christ is truly and physically present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and that his Eucharistic Presence resides in the Tabernacle. If the King of the Universe resides in the Tabernacle, it only makes sense that that Tabernacle be located in a prominent place, front and center.


If the King of the Universe in the Tabernacle is located front and center in our churches, it only makes sense that we reverently face Him. If the King of the Universe is located in the Tabernacle, front and center, and we are all facing His Majesty, it only makes sense that we be able to kneel before Him in humility and out of love and devotion to Him.


If we truly believe that Jesus Christ, King and Redeemer of our fallen race has come to be with us sacramentally in the Holy Eucharist and that He resides in our Catholic churches, then our souls and minds ought to be elevated, our whole selves reminded of Him while we are in church, whether mass is going on or not. Throughout most of human history, people have not been literate, and even today we need reminders of what it means to live the Christian life. God allows us to use our senses to know Him. To glorify God and for the help of our souls, we are given works of art in the form of paintings, stained glass windows, statues, and other things within our churches.


Consider this. When you have a guest coming to your house, you clean up. You make ready. You prepare. If you were to have an "important" guest come to your house, you would want it to look good. In this case we have an important guest--the most important Guest possible, our Creator--coming to be with us, so great is His love for us. We should want all around us to remind us of His loving and sacrificial Presence.

Says the Catholic Church of England and Wales:

A Church for us is more than a building - it is a Sacred Space, filled with God's presence. Everything within that space - the paintings, the statues, the stained glass - exists for a spiritual purpose.

This is to provide people with a focus for prayer and an insight into God: literally a 'glimpse of heaven'. The word 'Patrimony' describes the Church's cultural inheritance in terms of architecture, art and artefacts. All witness to our Catholic past: a history of persecution, struggle and ultimately, revival. We are just custodians, with a duty to preserve these sacred treasures for the future. Today we also create the Patrimony of tomorrow by commissioning high quality Sacred art.

But now, after roughly two thousand years of Holy Mother Church teaching us

• about the sacredness the church building,
• about how we must be ever vigilant of the possibility of sacrilege not only personally but also in our churches and shrines,
• about how Our Lord would be with us even until the end of time both spiritually and in the Holy Eucharist in our churches and sacred places,
• about Christians sacrificing all they had materially and even their own lives for the sake of their holy churches erection and continuation,
  
• to fall on our knees before God in our beloved churches,

now, in late twentieth and early twenty-first century America we are told to believe that our churches are "just buildings" and we ought not be attached to them. I don't know about you, but my mother taught me when I was just a child that this is one of the most important things that distinguishes us as Catholics from the protestants: our churches are open because we believe that they are holy places, that Our Lord is there, and that they are not just buildings. My mother was no liar.

Places where Our Lord has come to us sacramentally in His unbloody sacrifice, day after day after day, we are now told to believe are buildings like any other. That isn't Catholicism. That is materialism. And that, my friends, is precisely what the devil himself would have us believe. To believe our churches are only buildings would be to deny Our Lord's Eucharistic Presence, our ultimate and eternal destiny, and that for which we were created--the worship of God. In fact, to claim that our churches are just buildings would be to deny our spiritual nature, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and even our sacred baptisms and confirmations. To claim that our churches are just buildings is to deny the validity of their consecrations and blessings. To claim that our churches are just buildings is an insidious lie. And a lie is a lie no matter who says it.

By a decree of the Council of Trent (Sess. XXII), Mass should not be celebrated in any place except a consecrated or blessed church. Hence it is the wish of the Church that at least cathedrals and parish churches be solemnly consecrated, and that smaller churches be blessed (Cong. Sac. Rit., 7 Aug., 1875), but any church and public or semi-public oratory may be consecrated (Cong. Sac. Rit., 5 June, 1899). Both by consecration and by blessing a church is dedicated to Divine worship, which forbids its use for common or profane purposes. Consecration is a rite reserved to a bishop, who by the solemn anointing with holy chrism, and in the prescribed form, dedicates a building to the service of God, thereby raising it in perpetuum to a higher order, removing it from the malign influence of Satan, and rendering it a place in which favours are more graciously granted by God (Pontificale Romanum).  (From New Advent, the Catholic Encyclopedia.)

In the past, Catholics and Catholic buildings alike have been the targets of hatred and persecution. I need not list the litany of specific examples, but priests have been tarred and feathered, buildings blown up, altars desecrated, the Sacred Body of Our Lord maligned, churches vandalized. The history of anti-Catholicism in this country is well-documented and is, in fact, alive and well today. Of course in this country Catholics not even permitted to run for public office (and even when they were, there was serious doubt about their "patriotism"). Catholics have experienced horrible persecution in this and other countries, and by extension our houses of worship desecrated in the worst possible ways. Suffice it to say that many of you have likely heard the stories of your own ancestors and what they went through to preserve the faith, or even just to get to mass. I know I grew up hearing these stories of perseverance in the Faith, and my own family sacrificed much and for that I am so proud and so grateful. It is a great privilege to be born into a good Catholic family and to receive the benefits of our patrimony. The fruit of all that sacrifice is made real to us by virtue of worshiping in the places bequeathed to us by our ancestors and by the grace of God.


It is amazing that at this point in American Catholic history, instead of the Catholic Church being the object of hostile attacks from without, our church buildings and even the Church itself is being attacked from within. Sadly, our shepherds are leading their sheep astray, and many souls will be lost. Instead of protecting our churches, our patrimony, they are being closed (and often the contents sold on ebay) and when faithful Catholics hold tight to the timeless teachings of their Faith, they are called all manner of things from "disobedient" to "unchristian" and worse. Sometimes these attacks are leveled, shamefully, by their own priests and bishops. Yes, many of the very bishops who

• harbored child abusers, shuffling them from one parish to the next
• affiliate themselves and do business with the likes of criminals who would steal churches and schools right out from under unsuspecting Catholics
• allow the rampant sexual impropriety of priests in their diocese
• advocate such unorthodox doctrine as married, gay, and "womyn" priests; as well as downplay of the sacrificial nature of the mass and many other things
• repeatedly lie to the faithful in matters ranging from real estate transactions to canon law to theological Truth
  
• justify closing churches by claiming there's a "priest shortage" and then persecuting and sending away priests by the dozen...
  

...yes, some of the very same bishops would be so blind and arrogant as to criticize the faithful Catholics who merely want to worship their Lord and Savior in the manner they always have: in their own churches. This is an outrage, and it should not be tolerated by any thinking Catholic.

Just a brief update for all of you. CCD is now underway. In the event there are any unregistered children out there, please register as soon as possible. Should you have any difficulty in contacting the "office staff," please feel free to call Julie at 609-561-4992 and I will make sure you get registered. (I'm now the Religious Education "liaison" or whatever you want to call me.) In case you are unaware, CCD at St. Mary's is far different from any other parish I've observed. It's very small, personal, and not standard "classroom," as my own was, if for no other reason than the fact that we have no actual "classrooms!" It begins with the rosary in the church. Rosaries will be provided for children without their own. After the rosary the children split up to their various classes and often it ends with a hymn singing in the church led by our music director and/or choir members. St. Mary's CCD doesn't just aim to teach the Faith, but to implant a love of it.

