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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on pressofatlanticcity.com:  August 12, 2010

By Christopher Ramirez, Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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

People at St. Mary's have raised some very interesting questions recently. Some are not new concepts, but they bear repeating:

• One of the premises of "merging" churches is that there will ultimately be far fewer priests. In our particular scenario, we currently have three priests living in a large, "3 suite," recently upgraded rectory in Landisville, Buena [right]. Fr. Namiotka has multiple times expressed his desire to have this be the main residence of the pastor/priests of the entity he would like to see merged because it can house multiple priests comfortably. If we are expected to have only one priest in the future,* why have such a big house? Wouldn't it make more sense to rid ourselves of an expensive and too large property in Landisville and make use of perfectly sufficient, smaller, more economical rectories in either Newfield of Malaga [left]?
  

• Of the four churches involved in the St. Mary's merger/closure group, St. Mary's is, to date, the only one to lose things. We have lost our Saturday evening Mass, a day of Eucharistic Adoration (which we were willing to extend!), and other devotions on top of it. None of these losses has been necessary! Not only that, despite the number of priests, we do not have a priest available to us consistently and we have office staff forced upon us that do not do their job efficiently. This makes it difficult to even get in touch with a priest, get a Mass card, schedule baptisms, or other such simple things. We have been forced to accept staffing that our pastor himself would never accept at "his" church. Point is, ironically, we have as many if not more priests now than we have in the past. Why, then, are we losing ANYTHING?

• Although it has been pointed out to us that church attendance is down (truthfully, it fluctuates to the point that some Sundays the church is very full and others less so), it is our understanding from talking to other surrounding churches that attendance is down at all the local churches. Not down as in, "well, people just aren't religious anymore," but down as compared to a year or two ago. We can only conclude that people are not necessarily choosing to go to different churches, but not to go to church at all. The fact that the diocese not only expects this decrease, but accepts it reflected in the fact that it says to only consider 75% of a church's ordinary income going into a merger. So they expect to lose 25% due to attrition or decreased giving, both of which would reflect dissatisfaction to say the least.

Why are people leaving? Our guess is disillusionment and despair. People see what's going on, for goodness sakes. How is this helping the Church? Or souls? We at Save St. Mary's predicted this would happen, but do the diocese, Church leadership, or even local priests care? Apparently, they do not care enough to see the writing on the wall and stop merging and closing churches.

* Frankly, we have no idea if a reduction in priests is realistic or not. Right now we have more priests and fewer services. One of the three priests in Landisville is a religious order priest who is in the process of incardinating into the diocese.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Press of AC article HERE

Snip:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This information comes from a parishioner opposed to church destruction. We asked him if all the churches in Clinton, Iowa were closed or destroyed. What follows is his response [a couple of details were removed for the protection of those involved]. After reading this, how could one argue that a church is "just a building?" Exactly whose purpose does this un-Catholic position serve?

As parishes, yes [they are all closed]. Sacred Heart was saved as a chapel for the school, which is near the downtown area.  The new church was built out in the middle of nowhere west of Clinton...similar to the "plan" for Streator, [Illinois]. The Clinton parishes were all merged in 1990 and, apparently, that's when all hell really broke loose.  Money started disappearing and renovation projects on the churches were canceled.  The Diocese of Davenport (probably deliberately) brought in particular priests who were determined to wreck what was left of the old parishes.

In 1992 The Wanderer Catholic newspaper ran a big article about the collapse of the Catholic Church in Clinton. Parishioners had no idea what was going on; Mass schedules changed constantly. Even then Catholics were leaving the Church in droves because of what was going on.

One Clinton priest told parishioners of St. Boniface that one day he "hoped he would be driving over the Mississippi at night and see a bright light and that it would be St. Boniface burning." This priest also wanted to trash the elaborate main altar at St.
Boniface [see interior photo right], calling it a "monstrosity."

[Edited out: Miscellaneous church parts were sold off to antique dealers.]

Upon learning that she would not contribute financially to the new church, one of the consolidation priests promptly removed one parishioner from the membership rolls of St. Irenaeus Church. In the end, despite the opposition of the laity, the beloved St. Irenaeus rectory was destroyed and its school demolished later on. After the closing of St. Irenaeus all the altars and statues disappeared.

