The Sisters of Mary Immaculate Nyeri Convent in Elmer will soon be moving into a beautiful new home in neighboring Pittsgrove Township. The dedicated religious order of sisters is appreciated by many in the community because they take care of the elderly residents at Mater Dei Nursing Home that is located on Route 40, just west of Franklin Township. The Diocese of Camden recently surprised the Sisters with the news of the purchase of a convent.

"We were very surprised," said Sister Bernadette. "We are very happy that  they decided to give it to us." The five sisters have been taking care of the patients of the nursing home and take a vow of poverty like most religious orders. They are not used to extravagant living and they presently live together in a small home in Elmer that has three bedrooms. "It's God's Blessing!" said Sister.

The spacious executive home that was purchased last year by the Diocese for future use as a convent or retreat house.

The property is located at 425 Langley Road in Pittsgrove Township, just off Porchtown Road and was listed by the real estate agent as: "enticingly elegant is this lavish 5-6 bedroom, 11 acre country estate. The white fence surrounds this custom built brick cape home that includes a grand entrance foyer, living/great room with fireplace, dining room, game room with wet bar and sun room. It has fabulous grounds that include a circular driveway with fountain and 3 car attached garage/2 car detached garage and a rear patio. The property has a six stall barn with three run in areas for horses."

On July 22, 2008, the Diocese purchased the property for $800,000. It has been vacant for a year and residents that were interviewed stated they have been concerned as to the status of the property.

According to records obtained at Pittsgrove Township Tax Offices, the property taxes are paid and up-to-date. In 2008 the property taxes for the year were $20,507. The property is listed as QFARM in its assessment. The Diocese has not yet filed an application to change the status of the farm to a convent or other type of institutional classification according to Pittsgrove Township's planning board secretary, yet Walton commented that the tax status of the property was in the process of being changed to 'tax exempt' because it will be used as a convent for the sisters.

Walton was asked why the Diocese decided to by such an expensive home when many parishes are closing and in financial stress.

"The five sisters presently live in a small three bedroom home in Elmer," said Walton. "They will be moving in soon and some furniture has been delivered. The property was offered to the Diocese at a substantial savings and we felt the grounds are an appropriate setting that could be used for a future retreat." *

The future convent is located between the neighboring parishes of St. Ann's in Elmer and St. Mary's of Malaga that are to be either closed or merged.** Parishioners from both parishes expressed concerns when interviewed about the purchase of the property. Some stated that they have questions regarding the Diocese's reasoning behind buying an expensive home for Sisters who take a vow of poverty with many suitable properties for sale in the area at a lower cost.

News reports last year about Bishop Galante selling his shore home to an Italian businessman, Raffaello Follieri, who was accused of scamming real estate investors to purchase Catholic Curch properties, led to rumored talk of the expensive purchase made by the Diocese on this executive property. The Bishop sold his North Wildwood four bedroom townhouse [to Folliri] last year for $400,000. In June 2008, Follieri was jailed on federal fraud and money laudering charges. He was charged with posing as a representative of the Vatican to buy Roman Catholic Church property.

With Diocesan officials deciding to reduce the number of parishes in the Camden Diocese from 124 to 66 in the next few years it will mean that 58 parishes and 24 church buildings will no longer be used for worship.

Parishioners wonder if their Church will be closed and what the future holds for the Catholic Church and its schools. The process of merging parishes has left several parishes staging protests at locations where Bishop Joseph Galante is present. One of the more vocal churches protesting the closing of Churches has been St. Mary's of Malaga, that has been a historical landmark in Franklin Township for over 80 years. The Pastor, Father Jerome Romanowski, has been vocal to oppose the plans to close churches in the Diocese. He was notified last week that he had been transferred by the Bishop to Atlantic City. Romanowski has decided that he will retire.

Several parishioners described the merging effort as tearing the hearts of many of the older parishioners who were instrumental in building the Church.

Diocesan spokesman Andrew Walton explained the reasoning for the decision to merge parishes and stated that by the year 2015 there will only be about 85 priests to serve 124 parishes.

:Every parish is used to having at least one priest serve the parish," said Walton, who stated that the diocese sees these types of protests as 'expected' because of the love the parishioners have for their Church building.***

Walton commented that the number of practicing Catholics has dropped from what it was at 74% in 1960 to 25%. "You have to do something," said Walton. "There are several misconceptions that are out there."

Walton explained that 41 parishes in the diocese can not pay their bills and utilities every month. He stated that this amounts to over 11 million dollars in debt and they can not pay it back.

"One of the misconceptions is when people say that we are trying to sell our properties for profit," Walton said. "All of the property belongs to the parishes. We have no rights to them. All of the assets of the parish leave when yu merge parishes, and none have merged yet." ****

* OH MY GOSH! The stuff this guy doesn't come up with, huh?! It's almost entertaining to read. What a creative mind. Andy, Andy, he's our man! If he can't spin it, no one can!

** Just for the record, we will be closed over our dead bodies (so to speak).

*** Of course, Walton is wrong on at least two counts here. St. Mary's and many other area churches that began as missions shared a priest with at least one other church for much of their histories.Returning to a shared-priest scenario would be acceptable to most Catholics. Second, you don't see the Diocese encouraging new vocations, and in fact they seem to be suppressing and discouraging existing priestly vocations by removing priests from the diocese by the dozen on various pretexts. Third, people love The Church, as in, the Bark of Peter, and their Houses of the Lord Jesus are not just buildings. This is heresy. It is Protestantism. Additionally, we must always remember every number spouted by Walton must be questioned as they are usually misleading.

****We have already shown that the "property belongs to the parish" statement often used by the diocese is basically untrue. Read about it here.