On Sunday night we had a Parish Council Meeting, which was very well attended. Happily we are moving forward in increased organization of the parish. Very soon we will be holding a vote to elect three officeholders: president, vice president, and secretary. Nominations are welcome. Rather than nominate and vote on members at the Parish Council Meeting, we preferred to instead have the entire parish take part in this process. (After all, real "processes" have no veils of secrecy.)

In addition, we have established various committees to aid in the running of the parish. Some of the committees are familiar, others will seem new. We have the finance council, the religious education committee (RCIA, CCD, Adult RE), the spiritual life committee ("liturgical ministries" such as altar boys, Legion of Mary, Eucharistic Adoration, Knights of Columbus, etc.), the social events committee, the maintenance committee, and the "ad hoc" or "special events" committee. (The "ad hoc" committee is not a permanent committee. It will take various forms as the need arises. For example, the feast committee and the Christmas Bazaar committee are "ad hoc committees" because it is not needed all year round.)

Of course we always have the music ministry and choirs, which are always looking for members, so if you are interested in music please contact Mr. Jim Wilson, music director. In addition, one of our parish members will be tackling the food pantry, which will be a committee unto itself. If you would like to help in any way please contact the church. We also have the evangelization committee,

In addition, the need for a sacristan was expressed. However, as a small parish we certainly cannot afford to have this be a paid position. We hope to train some of the older altar servers to take on some of the duties of a sacristan. We also hope that perhaps some adults from the parish will volunteer. We anticipate creating a monthly schedule in which different individuals would be "sacristan" on certain days. The sacristan's responsibilities would include making sure the sanctuary lamp remains lit, the candles are in ample supply, and other church and liturgical needs are met. It goes without saying that this is an extraordinarily important responsibility.

Officially under the heading of the spiritual life committee, the altar boys will be trained very soon. This will, of course, be an ongoing thing. Those wishing to serve as altar boys should have already received their First Holy Communion. Remember that altar servers do not have to be children. Traditionally adult males have served in this position.

If you are interested in joining any of these committees, please contact the church.

In closing, various members of St. Mary's reiterated our intention to resist the unnecessary merging and closing of our parish. In this we are of one mind, moved by the Holy Spirit. We believe what we read in the Bible, pertaining to obedience to GOD above all things. In opposing error there is no wiggle room.

But the Pharisees hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together: And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him: Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. Matthew 22:34-40. See also Deuteronomy 6:5

In the [newest] Catechism we read:

Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.

There can be no doubt that it is God's will that St. Mary's remain open. All parishes--and Catholic faithful, for that matter--have integrity and rights. These rights are currently being violated not only in our own diocese, but all over the country in the form of forced parish closings. In our case, we have been incredibly privileged in that Our Lady has sent us a miracle in the Rosary Garden, one which many have witnessed. We take this as a message for our parish, that Our Lady is with us. For those who prefer strictly secular verbiage, we are indeed hopeful that our ever increasing "vibrancy" will, as always, shine through!

This Courier Post article was described by the contributor as "bittersweet for the people from the now closed Queen of Heaven Parish."

Ironically, I was listening to talks given at a homeschool conference that took place several years ago in my car last night, and one of them discusses the "worst yet to come" of the parish closure situation in this country. The talks were given at a summer 2005 conference. The speaker hit the nail on the head and predicted the whole thing. Sure is scary how low a place in which we find ourselves, what with so many of the bishops in this country and all.

There are some bishops and priests in this country who are all gloom and doom when it comes to hope for the future of the Church, hope for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and belief in evangelization. Well there is a monastery of traditional Carmelite nuns in Nebraska and they are bursting at the seams. I tell ya, so often people of my generation and even younger don't want nonsense, which means they want all or nothing, and total honesty, total authenticity. Why waste your time with anything else?

These Carmelites--God bless them!--have so many girls wanting to enter that they have had to make a second foundation in Pennsylvania just the other day! Jesus Christ be praised! Keep praying for vocations!

Here is a video link to a news piece about it. Here is a link to the Carmel in Nebraska (not great but it gives you some info). Here is an article about the new monastery. This is a blog entry about the Nebraska monastery.

Most interesting to me, here are the comments of a father whose daughter is in the Nebraska Carmelite monastery [my clarificatios in italics and emphasis in bold]:

Our daughter is at Valparaiso, [Nebraska]. The scoop on this place is that it is overflowing with vocations, even with the Mass and all seven offices in Latin. Young people evidently are looking for authenticity, and here they surely have it.

There are something like 28 [actually now there are 33] women here, of whom only about ten are solemn professed. The novitiate is overflowing with postulants and novices. If someone leaves, her place is taken immediately.

Ordinarily a Carmelite convent is supposed to have only 21 nuns max, unless they are planning to launch a new foundation in the near future. That, in fact, is the plan, but Mother Theresa says she has to see more black veils first. The black veil is received at solemn profession.

***
[This is the end of another comment in which he talks about having spoken to Mother Theresa from the Carmel:]

I forgot to ask how many nuns are going out to Pennsylvania, but whatever the
number is, obviously just as many spots are opening up for new vocations at
Valparaiso.

[There are so many girls wanting to enter at this traditional Carmel that whenever there's an opening someone is immediately available to take the opening. I can personally attest to this since I myself know a young woman who wants to join this group.]

***
[Finally a young girl inquires of this father on the blog as to how to contact these nuns. Among other things, he responds:]

To give you an idea of this group, the monastery in Valparaiso has 18 young women in the novitiate!!! And more entering all the time. Entrances are scheduled for this month and September, that I know of.

My daughter is very happy there, and that seems to be the case with everyone whom we have met.

"Our people were scattered around the country like refugees, " he says. "I thought, 'The church is a way to bring them home."
-Fr. Tony Ricard

So true! There are so many scattered sheep. Our churches are ways to bring them back to home to God and to the Faith. Closing them up just closes that familiar door, the only way they know back to return to Him.

Although following Katrina this parish was slated to be closed, the parish pitched in, with their pastor at the helm. They believed in themselves, their faith, their parish, and, well, you read the story. It'll bring tears to your eyes.

Click here to read article

Determined priest provides place for parishioners after Hurricane Katrina

by Sheila Stroup, The Times-Picayune

Sunday August 30, 2009, 5:00 AM

It was September 2005, and New Orleans was a ghost town. The 8th Ward neighborhood that surrounded Our Lady Star of the Sea lay in ruins. His rectory had taken in 6 feet of water from the levee failures that followed Hurricane Katrina.

But the ebullient priest never doubted that the red-brick church on St. Roch Avenue would reopen.

"There was something in my heart that told me, 'People are coming back to Our Lady Star of the Sea no matter what, ' " Ricard, 45, says. "So I never asked, 'What do we do if they don't come back?' I asked, 'What do we have to do to bring everyone back?' "

During 77 days of living in exile with his family near Leesville, his faith grew stronger.

"My parishioners were people who had always lived in New Orleans, and I knew they wanted to come home as much as I did, " he says.

The native New Orleanian -- "Father Tony" to his parishioners, the young men he mentors and members of the New Orleans Saints, for whom he serves as Catholic chaplain -- reasoned that if he opened the church, his flock would return to the city.

"Our people were scattered around the country like refugees, " he says. "I thought, 'The church is a way to bring them home.' "

The 75-year-old building, raised several feet above the ground, sustained relatively minor damage from Katrina: The air conditioning and heating units were ruined, and the wooden floor needed refinishing, but otherwise, the lovingly refurbished church was in good shape.