St. Patrick's Church [top right and left, first two photos] was closed in 1997 and in 2005 the consolidated "Prince of Peace Parish" used $100,000 an elderly lady had left for the maintenance of St. Pat's to demolish that church and its rectory. The organ went right down with the church.
       
The consolidated parish in Clinton tried twice to brainwash Catholics in Clinton to build a new church.  It failed the first time in the late 1990s but succeeded ten years later and the new church was finished last year. It looks just like a barn and cost $7.1 million [see photo left].

For a time, the consolidated parish wanted to use St. Mary's [below right both top and bottom] as the sole church of the parish, but ended up demolishing it last year.  People say that lack of money was the only thing that stopped the consolidated parish from demolishing St. Irenaeus and St. Boniface as well.

You won't find any opposing articles in the local newspaper because the Catholic Church controlled the newspaper and kept out negative articles. Parishioners opposed to the destruction of their churches were forced to take out expensive advertisements in the paper to get their message across.

[Edited: A certain parishioner had questioned whether any of the money from the old parishes was being used to pay off the $37,000,000 abuse settlement that the Diocese of
Davenport was facing and was consequently threatened by a priest for doing so.]  The current pastor told this parishioner who was against church destruction that he "wanted to run him out of town."

I'm sure I've missed many other shady things the Diocese of Davenport did in Clinton (besides moving around prolific child-abusing priests).

Here's a pic of the barn...err I mean "church"  [see photo above or link below]. Actually, In my opinion an old barn not far from the new church is far more beautiful than whatever passes for Prince of Peace Church. http://www.jcpop.org/  

Keep Wildwood Catholic HS Alive

For those of you left out there who think everybody's cool with the church and school closure fiasco, look again. The whole Wildwood Catholic thing has caused these feelings of disgust to erupt. Beware, the emotions are raw and the feelings strong. Here's just one example:

That article in the Star Herald made me sick! I wish the Star Herald had a Spout Off. So I just wrote one in the Cape May County Herald how I feel. It Read like this. I hope that Bishop Galante,Father Field And Wallace feel the pain of their hearts being ripped out before they die. Like the way they ripped the hearts out of so many children in Cape May County

Yes, people are angry. They are sickened with the corruption in high places, the lack of priestly support, and perhaps most of all that kids are being caught in the crossfire. I know as a parent, I have felt the same way at the prospect of not just my church, but theirs, a place they dearly love, is being threatened. As adults, taking something away from us that is due us is one thing, but taking it away from our kids is worse.

There is a family in our church with four foster children. In the words of their mother, "They have had everything taken away from them." They are such a nice family and the kids love to help out around the church cleaning, sorting, and organizing. To have yet one other thing, a beautiful and good thing that is their patrimony, taken from them in their young lives would be nothing less than a crime. All of the kids at St. Mary's love their church. They feel comfortable and cared for there. The fact that it is a small, tight community is no doubt part of that. It sounds like a lot of the kids at Wildwood Catholic feel similarly about their school. That is not always the case at schools, so the teachers there must be doing a pretty good job.

For the record, we get emails and verbal reports daily from people around the Diocese whose churches have merged and closed. It is simply not possible to post everything and every story we hear. Needless to say, they are not happy campers. Worst of all, many people's views of the priesthood have, sadly, deteriorated. They wonder why the priests they had come to love and respect have not spoken up about this travesty. They feel abandoned and confused, without leadership. Many wonder why their priests were taken from them and shipped abroad with the military or to Rome or to God only knows where. (We had another "missing priest" inquiry just yesterday. Sadly, we cannot help, we just shrug our shoulders and say a prayer.) They wonder why what they were taught about the Church growing up stands in such stark contrast to what they now see. Quote:

When I was a kid, we were told stories about martyrs who would die for their Faith. But now we have leaders--priests and lay people--who wouldn't even give their pension. On the one hand I don't blame them, but on the other, what's most important here? I always thought the priests would lead us along the right path. I don't know what to think anymore. I'm confused, disappointed.

