Results matching “retire” from Save St Mary's Malaga

How Big is "Big Enough?"

By
St. Marys
on March 16, 2010
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).

Does this sound familiar? An email from Illinois.

By
St. Marys
on February 4, 2010
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 destroyedSt.AnthonyStreatorIL.jpg 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 isStAnthonyStreatorCornerstone.jpg 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.

As a result of your intended killing of Wildwood Catholic, here's what people are saying about you, Bishop Galante, and the Church

By
St. Marys
on January 11, 2010
Take a good, hard look. We at savestmarys are not saying we agree with all the sentiments expressed, only that this is the inevitable result of the message that is being sent by the Diocese. We are not surprised at people's disillusionment. Souls will be and are being lost.

See also: Keep Wildwood Catholic High School Alive Facebook Page and Save Wildwood Catholic High School Facebook Page

These comments are only from the last few hours from the Wildwood Catholic article. Bishop Galante, Average Joe and Jane Catholic are pissed, disgusted, fed up. Don't you care? People are leaving the church, and those who have already left are feeling justified in their decision. Don't you care? Souls are being lost. Your reputation is in the garbage bin? Don't you care? You will go down as the bishop who single-handedly destroyed the Diocese of Camden and drove people from the Church en masse. It is your job to care. Why don't you care?

Wakeup People the Catholic church has been dieing for the last few years, They have been closing churchs and catholic schools in the area for the last few years. Why would they leave WC open when they can force you to go to HOLY SPIRIT for a lot more money. I am surprised that WC was not closed years ago.

Donnachie: What was your posting about? Especially that last line? If you are a practicing Catholic you should know better than anyone how the institution manipulates the flock toward one end -- and only one end --and that is always money. The whole irony here is that the Catholic Church is the richest organized religion in the world and is now hitting on some tough times with the abuse scandal payouts but we have to believe its coffers are FAR from empty. Many of us know or have read about the Vatican's vast real estate holdings and silent partnerships around the world and the true "business" that the church really is. For hundreds of years, these male church leaders have always been dominant and controlling with little regard for the nuns (except to dictate how they should conduct themselves and their order) and other "second class citizens" (females and children)who serve in different capacities throughout the system.

From "Galante Has To Go"
With all the school and church closings in this diocese, a good businessman would realize that the next step is to consolidate the Diocese of Camden with another, larger diocese. Exactly what is the overhead of keeping Camden as a diocese? The bishop's expenses - living quarters, food, car & drivers, secretaries; the staff at Catholic Charities & Diocesan Housing; the Star Herald newspaper. Wow! We probably could have afforded to keep our schools open if the schools were given the money being used to maintain this top heavy organization.

What an absolute disgrace, the so-called Christian decision makers should be ashamed of themselves. From the start what happened yesterday at Wildwood Catholic High School was horrible. While you can understand the point of financial problems, which raises the question, how did these problems come about? What you did to these poor children and the families was anything but Christian. What it is is just another example of how mismanagement is destroying the catholic lifestyle. So to the local managing body or the Bishop, you could never imagine what it is like to get a phone call from your child, crying uncontrollably saying that they were just told that their high school is closing forever in 6 months. Knowing that after being there for three years of their life, knowing that they will not graduate from their school, the horrible feeling of not knowing where they will go, if they will be with their friends and how this is going to affect the rest of their lives. You made these decisions without any input, concern, questions from the families. I understand that decisions like this are difficult but you could have let the families know what was going on, what was being considered, to give these families and children an idea of what to expect. And what about the teachers and the school administration, these teachers were not told anything, the school administration was not told anything until yesterday about your misguided, ill-managed and totally insensitive decision. Let's talk about the financial point. These people put their heart and soul into this school. Working for less money then any other teacher would in the public sector. I do not blame the teaching and administrative staff of Wildwood Catholic for this disaster; I blame the Catholic Church administrators and the people who were responsible for the decision to close this school. Enrolment is down because tuition is too high. The powers to be would say tuition is high because enrollment is down. You should have "bit the bullet" for a while and lowered tuition to increase enrollment. Most importantly why could you not keep the students at wildwood catholic there until they graduate, or at least keep the junior class of this year there next year to graduate. Its not like the school building is going to be closed,,, you are boosting about how the grade school is moving in there and how wonderful its going to be,,,so keep these kids there and let them graduate over the next three years and then do away with the high school level. It is such a cruel, uncaring decision. Lets not give up! Facebook Keep Wildwood Catholic High School Alive