He and his parishioners had brought it back from the brink of death once already. He knew they could do it again.

"What we had going for us was faith and an awful lot of love, " he says.

. . . . . . .

When he became pastor in July 2001, the church at 1835 St. Roch Ave. was crumbling. Active members numbered 120, and there were rumors that the archdiocese was going to close the church.

But instead of performing the last rites, the young priest challenged the people to breathe life back into Our Lady Star of the Sea.

He told them, "I will bring my gifts to the table, but you need to bring your gifts, too."

His lively homilies made them believe in themselves and their church and convinced them to be generous during the offertory. The congregation grew week by week as word spread about the dynamic new pastor, and in eight months the working-class worshipers donated $50,000 to restore the church's interior.

"They were determined to save their parish, " he says.

At that time, a pastel mural behind the altar showed Mary surrounded by a host of fair-skinned angels.

"But all those angels had moved to Metairie, " Ricard jokes.

New Orleans artist Vernon Dobard convinced the new pastor that behind that wall were other angels trying to get out. As part of the renovation, the New Orleans artist created "The Dance of Holy Innocence, " a vibrant floor-to-ceiling mural that shows Mary surrounded by gorgeous angels in flowing gowns, representing the various cultures that have worshiped at Our Lady Star of the Sea.

"It was so beautiful, " Ricard says, "people cried when they saw it."

. . . . . . .

In the dark days that followed the hurricane, Ricard had another reason to reopen Our Lady Star of the Sea. His second parish, St. Philip the Apostle in the 9th Ward, had been under 10 feet of water for weeks and couldn't be salvaged. He wanted members of St. Philip's to have a place to call home.

"It was really a kind of natural migration, " he says.

He had been appointed pastor of that church a few months after becoming pastor at Our Lady Star of the Sea, and for five years he had the difficult job of dividing himself between the two church communities.

"It was like having two families, " he says. "It also meant I had two sets of old ladies who thought they knew everything about running a church."

At the same time, his reputation as a national speaker was growing, and he was traveling nearly every month.

"It was tough going back and forth, " he says. "It was a challenge for the parishioners and for me."

Katrina left far greater challenges in its wake, but Ricard was undaunted. On Christmas, less than four months after the storm, he celebrated Mass with more than 400 parishioners.

"I called it the 'we-opening' of our church, " he says.

In February 2006, after he learned that Our Lady Star of the Sea was not on the reopening list released by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, he asked for the chance to prove his church could survive.

He explained to the congregation what that meant: They would have to pay their bills. They would have to pay their monthly assessment to the archdiocese. They would have to come up with the money for repairs to the church.

"I told them, 'We have to do this all on our own, ' " he says.

They opened their hearts and their pocketbooks, and when Ricard traveled around the country speaking he would ask the congregations to take up a second collection for his church instead of paying him.

At the gospel Mass on Dec. 16, 2007, when he read the letter from Archbishop Alfred Hughes announcing the official reopening of Our Lady Star of the Sea, 525 people stood up and cheered.

"Today, we rejoice that like that reed swaying in the wind, we have not been broken by the disaster of Katrina, " their pastor told them. "We have not faltered. We have not failed."

(Click on the link above to read the rest of the article. Thank you to our friends at "The Insuppressible" St. Henry's Parish New Orleans for recommending it to us.)

To those of you who missed out on The Snake Brothers and In High Gear, you really missed out on something great. No video clip can do either band justice. Luckily, you can still catch The Snake Brothers on Saturday August 29th at Estell Manor (the County Park) on Route 50 not far from Mays Landing. They are definitely worth coming out for. We will have all three of the Snake Brothers CDs for sale at the Feast tomorrow also, $15 each, but in limited quantity, so claim your copy quickly if you're a Snake Brothers Fan. I bought their live album.

Here is a tiny sample of the country/rock band In High Gear. They were a very good time. We recommend trying to catch them locally if you ever have the chance. They seem to have a following of people who came to the festivities today who had a good time dancing along to the music.
 

Here is a tiny sample of The Snake Brothers: (For more scroll down.)


Here is a tiny sample of a hayride. Yes, I turned my camera right-side up after a second! Woops. The hay rides are so much fun and they are only 50 cents a ticket!


Here is a tiny sample of the pony rides. They are $3 each and better than any pony ride I've seen at a fair this summer (and we went to quite a few). The woman you see leading the pony around has made her life's work about horses, so she doesn't just make the pony ride circuit.


This is just a video of my son and his little friend dancing.


Here is another tiny sample of The Snake Brothers.


And here is yet another tiny sample of The Snake Brothers. It is my single biggest regret of today (aside from asking that they play later in the day when there was a bit more of a crowd) that I did not get this entire song on video. It is on none of their CDs that I could find. It was my favorite of all the songs they performed today. They are so awesome and a bunch of truly nice people. THANK YOU to The Snake Brothers.

Here's what we have planned for the Feast of the Assumption, which begins tomorrow! Come join us, and for goodness sakes, remember to wear your special feast clothes (right).

Saturday Aug. 15th

• Mass 5:00
• The Snake Brothers (folk, country, do-wop, acoustic, awesome band), approximately 2:00-4:30pm (two sessions with a break in between)
• In High Gear ("country rock" band), approximately 6:00-10:00pm
• Shrimp & Clam Bar, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus
• Food, food, and more food: Sausage, hot dogs, roast beef sandwiches, pizza (made by a parishioner!), meatballs, and more!
• Beer Garden
• Wine by the glass from Plagido's, an award winning winery
  
• Inflatables and games
• Pony Rides
• Chinese Auction
• Farmers Market (local farmers, including parishioners)
• 50/50 Raffle
• Balloons for sale
  

Sunday Aug. 16th

• Mass 8:30 & 11:30, procession at 12:30
• Talent Show 1-2:30
• Mr. Tujays (band), 2:30-4:30
• Jukebox Rebiew (band), 5-8:00
• DJ Bill Mazza, throughout the day
• Chicken BBQ
• Shrimp & Clam Bar, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus
• Tons of food to choose from: Sausage, hot dogs, roast beef sandwiches, pizza (made by a parishioner!), meatballs, and more!
• Beer Garden
• Wine tasting and wine by the glass from Sharrott & Plagido's. Both are award winning wineries.
• Inflatables and games
• Pony Rides
• Chinese Auction
• Bake Sale
• Farmers Market (local farmers, including parishioners)
• 50/50 Raffle
• Balloons for sale
  

We put up this article last Oct. 27th--we did not write it ourselves. It deserves a reprinting. Take a look and see if it doesn't sound familiar. Even if you don't read the whole article, be sure to scroll down to the "Suppressing (Closing) Parishes" section, which we put in italics for you. You will see that the scandals and the agenda demonstrated by our current bishop are not new in the history of the American Catholic Church, only the latest attack on Holy Mother Church. Apparently, the power hungry nature of the American bishopric is notorious and long standing. We put in bold the most relevant information so you can easily skim. However we highly recommend you read it carefully. This article is so eerily familiar and gives important background to our current situation, despite its being written about 14 years ago. It may also be read here.