Those who are content seem to be few and far between. It seems that mostly these people fall into one of three categories. There are those who are jockeying for paid "ministry" positions in the new merged "entities," there are the people whose churches are "stand alone" (so the most they see is overcrowding, which we also hear plenty of complaints about, which of course is all the more reason to demolish those churches and build megachurches), and there are the vast majority of people who are, sadly, nominal or "Sunday" Catholics.

That people cling to the Faith through all this will be nothing short of a miracle. Welcome to Galante's "Church of South Jersey." Will it still be the Bark of Peter when the audio visual equipment is installed, the tabernacle nowhere to be found, and all the dust settles?

Read Press of AC Article Here or scroll down

Finally a half-way decent article from Jim Walsh. St. Vincent Pallotti is continuing the fight.

Snip:

Lay leaders at the Haddon Township parish, recently rebuffed in an appeal to a Vatican body, now plan to take their case to a church court, the group said in a statement.

The parishioners also said they want the Vatican to decide whether the planned merger with St. Aloysius Parish can be put on hold pending their appeal. They described that issue as "unresolved."

But Andrew Walton, a spokesman for the Diocese of Camden, said "preparatory steps related to the merger will continue."

"Church law is clear," he said, asserting the parishioners' appeal "does not result in an automatic suspension of the intended merger."

In saying this, Mr. Walton is, of course, mistaken. If a church's appeal is pending, the "merger" process should be put on hold. The equivalent would be sentencing a person accused person before the jury returns with a verdict.

The Haddon Township parishioners last year filed an appeal, or recourse, with the Congregation of the Clergy. In a response last month, the Vatican body indicated Galante already had addressed the lay leaders' concerns, when the bishop in August 208 said St. Vincent Pallotti church would continue as a worship site after the merger.

But the lay leaders said they want the merged parish to have its seat at St. Vincent Pallotti church, which has undergone capital improvements worth some $1 million. Galante has said St. Aloysius will be the seat.

"The parishioners of St. Vincent Pallotti do not feel that the object of this recourse (to the Congregation) has been fulfilled, nor even addressed," the lay leaders said.

"This matter has been forwarded to the Apostolic Signatura, the Court of the Church, to initiate the appeal process," they added.

At the diocese, Walton said the Congregation's decision stated the choice of a parish seat was up to Galante. He said the Apostolic Signatura typically determines "whether the Congregation's decision-making process was in keeping with church law."

Walton also said the Haddon Township parishioners were "well within their rights" in pursuing an appeal.

"Bishop Galante believes these individuals are not only within their rights, but are motivated by sincerity, goodwill and a great love for their parish and the church," Walton said.

Of course, this begs the question, if Friends of SVP are motivated by "goodwill and a great love for their parish and the Church," what is the Bishop and those cooperating with him motivated by???

Read the entire CP article here

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."

From a contributor:

Today, I read that Pius X Church in Cherry Hill and Holy Rosary Church would be merged by decree on December 23. This means that Holy Rosary Church will close before Christmas. Couldn't they have at least given the Holy Rosary parishoners one last Christmas to be together in their church?

While we realize that a decree does not mean imminent closure, it does seem rather crass and heartless to give a decree of merger two days before Christ's birthday. We would like any information you have on this particular merger.

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

I work in a place where children are given athletic instruction. Parents talk amongst themselves while their children are in classes. My husband brought our children to classes tonight while I was working. While waiting only inches away from the other parents of children in the classes, he could not help but overhear a discussion about church mergers. Let's just say these parents aren't happy campers. (And yes, they would all be youngish people in their late twenties to early forties.)

Not only do they dislike the merger of their churches, they also feel that their CCD programs are being hijacked. According to these parents, the people who had led their CCD programs for the past ten or more years are now being replaced in the new merged entities. More than that, they report that teachers are also being replaced. They state that their "new" parishes complain they do not have enough teachers, but let's face it, morale is very low. When you effectively kill somebody's community, and their sense of connection to it wanes, it's no great surprise if they don't feel they have a place anymore.

Although that's just conjecture, the tone of the conversation was more about long-time church members being pushed aside to make way for the bigger and better. Surprised? No. We think it's not unreasonable to expect hostile takeovers and slick new marketing of what we once new as "the Faith." God only knows what they hope to make it, but it probably ain't Catholicism as we know it.