This is a direct result of problems that the Principal Barbara Byrne from Bishop McHugh School has caused. She personally drove the enrollment from 420 to 200 in 3 years. Bishop Galante refused to take action and left her there. The priests of the sending parish's did nothing also. Galante has systematically destroyed the morale of Cape May and had done gamage to the Church that will take generations to repair.

2 points here of comment. Who on earth would bus their kids to Holy Spirit/ It is easily a 45 minute to one hour ride to Absecon. The school pools from all Cape May County and if you live south of Court House the ride is easily as stated.Second the students of Wildwood Ctholic will be in for a real culture shock if they attend public school now. The culture is night and day plain and simple!!!

Welcome to the new world of the "Economics of the Christian Religious Faith". Unfortunately this, once again, shows how religion in America has less about morals,values, and faith and more a business. The bureaucracy of religion has put America's faith and values directly in its crosshairs. Is it a wonder why we have a crisis in America concerning morals, values, and faith? However, this does nothing for the youth and families of these youth of Wildwood Cathlic High School. Keep the faith even if the Camden Diocese took a non-Christian approach in announcing their decision. Merry post Christmas!Yep, run down to Wildwood, tell the school youth of the decision without their parents present, and then run right back out of town without facing the parents after school or in a nightly meeting. What Christian values and morals did this teach these youth? This community? Maybe the Camden Diocese needs to take a look at their own faith and values. Agaim, keep the faith to the students, faculty, staff, and community of Wildwood Catholic! Even if the Diocese mo longer does.

"If you want your children to lost the faith, send them to Catholic School". Fulton Sheen said this 30 years or so ago and how true it has come. The Anarchy after Vatican II- all the changes we Traditionalists feel have gone way too far- well I would not ever send my children to a Catholic School. The Catholic Schools are not Catholic anymore. We would rather homeschool our children and bring them up Catholic than send them to Catholic school and have them lose their faith. The Diocese needs to wake up, the Church needs to wake up. Liberalizing is not drawing people to the Church, it is only driving true Catholics away.

I just wanted to say how sad this is for Cape May County. Many family members and friends were proud to call this school their school. But this is no surprise given the way this bishop has continually treated area students and their families. Perhaps if he had cleaned house at Bishop Mc Hugh 5 years ago those 80 families and the subsequent 125 kids wouldn't have chosen public school over their precious Catholic school. And if he hadn't lied to the families at St. Raymond's they wouldn't have gone onto to public school. And the same goes for Star of the Sea parents this year. My family has moved out of the area-to the Southern Bible Belt in fact. The few Catholic schools are thriving and there's an enrollment wait list and tuition for elementary is nearly same as Wildwood Catholic. Proudly, we are in planning stages to build a Catholic High School here. So many Catholics are fed up with the North East and the lies and have moved. People stand in the aisles for Sunday mass. Nobody should be surprised that familes and especially children come behind the almighty dollar and concealer.

As a Catholic, I detect an insurmountable public relations problem for the entire institution that started early on when this -- the most rapidly growing religion and today still the one claiming the largest membership of any other -- employed the practice of constantly "poor-mouthing" and the "do as I say not as I do" mentality. This fund-raising strategy imploded when the abuse scandals finally came to light. Denial has always been among the leadership's most reliable tools; however, with the testimony of real live pedophilia victims over the last two decades, there's no recourse but to pay --- in millions of dollars and image. These bishops are a bunch of businessmen (Galante only pretends to care when he sits in at the parish pow-wows attended by very distraught and long-time, old-school parishioners who actually think their protests will make any difference) and not very good ones at that. But I'll betcha their retirement packages are secure -- strong and solid as the gilded walls of the Vatican.