ZAP! YOUR CHURCH IS RENOVATED!
SLAM! YOUR PARISH IS CLOSED! Duane Galles

---

[The following article is drawn from legal opinions and pleadings in the files of the St. Joseph Foundation. The primary contributor is Duane Galles. The editing and a small portion of the text is Charles M. Wilson's and he accepts full responsibility for any flaws.]

We know that Christ's Church is not a democracy and we acknowledge that those who exercise the ministry of governance are not accountable to those they govern. We understand also that the faithful are obliged to follow whatever legitimate authorities determine as leaders of the Church, but the above two citations--and lots of others which could be used--tell us quite a lot about the way in which ecclesiastical authority should be exercised. Unfortunately, there have been times during the 2,000 year history of our Church when these principles have been honored more in the breach than the observance. Perhaps the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council had this in mind when they said:

"By the power of the Holy Spirit the Church is the faithful spouse of the Lord and will never fail to be a sign of salvation in the world; but it is by no means unaware that down through the centuries there have been among its members, both clerical and lay, some who were disloyal to the Spirit of God. Today, as well, the Church is not blind to the discrepancy between the message it proclaims and the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted. Whatever is history's judgment on these shortcomings, we cannot ignore them and we must combat them earnestly, lest they hinder the spread of the Gospel" (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, <Gaudium et Spes>, No. 43).

When we think about this, most of us will recall those sad moments in history when priests, bishops and even some popes were guilty of grossly scandalous conduct and showed themselves to be unworthy of their offices.

But we might also consider those times when Church leaders exhibited other less spectacular weaknesses such as capriciousness, arrogance, cruelty, duplicity, intransigence and authoritarianism. When linked to conditions which have frequently permitted the exercise of power with unrestrained discretion on the part of ecclesiastical authorities, we can rightly wonder if these flaws have not over time caused more harm to the Church and the loss of more souls than the excesses of the likes of John XII, Benedict IX and Alexander VI. It is this exercise of discretionary authority by bishops or their bureaucrats which has resulted in recent heated controversies over many issues, prominent among them being--especially in the United States and Canada--the renovation of parish church buildings and the closure of parishes.

Before proceeding to the consideration of these particular issues, it would be worthwhile to take just a glance at how episcopal discretion has been exercised in the United States and those parts of Canada where English is the predominant language. Going back to the end of the eighteenth century, we see that both had very few Catholics and that, coupled with the difficulties in communication, resulted in Rome taking a more or less "out of sight, out of mind" attitude. In sum, the day-to-day governance of the dioceses was, for better or worse, left almost entirely in the hands of the bishops.

Anyone who holds a position of authority, subject only to a distant and not overly concerned higher authority, is tempted to exercise power not in a spirit of service but often arbitrarily and sometimes abusively. We see an example of this in the nineteenth century when the American bishops, at the First Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1829, attempted by decree to overstate the obligation of obedience of diocesan priests to their bishops and, in effect, reduce them to the condition of religious priests with respect to their superiors. Although, thankfully, the Holy See did intervene to suppress that decree, the bishops resourcefully employed other means to achieve the same end.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the American bishops refused to erect canonical parishes and thereby prevented diocesan priests from acquiring the rights and security of tenure conferred on pastors by the universal law of the Church. Unlike priests in the Catholic countries of Europe, their American counterparts were canonically merely rectors of missions with delegated instead of ordinary powers which could be withdrawn at the pleasure of the bishops.

Indeed, then, the power of the American bishop over his clergy was awesome. He could appoint, remove, transfer and discipline them at will. He controlled their compensation and regulated their lifestyle to an extent and in a manner that no European bishop would have dared. The situation was such that even Pope Pius IX could joke about it. When asked one day by a supplicant for a favor, the pontiff reportedly replied: "What you ask is not in my power to grant, but there is an American bishop in town. Go ask him!"

Another contributing element was the fact that not only were the American bishops subject to little restraint by the Holy See, they were not subject to the type of influence which certain civil authorities could employ in Europe. Centuries of intricate relations between state and Church on that continent resulted in many constraints upon ecclesiastical authority that were never implemented in North America. One example was the right of presentation, or the right of civil governments to propose candidates for Church offices. Even the election of popes could be influenced, as happened in this very century when the Emperor of Austria exercised his right of veto and blocked the election of Cardinal Rampolla as pope in 1903.

An important and beneficial change took place with the promulgation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which instantly transformed the "missions" in North America into canonical parishes and thereby transformed their "rectors" into pastors, with all the protections of the law. An even more sweeping change flowed from the ecclesiology of Vatican II, which reemphasized the notion of authority as a ministry of service rather than one of power.

We see this reformed ecclesiology made present in the law in several ways. In 1967 Pope Paul VI in his apostolic constitution, <Regimini Ecclesiae Universae,> created the Second Section of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura to enforce the rights of Christ's faithful even against public ecclesiastical authorities. Sixteen years later, the revised Code of Canon Law, in contrast to its predecessor, codified the rights and duties of the faithful. Perhaps the most important of the 1752 canons in the new Code is number 128, which states that "Anyone who unlawfully inflicts damage upon someone by a juridic act, or indeed by any other act placed with malice or culpability, is obliged to compensate for the damage inflicted." This means that the arbitrary and capricious use of discretionary power is no longer acceptable under the 1983 Code.

The Effects Of The Reforms

While the reforms of Vatican II and the 1983 Code look good on paper, the sad fact is that one can see few positive changes on the parish and diocesan level. Aside from the historical reality that change sometimes takes place very slowly in the Church, our conclusion is that there are three reasons for this: (1) Since Vatican II, the concept of "collegiality" has become something of an obsession and the Holy See has been extremely reluctant to interfere-even when there are good reasons to do so-in diocesan affairs. (2) Too many bishops in the United States and Canada have allowed their authority to be undermined by "experts" on their staffs. (3) The canon 221, 3 of the 1983 Code stated that the "Christian faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend the rights which they enjoy in the Church before a competent ecclesiastical court in accord with the norm of law," but the Code says very little as to how this theoretical right can be put into practice.

There are others who have come to similar conclusions, not all of whom may share our theological views. One, for example, was Fr. Joseph A. Komonchak, Associate Professor of Religion and Religious Education at the Catholic University of America, who said;

"More than a few lay people have noted that their rights to participation in the Church have not always been better respected by the addition to the traditional clerical hierarchy of a new and larger body of "professionals" and "experts". It is an occupational hazard of bureaucrats to believe that they know better than the people in the field how things should be done. And if they turn to management theories elaborated for business and government for ideas on how to plan for the Church's future, it is not surprising to hear complaints that the Church appears much more like a giant and impersonal organization than like a living community of brothers and sisters-a complaint, by the way, that by no means is aimed only at episcopal or papal targets" (<Origins>, April 2, 1987, p. 378).

A prominent American canonist has added a legal dimension to Fr. Komonchak's observation and applied it to parishes, which are often the victims of those "professionals" and "experts."

"Parishes and other local congregations are not branch offices or local outlets of a central corporation, like banks or auto agencies or service stations. They are unique communities of Christian people. They are authentic Churches, just like those described in the New Testament (in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Corinth, in Ephesus), and they must be respected as such. The Church is "built up from below" by these local communities of God's people...