More to the Diocese's point, if they think these unhappy Catholic families are going to be lining the collection baskets the way they might have before--after all, they first mess with people's parishes and then their children's religious education programs--we think Galante and Co. are in for a surprise.

But hey, maybe if we all hold hands and sing a chorus or two of Kumbaya (or its Catholic version, Peace Is Flowing Like a River) we would all feel better. Thanks a lot, Diocese of Camden Administration, for ruining our parishes. Ashame it isn't just the "church building" affected, as you would like us to believe. No, these are real people's lives you're tinkering with and let us assure you, the children are watching what you're doing. They don't miss a trick.

You may read the entire article here, but we will be quoting from sections of this interesting essay, The American Church, Is it Here?, in anticipation of our look at Pope Saint Pius X's 1906 encyclical against the modernists entitled, Pascendi Dominici Gregis. The aforementioned article (and perhaps the encyclical, too!) may be perceived by some as radical, but the author's points are well made and ring startlingly familiar. It looks as if the original article was written in 1983.

Within his essay, author Michael Davies summarizes a 1981 article in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review. This article was written by an anonymous priest and discusses "the plight of the papist priest;" that is, the priest who is obedient to the pope and the magisterium (holy teaching authority) of the Church. Sadly, twenty-eight years later, you may find yourself recognizing many of these conditions as unfortunately present here in the American Catholic church. (However, it should be noted that under Pope Benedict XVI there is greater hope.)

1) Many American dioceses are ruled by bishops who are either Modernists or who submit to Modernist control of their diocese;

2) Modernists have a "lock-tight" control of the diocesan bureaucracy;

3) Priests who are loyal to the Pope have been reduced to a minority of one-eighth of the diocesan clergy;

4) These priests are isolated, ridiculed and have no hope of advancement;

5) Most seminaries are totally Modernist, and the students who are ordained from them are totally-programmed Modernists;

6) Modernist influence is particularly dominant in the fields of liturgy, catechetics, and the diocesan press;

7) The situation is certain to worsen;

8) Many American dioceses are already totally alienated from the Holy See;

9) Given the present process of consultation prior to episcopal appointments, there is no prospect of orthodox priests being promoted to the episcopate.

Further, the author Davies quotes states the following:

About half the clergy comprise the swing area: a vast mushy no-man's land where the priests will flip-flop wherever and whenever convenience dictates. At present this means conforming to the radical Modernist leadership. For some of these men, a nostalgia for Rome surfaces now and then, but is quickly submerged. Theirs is the tired refrain: "But this is what the bishop wants, and we took a vow of obedience to our bishop."

Therefore what we really have is disobedience to tradition, disobedience to clear Catholic Church teaching, and in its place a false obedience to sadly misled bishops who in turn mislead the faithful with the cooperation of their priests.

In our particular case, we have the lowering in status of our churches to "just buildings," as easily dispensable as old candy wrappers. In their stead, we face the prospect of what we already see in existence throughout our own and other dioceses: new, modern[ist] structures that are antiseptic, cold, round or semi-circular so as to promote the elevation of "community" above all things.* Said structures are typically lacking in ornamentation worthy of God, but replete with CatholicChurchSupply.com type furnishings. Such generic "auditorium"-like sanctuaries are often without statues and side altars, absent truly beautiful teaching art, yet manage to find space for the addition of un-catholic devices such as audio visual equipment and plenty of room beside the altar for rock bands and grand pianos. Worst of all is the removal Our Lord and Savior in the tabernacle to a side altar, separate chapel, or God knows where.

We know from historical precedent that the first thing "reformers" do is to destroy church architecture and furnishings. They destroy art and statuary, they desecrate holy things, they even torch buildings. All this and more has been done, and always in the name of progress, of Reformation. They know, perhaps intuitively, that the easiest way to change people's religion and how they worship is to change where they worship.

Yes, these structures are more recognizably non-denominational protestant in character than Catholic. And when we change church architecture so dramatically, we change the focus of the mass and the focus of our prayer, not to mention Catholic tradition and identity generally. When we change the focus of the mass, we succeed in changing the mass and, consequently, our very Faith.