What a total contradiction. Earlier, The Press reported that the rumors of the school closing were unsubstantiated... Who wants to bus their kids from Wildwood to Holy Spirit and who is going to pay for that transportation?
after school or in a nightly meeting. What Christian values and morals did this teach these youth? This community? Maybe the

Our Lady of the Lakes Gets To Be Stand-Alone. Why?

By
St. Marys
on November 22, 2009
Our Lady of the Lakes in Collings Lakes, formerly part of the St. Mary's Malaga, St. Rose of Lima Newfield, and Queen of Angels Parish (St. Michael's Minotola & Our Lady of Victories Landisville) merger/closure group was just permitted to remain stand-alone. Why? We have received no answer to this question. From their Nov. 15th bulletin:

I have received word from the diocesan Vicar General
that the bishop has approved the Core Team proposal that
our parish would remain a stand alone parish. But we are
encouraged to share resources and programs with the
merging parishes of Buena, Newfield, and Malaga.
This is great news for our Parish because we can continue
as usual serving the needs of the Collings Lakes area.
This is a good news 'short term' situation considering the
underlying problem of a priest shortage in our Diocese.
As more priests retire the present active priests will be
called on to do more. All of us must be ready for the future
when there may not be a priest in residence here. In the
meantime lets be a vibrant sustainable community.
To celebrate this good news we will have a wine and
cheese, coffee and cake celebration in our hall after the
Saturday evening Mass next week. Invite your friends and
family to the 5pm Mass which will have our new
'Lures of the Lakes' choir singing. Then socialize,
celebrate, and relax with your friends and neighbors.
What a slap in the face to the "process" and to all of the other churches in this diocese that would also like to remain stand-alone. "Core team" arm twisting is, apparently, part of the open and honest "process," but how such decisions are made remains a mystery to all of us. Political expedience, string-pulling, and personality conflict at high levels seem to be the order of the day. In truth, we the Catholic faithful have no real input at all, though we are required to speak the Truth by virtue of our baptism and confirmation.

For the record, we at St. Mary's in Malaga would like to, once again, formally register our request to remain a stand-alone parish. We, too, are vibrant, want to serve the needs of the Malaga area, and like wine and cheese and coffee and cake parties. We really do.

Also for the record, our three core team members resisted the arm-twisting and brow beating and voted against releasing Our Lady of the Lakes from the "merger group." After all, why should they stand alone? Every church has dignity and as such deserves the respect it is due by canon law, church tradition, and the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church, not to mention plain old justice. But so far as we know, no one from Collings Lakes even registered an iota of complaint against merging. So...why?

(As a side-note, the somewhat closer Hammonton area churches did not accept the proposal of including Collings Lakes in their merger group. Must've been lots going on behind the scenes that we, the mere laity, have no right to the knowledge of.)

Cleary's Notebook/Gloucester City News Coverage

By
St. Marys
on November 14, 2009
Cleary's Notebook/Gloucester City News continues to follow the church closing debacle in their "Part 3" of a three-part series.  Most of the interviews were completed last winter, but not too much has changed since then.  Paula Carlton is an excellent writer and journalist and has done extremely thorough research for all three parts of the article. Thank you, Paula, Gloucester City News, and Cleary's Notebook.

Overall the piece is certainly well done, although there are some very insignificant inaccuracies. For example, though Julie's non-Catholic husband ("Kelley") does certainly have views on the situation, he does not write articles (or poems for that matter) for the Save St. Mary's website. Occasionally he has been so disgusted with outright lies of the Diocesan Administration that he's written pieces for his own personal blog, which are then linked to by SSM. This is, of course, ironic since people like him are who Galante is supposedly trying to reach but who he is instead alienating. Sadly, Bishop Galante has also succeeded in alienating young families, older Catholics, and, well, most people in between so far as we can tell. Strangely, all those who we knew who would have considered the possibility of coming into the Faith have put the possibility completely out of their minds because of what they are currently seeing.