Sometimes the impression is given that the parishes exist for the sake of the diocese, when just the opposite is true. The organization and governance of the Church is most often stated and interpreted by those in diocesan offices. They subtly begin to believe that their functions are primary, and that they represent the first and most important level of the Church's life' since they are more immediately related to the bishop's authority. They gradually come to consider parish communities as derivative and secondary, almost as managerial units. They speak of planning for "clusters of parishes" or "pastoral zones of the diocese" (meaning that they are preparing to suppress or merge parishes) and of reorganizing local communities for reasons of more efficient use of personnel and financial resources. [In a footnote, the author adds, Economy and efficiency are praiseworthy, but the dignity and quality of local communities is even more important. Ed.] They relate to the local churches in the same ways that corporate executives of Safeway and McDonalds relate to their local stores.

No one is baptized in a chancery office. People enter the Church, grow in faith, give praise to God, and lend loving assistance to their neighbors in parishes and other local communities. These local congregations of the faithful have a proper and authentic autonomy which must be respected> ("The Vindication of Parish Rights," by James A. Coriden, <The Jurist> 54 (1994), pp. 23-24).

Much more along these same lines could be said, but we believe Frs. Komonchak and Coriden have adequately and fairly summarized, for the purposes of this discussion, the atmosphere that prevails in the majority of dioceses in North America.

Renovation Of Church Buildings

We must admit that church buildings are places of worship, not museums, and that hardly any, including St. Peter's Basilica, never undergo some changes. Even so, the many "horror stories" in our case files and those we have seen elsewhere confirm that most "renovations" go far beyond--and in some cases are even contrary to--the legal norms. And this is not a problem that has arisen recently. Almost twenty five years ago, the Holy See issued the following sound advice: "<Mindful of the legislation of Vatican Council II and of the directives in the documents of the Holy See, bishops are to exercise unfailing vigilance to ensure that the remodeling of places of worship is carried out with the utmost caution>" (Congregation for Clergy, Circular Letter <Opera artis>, April 11, 1971).

Virtually all renovation projects are grounded in what the parishioners are told are the needs of the reformed Vatican II liturgy. In fact, they are often motivated by erroneous interpretations of liturgical law arising from the Council's Constitution on the Liturgy, <Sacrosanctum concilium> (SC). Three key concepts of SC, it seems, are commonly misinterpreted and misapplied. This, in turn, has motivated the iconoclasm and destruction of so much cultural church property in the United States and Canada.

The first key concept which has been misinterpreted and misapplied is <participatio actuosa> of SC. It has been mistranslated as "active participation" which, in English, can imply that for participation to be genuine it must involve physical activity. For a proper understanding of the phrase, one can paraphrase the original Latin of the 1958 instruction, <De musica sacra>, to say that participation ought to be internal and, certainly, exercised with a spirit of piety and heartfelt affection. Given this understanding of the concept, "actual participation" might be a more accurate translation. In any event, the liturgical "establishment's" understanding has had pernicious consequences, such as the attentive assistance at Mass and participation in the changes in posture or responses being dismissed by some liturgists as inadequate. Thus, communion rails are destroyed, altars thrust forward like theaters-in-the-round, statues are removed and the Blessed Sacrament banished, since their presence would inhibit a maximum of activity, which inevitably deteriorates into mere busyness.

The second concept misinterpreted is that of <nobilis pulchritudo> (noble beauty) of Article 124 of SC, which has often been translated as "noble simplicity." In the name of "simplicity," altars have been smashed, statues trashed, paintings whitewashed, organs silenced and the ignoble--burlap vestments and crude ceramic vessels, for example--introduced into the temple to serve as its ornaments.

The third concept misunderstood is that of the common priesthood of the laity. In advancing this notion beyond its proper scope, some liturgists demand the abolition of any distinctions whatever between the sacred minister and the laity. Thus, any physical barriers between them are taboo. Communion rails are especially hated and any physical reminder of a "holy of holies" must go, so hordes of lay functionaries can swarm in and out of the "sanctuary."

In addition to the physical renovations themselves, the methods by which they are inflicted are of equal or even greater concern. The "process" leading up to the actual arrival of the bulldozers begins with the appearance of the ubiquitous "experts" and "professionals" who tell the people only what they are supposed to hear. Glossy, one-sided hand-outs are distributed at "listening sessions" while the people are assured that "no final decisions have been made." Usually, a renovation committee consisting of carefully selected parishioners emerges' to announce the final plans, while any alternative suggestions or proposals are stifled by whatever methods-gentle or not so gentle-that circumstances require. There are no credible estimates that we know of as to how much money has been wasted over the last thirty years on needless renovations of North American church buildings, but it must be in the hundreds of millions, or perhaps billions, of dollars.

To close this part of the discussion on a hopeful note, there is a rather remote but growing possibility that (if our prayers are answered) most of the renovations may eventually have to be undone. The first signs of a true "reform of the reform" may have appeared and are reported on page two of this issue. Should this come to pass, even more billions will be needed to set things right. But, we suspect, the people will not mind putting up the money.

Suppressing (Closing) Parishes

Just as we admitted that places of worship cannot remain unchanged forever, we must concede that not every parish has a right to perpetual existence. Acknowledging this general rule, though, does not mean that we have to agree with every suppression decreed by every chancery.

There is one very important difference between renovating church buildings and suppressing parishes. Buildings, of course, do not in themselves have rights and the renovation, or even destruction, of a parish church does not alter the legal status of the parish, which has what is called a juridic personality. In other words, a juridic person in canon law is roughly equivalent to a corporation in secular law. And like a corporation, a juridic person has rights and duties under the law. The primary and fundamental right of any person, natural or legal, is to existence. Father Coriden puts it this way:

"Once a stable community of faithful people has taken shape, it has the right to canonical recognition (e.g., first as a mission or quasi-parish, then as a parish; c. 516). Once established as a parish, the community possesses juridic personality and is, nature sue perpetual (cc. 515, #3; 120, #1). In other words, the parish should remain in existence until overwhelming reasons for its alteration or suppression are clearly demonstrated."

After hearing about or becoming directly involved in parish suppression cases throughout the country, we have yet to see a single example of "overwhelming" reasons. Indeed, virtually all suppressions--and absolutely all which are contested by the parishioners--are justified on the basis of a shortage of priests, more efficient use of facilities, even distribution of people, financial considerations or other factors which have little or nothing to do with the vitality of the community.

Sometimes the reasons given for suppression make no sense at all. For example, the city of Clinton, Iowa, in the Diocese of Davenport used to have five parishes. In 1990, all five were suppressed and one "mega parish" was created in their place. The bishop's letter announcing and attempting to support the action said this:

"And yet, I see that the needs of the past, e.g., for ethnic parishes, are not the needs of today. In fact, the need for unity and united action are the paramount needs of today. (*Almost the exact same thing was stated in this week's Star Herald -Julie)

In other words, five parishes competing for people, funds and personnel is not what the Catholic community needs."

In truth, none of the five parishes was "ethnic" and all were vibrant communities of faith. No one in Clinton has ever understood why their city could not have more than one parish when other cities in the diocese (Davenport, Iowa City, Muscatine, etc.) continue to have several. No one in the chancery has ever been able to explain why either.