This is news from the summer. If anyone has updates please send them in. Here again, the Catholic faithful are being railroaded, steamrolled, and otherwise dispensed with. Shame.

Just another piece of information concerning the merger of Our Lady of Grace (Somerdale), St. Luke (Stratford), St. Lawrence (Lindenwold).

 

At a town meeting at OLG parish last Wednesday, our convenyer showed a map of the newly merged parish...a parishioner questioned why a big section of the current Our Lady of Graces parish was not included on the map in the new boundaries. This would be the Gloucester Township section (developments:  Broadmoor, Ballantree, Autumn Ridge, Somer Hill, Stonegate, Eyer's Place).  Our conveyner said These developments were not included in the merger even though they are currently in Our Lady of Grace parish and have been for years.

 

No one has yet to tell these families about this officially and which parish they are assigned. Though one priest unofficially did say that those developments on one side of Somerdale Road belongs to St. Theresa and the other side belongs to St. Agnes.

 

Not only were developments excluded from the merger but they even split which existing parishes they belong to - no parishioner was informed of this decision. 

 

Our conveyner did say anyone was welcome to join St. Lawrence (whoOLG, St Luke's are being merged with))

 

Again no communication at all form anyone about it.

-- an OLG parishioner

Somehow we must've missed these. We receive a lot of email from very upset Catholics. They are from back in the summertime. We have withheld the names of the senders.

Notice the continued lies. Notice the clear financial motives. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Bishop Galante, you cannot serve both God and mammon (Luke 16:13). Furthermore, transparency means truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). How sad it is that anyone who believes their bishop and his cronies nowadays is a sucker. What a crime, what a travesty! Oh how many souls are leaving the Faith now over this alone! Bishop Galante, we want to believe you and to have faith in the leadership of our church, so for God's sake, tell the truth! Do what is right!

(1) We are all so taken back with what Galante is doing to our churches.  We have heard that a group from the Camden Diocese is going to Rome to stop this nut from destroying our churches.  Is this true?  If so, when will it happen?  Everyday we hear of priest leaving our churches.  Now we hear that Fr. Patsy of Sacred Heart Parish has received permission from Bishop DiMarzio to serve in the Brooklyn Diocese.  When are we going to be able to stop this mass exit of priest.  This is exactly what Galante wants.  Is there any hope for us and what can the Vatican do?

(2) I am guessing you have probably heard about the closure of our school by Bishop Galante.  We plan on fighting it to the fullest extent and would love to join your efforts in sharing any information we come across.  One of our fellow parents, [name withheld], just started yesterday in building a web site.  The web address is http://www.savestaroftheseaschoolcapemay.org/   Our school is slated to be "merged" with St. Ann's in Wildwood, just 2 yrs after the "merger" of St. Raymond's and Our Lady Star of the Sea School.  I don't know if your dealings have involved Nick Regina but he ranks right along with Bishop Galante in his cold/callous behavior.  We hope to attend mass at St. Mary's next weekend and get to meet some of you who are involved in this fight against the Bishop.  Your website is incredible- very informative!!!  Thanks so much, good luck to you all and God bless!