The bottom line is that anyone who thinks the forced closure of parishes, outright lies, hireling "ministers," corporate slickness, and evangelical protestant-style megachurches are going to attract people to the Faith, they are deluding themselves. What's really going on here, so far as we can tell is [a] a moneygrab and [b] a forcing down the throats of the faithful an agenda to radically change the church from within. Yeah, there are unfortunately some aging liberals in high places want to see the "quatholic" church of their dreams come to life before they leave this earth. But to what end?

In any case, we highly encourage you to read this latest installment of Ms. Carlson's since it is such a good synopsis of what's happened thus far. Link: click here. The article is entitled, "The Worldwide Catholic Church is Going Through Changes" and it is dated Nov. 13, 2009. Here are a couple small snippets from the article:

[1] Kelley wrote, "Twas the Night Before Merger," which Heiland posted in a Jan. 7 blog on SSMM. It stated, in part: "Twas the Night Before Merger, when all through the church [appeared] lists of new ministries for all the search"; "Wawas with crosses [that] point up to the sky"; and "Coffee mugs... hung by the cappuccino bar with care, in the hopes that the barrista soon would there."

"Wawaization" is some-thing many protesters fear most from the reconfiguration of parishes and worship sites in the Camden Diocese.

However, according to Kelley, in a May 31, 2008 blog: "The bishop (Bishop Joseph Galante) gave the church-saving movement its best metaphor when he disparaged the little churches he wants to shutter as 'Wawa churches.' The bishop might as well condemn motherhood, baseball and apple pie if he's going to take on South Jersey's Wawa. One disgruntled 'Catholic in name only' rose to reclaim the Wawa label, saying that all these little churches were indeed like Wawa: ubiquitous, open at all hours, with good food that brought people in."

[2] [Said John Sendman of St. Jude's in Blackwood:] "There are a lot of people who are going to leave the church on account of this," he said. "The people I know believe in a small church with a group of people who know each other and pray together.

[3]"The thing that is interesting," Pierzynski [of St. Vincent Pallotti, Haddon Heights] said, "is that most rec-ommendations were to cluster parishes, which means that all parishes remain open, but share a priest. Mergers mean more parishes and properties are available to sell. The other priests may be asked to retire, or will be reassigned. It doesn't vary too much between the mergers and the clusters.

"[The diocese] quickly changed that and said that [the priest shortage] wasn't the reason for the mergers. Then [the diocese] cited vibrancy. But parishioners have stopped giving [donations], and now they've cited financial reasons. That's a situation they themselves created. By closing and merging parishes, you create a priest overage. "It's funny to watch them spin it around to what they need it to be," he said.

A Little St. Mary's History: Does Size Matter?

By
St. Marys
on November 1, 2009
We thought it Our Lady of Mt CarmelSt Mary's Church, 1960s would be a good time to remind people of the History section of the Save St. Mary's website. This history was written by a historian (an actual professional historian, now retired) and long time St. Mary's parishioner who now lives outside NJ.

It is interesting to note that we now live in a day and age where bigger is considered inherently better. One of the purposes of the destruction of our parishes and merger with others is that larger churches are considered by some to be superior. Why? Not sure. Our culture favors this model for most things these days, though, from stores to houses to cars. Churches are certainly not exempt. Part of it is human ego, we suppose. We can leave that to the sociologists.

In any case, historical perspective can lend a hand here. People tend to assume that once upon a time, there was a golden age of...fill in the blank. In the case of St. Mary's, there's the functioning assumption that once upon a time, St. Mary's was much larger. Well, that just isn't the case. Not really. St. Mary's Historic pictures from the Feast of the Assumptionhas always been a tiny church and, when it became an actual parish, it became a tiny parish. I'll quote the history:

Completed in 1922, the new brick church could accommodate 150 worshipers.
If the people who built St. Mary's had needed a larger church, they would have built a larger church. And no, we cannot explain away its size by supposing there was more than one mass because there wasn't. Not until the 1950s was a second Sunday mass considered. The Saturday evening anticipated mass came even later.