Although renovations and suppressions are different kinds of actions, the "process" leading up to them is often remarkably similar. The ever-present "professionals" and "expert consultants" arrive to "soften-up" the parishioners with unctuous assurances that "no decisions will be made without everyone having their say." Then, as in the case of renovations, all those who have opinions contrary to the outcome desired by the chancery are marginalized or excluded from the discussions by whatever means necessary. We have even seen instances where elderly parishioners were threatened with denial of Christian burial if they continued to object.

Should the consultation process produce recommendations which the bishop does not like, such as recently happened in the diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he simply rides roughshod over the procedures he himself established and decrees whatever he wishes.

In short, the decisions to suppress are utterly lacking in reasonable motives and the "consultation processes" lack even a scintilla of justice. The ultimate injustice occurs when a parish suffers the "double whammy" of being forced to renovate its church and then, several years later, being suppressed.

In Conclusion

In spite of the discouraging trends, there are reasons for hope. One of these reasons is that many of the courageous faithful who try to save their churches from the renovators or their parishes from the axe simply refuse to give up. Even when they lose, as often happens, their efforts are not wasted. We know of cases where renovations were prevented and parishes slated for suppression were saved because the "professionals" did not want to face another struggle which might even involve an appeal to Rome.

And who knows? With enough prayer and hard work, we may even see in our lifetime a system of appeal which will see cases decided on the law and the facts instead of ecclesiastical politics and influence peddling.

These churches were built by our people so that they could be free, and so that we could be free, too.

At St. Mary's we have a truly united Catholic community. We love our church and have no desire to see it needlessly destroyed by those without God's will--not to mention history--in mind. The Catholic families who established St. Mary's long, long ago were primarily hard working, Southern Italian farming families. They didn't have much money. But they scrimped and saved what they had to give us the beautiful church we have today.

One of our parishioners' ancestors even took a horse and carriage all the way down to Atlantic City to obtain bricks and construction materials for the church. Can you imagine how long a trip that was back in those days? (Photo below: donor's list)

My own family did not help establish St. Mary's Malaga. My family comes from Sacred Heart in Vineland and St. Mary's (Union Rd, see photo below), East Vineland. My family on both sides came from the same small farming village near Genoa in Northern Italy. Neither family knew each other until they came to Vineland, both by way of New York City. I grew up hearing all the stories of hardships they had encountered.

My ancestors were so poor they sold paper flowers on the streets of New York. My great grandmother was a janitor in a school established by Mother Cabrini (ora pro nobis!) and she considered it a great privilege just to mop the floors upon which the great saint had once walked. Mother Cabrini was, of course, sent to the United States specifically to help the poor Italians in their struggles to make better lives for themselves in the New World. 

In addition to the hardships of poverty, they were badly persecuted, primarily by the Irish Catholics. What I always found ironic about this, growing up, was that one group of Catholics, not terribly long in this country themselves, would turn around and treat so horribly another group of Catholics. But the human memory is short, it seems. In any case, my family could not worship in the Irish Catholic church because they were unwelcome there.

One of my great grandmothers came to Vineland as a child as a "Fresh Air Kid." The Fresh Air Fund, which still exists, takes city kids and gives them some summer fun in the country. My great grandmother vowed that when she grew up she would move to Vineland. And that's what she did. Both sides of the family moved to Vineland and had big farms on which they raised, among other things, chickens, which my grandfather hated. (He said they were very stupid animals and did not even like to eat them. On the right is my great grandfather, Angelo.)

Apparently, on my grandfather's side at least, way back during Prohibition they did some running of bootleg liquor back and forth from NYC until it got "too dangerous." My grandfather's family also had a printing business in Vineland, which was once located on West Avenue, and later in the Industrial Park, called DeMarchi Printing. Although my grandfather dropped out of school by about sixth grade (he hated school as well as chickens), he was quite the businessman and farmer/gardener. He took over the family printing business, grew it, and much later on sold it as it got too big for him.

My grandmother was the first to attend college in our family. She went to Glassboro, although I believe it was called the "Normal School" at that time. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in East Vineland, and I believe later at the school on Main and Oak in Vineland (see photo left). My grandparents worked very hard, were not extravagant, were nothing if not generous, and mended their clothing until it was unmendable. The money they had went to their church, their community, their family, and to charity. I owe them everything.

It was recently commented in the St. Mary's parish bulletin that we should "always cherish--and not take for granted--the many freedoms that we enjoy in this country." How ironic that after all those years of hardship and struggle to worship in peace in their own churches, that our families should once again find themselves persecuted by those who are part of the same Catholic Faith. Our families worked so hard to give us not just our Faith, but our Faith made tangible. By their own blood and sweat, they gave us churches to worship in--that was their gift to us. We do not take our freedom to worship in those churches for granted. Our religious freedom, in a very literal sense, was bought and paid for by our ancestors. May we once again have the true freedom that is the promise of this country.


Above photos: My mother Doris in her First Holy Communion dress, my grandmother Laura on the farm (she's on the far right), and a relative farming shot.

We know that the church closures are not about money. Truly, whatever is lacking could surely be found. (The Diocese owns so much unused real estate and has plenty of money.) And besides, some of the most financially viable churches in the Diocese have been slated for closure. But many persist in believing the closures are about money.

Worse still, there are priests and pastors out there who claim that if a church cannot support itself, it has no right to exist.

(Keep in mind that debt is sometimes incurred due to the necessity of paying assessments to the Diocese and certain amounts to support local Catholic schools, whether or not parishioners actually make use of or can afford tuition at these schools. Barring these two things, most churches do not have any problem paying their utility bills and maintaining their properties. We should also remember that by virtue of threatening certain churches with closure, the bishop has scared off many Catholics from the Faith or their parishes altogether, causing a great deal of confusion, despair, and decreased church attendance, all of which affect collections.)

In any case, what we need to ask ourselves is this: As Christians, should it be the case that those churches who are wealthier deserve to exist, while those who are poorer do not? What kind of an attitude is that? Is it Catholic? Is it even Christian?

In fact, it is neither. Our Lord did not recommend that the poor go out and attempt to become rich, but that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the treasure of the poor would be great in heaven, and that the Kingdom of God belonged to them, that the heavenly banquet would be theirs!

The burden of coming to the aid of the less fortunate parishes in a Diocese falls upon the wealthier ones. And it is the job of the shepherds--the bishop and priests--to see to it that all the faithful have churches in which to worship. The effort to evangelize, not consolidate, should be in the forefront of all of our minds.

If it is believed that a prior pastor lacked the ability to financially manage his parish, then is it fair that the laity be forced to lose their church as a result? We of course know that this is only an excuse to do something we all know to be wrong, but the point is this: shepherds of  flocks in need should help them find ways to subsist.

Let us not delude ourselves. The role of a true pastor is not to persecute his flock, but to help them grow in Christ. He should be acting as a healer and not a henchman. No priest who plans on closing churches may be construed as a prophet unwelcome in his own country.

Let us look to St. St. John Vianney, one of the most unlikely saints of all. Thought to be a poor student, and having failed his seminary exams, he was finally ordained due only to his piety. He was sent to a teeny tiny French village called Ars:

Two decades after the French Revolution inspired massacres of 300 priests in France, there was a desperate need for priests....In a village of 40 houses, there were 4 taverns. Church attendance was very low, the farmers worked on Sunday, everyone spend their time drinking and swearing. It was a 'punishment parish' and the people laid bets on how long this new priest would last. But the new Cure of Ars surprised them all.