(3) I am a parent at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Cape May.  Three weeks ago we were told that our school is to merge with St. Ann's school in Wildwood.  We were given no notice of this and all of the us parents did not even know this was in the works.  At a terrible meeting with Nick Regina, only 48 hours after we were all sent letters regarding the merger, he told us that this was being discussed since Oct. 08.  Our Monsignor got up and told us that he and the Principal felt it was better not to involve the parents in this decision.  What made this even worst was that only 2 years ago Bishop Galante merged the school that my children were at called St. Raymonds in the Villas with Star of the Sea in Cape May.  My husband and I believed the Monsignor and the Bishop when they advised us to attend the new school.  But now after 2 years we thought the merger had been successful.  The PTA...[had successful fundarisers].  We also not only met our assessment to the church, but exceeded by $6,000 this year.  We all were told that the Bishop would not look at this area for another 5 years.  But now we are being told that we are merging with St. Anns even though our enrollment numbers are higher and we have not drop as much in enrollment of the last 7 years as St. Anns has. We gave our all information to Nick Regina from the Diocese when he met with us and he just replied that he was not aware of those numbers.  We told him that the enrollment numbers were taken from the Star Herald Newspaper that the Bishop puts out.  He just replied, "Next Question."  After that meeting we have been reaching out to anyone that would listen.  We have been writing letters, we have had a Senator and two Assemblymen write to the Bishop for us.  Cape May City Council along with 2 other adjoining towns have passed a Resolution to stop the closing of our school and asking for the Bishop to meet with the town council.  We have been on Channel 40 news, have had stories written for us in the Atlantic City Press, and 3 local papers in town and have signed petitions.  We need your help.  Please give us any advice who we can turn to next.  Our school is right in the middle of town and land in Cape May worth millions.  The Diocese stated that they are not even sure if the building will be used for CCD classes as it is now.  Please, Please help us.  Our children and parents are devastated.  I feel like I cannot even sit through mass.  All I keep thinking about is how the men of my faith have hurt children over and over again.  Today the Monsignor was talking about his 50th class reunion from Catholic School and how wonderful it was and all I kept thinking about was that my children will never be able to celebrate that with St. Raymond's school and now Star of the Sea School thanks to this Bishop.

Thank you for your time.

This was sent in by a contributor. The title above is from her. Here is the Courier Post link:

Read article here

Bishop Joseph Galante on Friday announced the creation of two new parishes in the Camden Diocese, saying four existing parishes will be merged in Pennsauken, Pine Hill and Berlin Borough....

Galante's plan will reduce the number of parishes in the South Jersey diocese from 124 to 68, primarily through mergers. The bishop faces opposition from a grass roots group, The Council of Parishes of Southern New Jersey, and from members of some local parishes who have appealed to the Vatican to block mergers.

Damn straight he faces opposition. And not just from the "COP" formally, either. From just about every Catholic in South Jersey, certainly every single one I know. Shame, shame, shame. The bottom line is this, though. If you are against the merger of your parish, and you believe it to be wrong, misguided, a mistake, whatever, it is your obligation as a baptized Catholic to speak up. Yes, even bishops can make mistakes...bad ones. History has proven this to be true, and we are living through yet another instance of this. If we say nothing in the face of wrong, we take a share in the responsibility for the outcome.

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.

This Press of Atlantic City article says that

Parishes in Middle Township, Upper Township and Woodbine will not be merged, the Camden Diocese told its parishioners this week.

Bishop Joseph A. Galante informed members of St. Casimir's Roman Catholic Church in Woodbine and the Church of the Resurrection in Marmora that they would remain separate with their own priests. St. Elizabeth in Middle Township will continue to be served by St. Casimir.

But Galante encouraged the churches to work together and share resources.

Click above link to read the whole article. Coastal Broadcasting News also mentions the story.

Re: "Cares deeply" (letters, Sept. 2).

Andrew Walton, spokesman for the Camden Diocese, implies (erroneously) that St. Gregory's in Magnolia is a struggling parish. This could not be further from the truth, unless he is referring to the morale of our parishioners since the announcement that our church would be closing.

Financially, St. Gregory's is not struggling. We are probably on better financial footing than Mary Mother of The Church in Bellmawr, the parish we will merge with under the reconfiguration plan.

Our mortgage was paid off many years ago. And our weekly collections and stipends bring in enough money to cover our parish expenses and then some -- including contributions monthly to diocesan debt and other special collections.

I believe the proceeds from the sale of St. Gregory's assets are earmarked to pay off or reduce the debt of Mary Mother of The Church, which is the true struggling parish. Yet, Bishop Joseph Galante wants St. Gregory's to merge with this parish. And therein lies the hurt we feel.

It makes no sense. Mary Mother of the Church should merge with St. Gregory's, not the other way around. Or it seems to make more sense if it were merged with the other parish in its own community.

In addition, our dissatisfaction with the bishop's decision is not entirely about the assets our parishioners worked hard to pay for and that we are about to lose. Our struggle is more about our loving parish community and the fond memories that are about to be snuffed out. God bless us all.

WALTER ZUBRZYCKI

Magnolia

Read the CP letter to the editor here