Interestingly, the Bishop of Trenton (previous to the establishment of the Camden Diocese), Bishop Walsh,

voiced high praise for Monsignor James Bulfin, pastor of Sacred Heart...who directed the building of the church, and for the people of Malaga whose monetary sacrifices made it possible.
That was back at the opening mass in 1922, at which the bishop presided. Compare this to today's situation. We are now in a geographically smaller diocese with better transportation and an improved financial status. We have more parishioners today and more priests per capita, but our current bishop sees no need for St. Mary's or, for that matter, half the churches in the Diocese of Camden. Oh how far we have fallen in evangelical zeal!

St. Mary's didn't even have its own pastor or rectory until four decades later. So sharing a priest with another parish is nothing new to St. Mary's. In fact, it has been the case for about half its history, since it was a mission of Sacred Heart (Vineland) and then St. Rose of Lima (Newfield).The St. Theresa Society's 1947 Annual Communion Breakfast

As for money, St. Mary's has always "lived" very frugally. Its less than affluent members sacrificed greatly to build the church and shortly thereafter experienced the Great Depression, the stress of which may have contributed to the death of its [shared] pastor, Fr. Jackson.

By the 1940s, St. Mary's had only about 100 families (compared to today's 250), although being farming families they were likely larger then the families most have today. Once the war and rationing were over, Fr. Naab (above), the pastor of St. Rose of Lima and St. Mary's, was able to obtain a car and visited every single family of St. Mary's. How many priests would do this today, even with better cars, better roads, lower gas mileage, and in a tiny parish?

It was also under Fr. NaabStained Glass Window that our tiny parish commissioned its beautiful stained glass windows (right). Not shortsighted and despite the size of the parish, Fr. Naab knew how important a "church building," as so many refer to them today, is to a community. From the history:

Fr. Naab insisted on first-rate materials and workmanship. "The color in this glass will never fade," he said on numerous occasions.

In the 1950s a second mass was added and the church was enlarged. Yes, St. Mary's was once even smaller than it is today! In addition to enlarging the church, the organ and choir area were moved upstairs and a loft constructed. This added room for additional pews in the back.

In 1957 the land for the rectory was purchased, and finally in 1961 a third Sunday mass was added. (Saturday evening masses were unheard of previous to Vatican II.) This is also the year that St. Mary's became an independent parish (see photo top right). For almost a year, Fr. Zimmer, St. Mary's first pastor of its own, lived in the sacristy. And no, there was no bathroom in there just as there is no bathroom now. In spring 1962, the rectory was completed.

The religious education of its children was a primary and founding purpose of St. Mary's, but even in the 1980s, the all-time high of the CCD program peaked at only about 100 children. This year, even with the bishop's threat of closure hanging over our head and no nun volunteers as in the past (see photo above), we have around 60 students.

Our point? St. Mary's has never been big. Holy Name Mass & PartyIMG_5670It's always been small. We've shared priests and even had one live in the sacristy. Though our church has undergone many changes over the years, physically and otherwise, we must not fall into the trap of believing that because we are small today, we are somehow on a downward spiral. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What St. Mary's has that strengthens it is its small size! More people are always a welcome blessing, but a small parish enables us to know each other, and we like that. While some people may find larger parishes more to their liking, there ought to always be the option available to those who like a small church family. We're pretty uncomplicated at our church; we don't want anything big or fancy. We keep it simple at St. Mary's, and we think it's a blessing.

Video of Scranton Bishop Press Conference

By
St. Marys
on August 31, 2009
Click here for video

Our favorite of what we heard Bishop Martino say:

For some time now there has not been a clear consensus among the clergy and people of the Diocese of Scranton regarding my pastoral initiatives or my way of governance. This development has caused me great sorrow, resulting in bouts of insomnia and at times a crippling physical fatigue.
In other words, there has been large scale disapproval of his church and school closure plans. There has been so much outcry, apparently, that the stress has gotten to him. And while the stress is visible in Bishop Martino's physical presentation, it doesn't appear the entire situation is being revealed here.