Someone peeked in his window and saw that he prayed all night. Others noticed that he removed all the fine furniture from the rectory and turned the parlour into a woodshed. He gave his clothes away to the poor and ate only two potatoes a day. Others reported that though his voice seemed to hurt their ears, his sermons stirred their hearts. He became part of the village life as well, visiting all the homes, and helping the villagers with their daily lives. He helped a shop owner with his bookkeeping, prescribed remedies for whooping cough, and when a tavern closed for lack of business, raised money for the owner to buy a farm, then tore the tavern down.

Twelve years later, people would say 'Ars is no longer Ars.' Everyone went to the three hour masses. The farmers prayed the rosary as they worked in the fields. When Father Vianney heard confessions, people would stand in line for hours....People travelled for miles and from around the world to make a confession to him. Sinners were converted at a few words from him. By the end of his life, he spend 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional, and he was mobbed whenever he appeared. He heard 20,000 confessions a year, up to 300 a day.

In a country that had murdered great numbers of its priests, and discouraged the practicing of the Catholic faith John Vianney moved like a bright light, restoring faith and healing hearts....

The heroes of his youth were those priests who refused to submit to the French revolutionary government's nationalization of the Church, and risked martyrdom to celebrate Mass in secret in houses and barns of the faithful. John began to practice mortifications in imitation of these priests and as sacrifice for sinners from an early age.

When he was ordained and sent to Ars, he continued these austerities. He disposed of the fine furniture in the rectory, and used the money to help the poor of the parish. He spend hours in prayer, hours in the confessional and more hours serving the day to day needs of his parishioners.

In the entire village in which St. John Vianney lived, there were only a couple hundred people. Now a parish with 250 families is said not to have a right to exist! Oh how far we have fallen. This saint of saints and priest of priests spared nothing for his flock. What are the priests who should be imitating this great saint doing today? Busy figuring out how to close churches? We hope not. Let us pray that all priests, pastors, and bishops see the Light and heed the commands of Our Lord, to "preach the gospel to the poor."

Here is a slideshow displaying the majority of the stained glass windows at St. Mary's. (And some other things, too.) I personally have traveled around the country and have lived and traveled in western Europe and can tell you that these stained glass windows are among the most beautiful I've ever seen. They are particularly beautiful when the sun is streaming through them in the morning.

As you may be able to see from the pictures, each window was paid for by a Society or a family. This was no small task for mostly rural people without much money. Nevertheless, these families, couples, individuals, and religious groups sacrificed so that today we could have the beautiful little church with which we are now so greatly blessed.

We give of ourselves to our local church out of love and devotion to Our Lord and His Mother. These stained glass windows were painstakingly designed, created, and installed so that when we attend Holy Mass we may sense God's presence and that of the saints and angels. Truly Holy Mother Church teaches us that the blessed angels hover around the altar at Mass! Surely the saints also look on during so great an event.

The descendents of the contributors of these windows intend them for use at St. Mary's and not to be sold off at some auction as if they were nothing more than any standard piece of household furniture. Let us not forget the importance of their lives and contributions to St. Mary's. It is because of our forbears that we have our Faith.



Created with flickr slideshow.

Speaking of unusual real estate dealings in the Diocese of Camden: former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that he is leaving Yucaipa Business Partnerships, an investment firm filled with Democratic Party operatives and Arabian oil sheiks run by  billionaire playboy Ron Burkle. The Wall Street Journal speculates that Clinton's projected $20 million Yucaipa payday has largely disappeared along with the rest of the economy.

Diocese-watchers will remember that one of Yucaipa's get-rich-quick schemes involved buying church properties at "bargain prices" (to use Andrew Walton's new favorite phrase) and reselling them to real estate developers for big profits. They gave pretty-boy huckster Raffaello Follieri tens of millions of dollars to schmooze Catholic bishops and make some deals. Four hundred thousand of those Yucaipa dollars ended up in Bishop Galante's private bank account after Follieri bought his personal condo. It was right around the time of the sale that Galante announced plans for the largest mass sell-off of church properties in the history of the American Catholic church.

The so-called "Vati-Con" scandal centering on Bishop Galante and the Yucaipa money came to light right around the time the Diocese was making its own purchase. Buyers told neighbors then that the new "country estate" in Pittsgrove was being bought as a retirement house for the Bishop. Nine months later, Follieri is serving a federal jail sentence, Bill Clinton is loosing his seat on Ron Burkle's plane, and five very lucky nuns from a nursing home in Elmer are living la vida loca with riding stables, wet bars, and eleven acres of luxury.

Here are some recent comments in response to the article regarding the bishop's 1.5 million dollar luxury estate--oh wait, no, "convent"--in Pittsgrove. As a comment of our own, it has occurred to us that undoubtedly the diocesan administration must be exerting tremendous pressure on the poor sisters at this time, who must truly feel caught between satisfying the bishop's requests and fulfilling their vow of poverty, a promise they made to God. It is outrageous that the chancery would put out a statement supposedly made by Sr. Bernadette, while no one from the media has spoken directly to her, to the best of our knowledge. There is no way of verifying that she actually said what they claim she did. Press Comments: Is Andrew Walton coming unwound? His comments are hysterical, not to mention completely contradictory. He's another way our diocese is wasting money. I wonder how much he's getting paid for his "services." Posted by: hahaha on Sun Mar 15, 2009, 11:28 PM

	How much money does Andrew Walton make that he thinks an $800,000 house is a 'modest' living arrangement? Posted by: elaine on Sun Mar 15, 2009, 11:38 PM

	Not to be mean but with all the church and school closings recently and more in the future, why do they need new nuns? What are they going to do? Posted by: theFlyingNun on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 2:32 AM

	wake up parishoners! YOU'VE BEEN DUPED!! welcome to CAMP ALTAR BOY!!! Posted by: no sin no win on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 3:58 AM

	Ahhhhhhhh...haters and cafeteria Catholics. Some things you can just go to sleep on. Posted by: Truth on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 5:13 AM

	Isn't this awful when the diocese closes St Nicholas School in Egg Harbor City and wants to shut St Nick's church! This is an outrage!!!!! Posted by: MaysLandingJane on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 6:14 AM

	As with any charity...most donated funds go to administrative costs...I am sure the 'Bishops Annual Appeal' needed a new headquarters to operate from... counting your gold in a lavish country estate seems Medival in a way Posted by: mikeyd__ on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 6:18 AM

	simple math: $8 million divided by 5 nuns = $1.6 million per nun. talk about HIGH MAINTENANCE BABES!!! Posted by: collection plate - not! on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:21 AM

	This purchase gives a whole new meaning to "House of Charity". But seriously, why should I give a dime? They clearly don't need my hard earned money. Posted by: Maria on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:30 AM

	from Kenyan grass hut to upscale rural estate. nice career move girls! ps: but do they know how use the wet bar and ice maker? Posted by: papist scam on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:31 AM

If you had a bunch of people giving you money every week wouldnt you spend it...They havn't spent it properly in a long time. I went to Rome on vacation a few years ago and I am getting on the plane walking to my coach seat and what do I see a priest sitting in first class. I know when I searched to purchase those seats were like $15k round trip...I have not given a dime to the church since I saw that Posted by: scam on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:41 AM

Why does this come as a shock to anyone? The Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest entities on the planet! They preach poverty yet acquire lavish property, jewels and artwork all the time. The vatican houses some of the most precious artworks of all time. They are not strapped for cash and never have been. They are considered to be among the larges private land holders in the world, and are estimated to have billions of dollars in banks and stocks around the world. It is one of the biggest businesses on earth. In his newest list of sins that will send you to "you know where," the pope has included accumulating vast wealth, but the Church has been doing that every day since its inception. Interesting, isn't it? And sorry, but it's not 8 million dollars, it's 800 thousand dollars. Guess the math wasn't so simple for the brain trust who thought he'd make a point. Too funny. Posted by: Really? on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:55 AM

	Okay, everyone get your Catholic-bashing out of your system. Just remember when you are done, that Catholics are a very devout group of people. Unfortunately, their leadership is self-serving...just like our politicians. Ever notice that no matter what the group, power corrupts? Posted by: njstorm on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:12 AM

	"Spirit of poverty" while living in a $1.5 million dollar home? That's kind of like saying the Bishop has a "Spirit of fasting." Greed, corruption, lies - all from the Catholic heirarchy - it is disheartening to say the least. Bishop Gallante should resign. Posted by: outraged in ocean city on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:32 AM

	The church is big business. The road to heaven is paved with good intentions now send me the dollars. Posted by: executioner1 on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:38 AM

	I am somewhat familiar with the situation, and can tell you that the sisters are not at all comfortable with the sitaution. This was all Gallante. Posted by: maverick on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:39 AM

If someone wants to know the excess of the hierarchy of the Catholic church in our Diocese, as well as in Philadelphia's, look at the ownership of several beachfront homes in Ventnor ... just a block from where St. James R.C. Church and school faced closings. And not begrudging just the beachfront property, but the excessive nature INSIDE those homes (yes, I have seen it firsthand). When the Diocese decided to close St. Augustine School in Ocean City, knowing full well prior to their decision that those students did NOT have another school that could take them, I knew I had given the Diocese my last time. I think Catholics in this Diocese need to express their displeasure in the only way the Diocese and the Bishop understand ... financially. That is what bought several churches at least temporary reprieves already. The religion and the faith of Catholics are strong (and yes I am one) ... its the leadership - the human element - that is flawed. Posted by: truth not rhetoric on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:46 AM

	There are way tooooo many empty Convents throughout the state to allow this to happen. The house should have been sold or rented for a lot of money. The Nuns are very nice people who deserve whatever they get however there are many many empty houses in this and other states for them to live in for free. Posted by: Empty nests' on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:02 AM

OK...so here we are with hundreds of billions of OUR dollars going out to greedy banks and business men to "save" them all. This is all OUR money and will cost us and our children for decades to come. I have a great idea. this will eliminate the current billions in debt and settle the national debt. If we just tax the Catholic church on its real estate holding in the U.S. we will raise enough cash to cancel out all the problems. All of the faithful can then empty there wallets into a brass plate on Sunday to help the churches pay there tax bills. Now the church will really now what poverty is like. We pay our tax bills every year now it is there turn. Just look around town next time you take a drive. no matter what town you live in the churches own the nicest land and the nicest homes in the nicest sections of town. Then go home and look at your home and your tax bill and just do some math and you will get an idea of the value of some of this land and structures. Posted by: njscanner on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:03 AM

	I am outraged by this article. There are devote Catholics who tried their best in preventing the merger from happening last year. They even poured in money from their personal savings. In return, we here about a eight-hundred thousand dollar convent. Posted by: Listen here on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:29 AM

This is appalling! There are many, many underused convents in the diocese. The diocese has a retreat center in Blackwood and to believe we would trust they're purchase of this property as a 'future retreat center' is ridiculous. What is it with this bishop, he comes across like the leaders of the financial institution we have bailed out. Totally out of touch with his pariashioners, he is getting bad advice from those around him They should reverse this purchase and sell this property. Posted by: uneasy catholic on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:44 AM

Talk about irresponsible actions. We were advised that the Bishop has increased the amount of money he wants to renovate the kitchen in the new, dynamic, vibrant elementary school in Clayton to the tune of $200,000 dollars. Andy Walton tried to justify the spending by saying the price was dropped from $1.5 million to $800,000 dollars. What he failed to mention was that the home was on the market for a year and when the recession/depression hit, it couldn't sell for the original listing price. So the "good catholic family took their money and moved south. How about the $1.7 million dollars for the sale of St. Bridget's school that went toward reducing the debt of that parish rather than helping to support the new elementary school in Clayton. There are too many instances of flagrant misuse of monies by the CEO of the Camden diocese and his constituents to print here. I wonder if they would agree to an audit of how they are spending their monies and make it an open report to the parishioners whose money they are spending. Sounds similar to the AIG scandalous use of taxpayers money with the backing of the government. We are being told by Bishop Galante that he is concerned about the number of Catholics leaving the church, well I suggest he look in the mirror to see how he is a major reason why this is happening. Posted by: mazz on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:58 AM

Today's AC Press has an excellent article about the Diocese of Camden's recent purchase of the $800,000 luxury home in Pittsgrove.  Click here to see the full article. (A similar article can also be found in the well known publication Newsday.) The article was so well-written, excerpts really do not do it justice, but here are a few quotes from Diocesan spinmaster Andy Walton for your entertainment:

But some local Catholics have made much of the description of the new property: Advertised as a "lavish 5-6 bedroom home 11-acre country estate" when it was sold last July, the place boasts riding stables, an elegant fountain in the driveway and a feature described as a "wet bar" inside.

Andrew Walton, spokesman for the diocese, defended the choice of location and style of property for the new convent. "It suits the needs of the sisters, who are looking to expand the order," he said.

He also added that by taking up the new home, the sisters were not going against their vows.

"A vow of poverty has much less to do with where you live than how you live. It's about modest living, but also a poverty of spirit.

"I think there's an undertone of nastiness to some of the commentary, that these sisters' modest living arrangements should come under criticism. There's even that suggestion that, because they're from Kenya, that these arrangements are too good for them."

Andy Walton seems a little defensive - OK, a LOT defensive, even using the race card to try to divert attention from the real issue.  Well, I guess it must be frustrating for him that he cannot clamp down on the AC Press like he does on the Courier-Post (although we know he has tried)! 

Of course, one of the commenters to the article asked how much money Andy Walton makes that he considers an $800,000 home "modest living."  Good question! They could've bought the house I live in for the sisters--five of them, one for each, in fact--and spent the same amount of money. But of course, we have no fountain, wet bar, or stables. Heck, our garage doors don't even work.

Perhaps the most obvious clue to the continual dishonesty coming from the Chancery Offices is this piece of information:

A neighbor, John Langley lives opposite the property. His ancestors, who named the road, used to own most of the area. "Around December, I saw people from the diocese on the property," he recalled. "They said they had come to check it out, and that it might be a residence for the bishop."

Andy suggests that the property will be used in the future as a retreat for the diocese so we, the diocesan faithful, can be continually "formed." Surely it will be the fanciest retreat center we'll have ever been to, but we look forward to experiencing spiritual poverty. It will be so convenient that the new "retreat center" is only a short ride (3.5 miles, to be precise) from St. Mary's. We eagerly anticipate prayer while on horseback and cooling off in the fountain. Who will be tending bar? Pour me one of these.