Later on in the video, in response to a question posed by a journalist, he makes sure to comment about how he "did the right thing" and that his "conscience is clear." What struck us as odd about the "my conscience is clear" comment is that if your conscience is clear, would you feel the need to say it? It was clear from his body language that he is not at all certain that his conscience is clear. His demeanor was very awkward, jittery, nervous, and he appears very obviously insincere throughout the video (in contrast to Cardinal Rigali, who's able to pull off sincerity pretty well, in our opinion).

Bishop Martino also mentioned that he doesn't know many retired bishops who sit around looking out the window all day, but they are often called on to do any number of things, often under other bishops. Clearly he expects to be at work behind the scenes somewhere, perhaps causing similar damage but without having to be the public face of it.

Overall it was our estimation that Bishop Martino came off as a career-minded politician nervous because of some sort of scandal and glad to be finally off the hook. Whether he actually has something to hide beyond what is currently in the public view remains to be seen, but he conceded that in the eyes of many his tenure might be seen as a "failure" due to his lack of "success," but that he tried his best to make the diocese "lean." In reference to his massive "lean" and mean church closure program, the bishop smirked in a wholly inappropriate way. Closing churches is nothing to smirk about. It is not funny, nor is it cute to make the analogy that the Diocese of Scranton needed to go on a diet. These sorts of comments are typically reserved for CEOs in corporate America. Frankly, had it not been for his dark suit with roman collar and his requesite and incidental religious references, you woudn't know he was a bishop at all. (See also his photo in streetclothes. Hey, at least he's not in shorts and a polo shirt.)

In any case, Bishop Martino's stepping down due to insomnia? Ummm, we just don't buy it. With greater excuses than that I could've dropped the kids off at the orphanage any number of times and retired from being a mother. Martino's nowhere near retirement age and admits to being in good health overall. Bishop Galante, on the other hand, actually has legitimate health issues (aside from insomnia), so a resignation from the Bishop of the Camden Diocese due to health difficulties would not be unreasonable. So what's really going on with Bishop Martino? One wonders what was said in his meeting with the Holy Pontiff.

Whatever the real cause of Bishop Martino's stepping down, it's too bad for the people of the Diocese of Scranton that the damage is already done. We have word from contacts in the Diocese of Scranton that Martino's left the place a shambles.

Please be sure and see Scranton's two websites on the issue: The Catholic Watchdog and also Leave No Catholic Student Behind. The former has particularly good coverage of the Scranton church closings. 

Calling All Catholic Homeschoolers!

By
St. Marys
on August 25, 2009
8/27/09 Update:
I went to Borders tonight and was not required to show any form of identification to obtain the discount card. Guess I lugged my lesson plan binders and things all the way over there for nothing. In the words of the former teacher employee doing the presentation, "I've never met a person who has lied about being a teacher. Besides, you can tell a teacher just by looking at them." Ha ha, so true. They gave out snacks and free give-away books, stickers, and even a $25 gift card. Apparently even Borders is struggling to keep its head above water and is now heavily targeting the teacher and homeschooler audience. Since this is our only "local" bookstore around, I feel good about trying to support it. It's the only place I can go to look inside a book before purchasing it. Also the employees working there were extremely helpful and friendly. Often this Borders is staffed by retired teachers, which is wonderful. Additionally it is open until 11pm. One Saturday a month they have story hour at 10 am for the kids. The former teacher who I mention above is also a homeschooler now (for her grandson) and a Christian, so made sure to point out the section where they keep the children's Bibles and other Christian literature. (Her husband is a protestant pastor.) I've never been a huge fan before, but now I am. Great store, great staff, great discounts. Check it out.

Maybe I'm the only one who wasn't aware of this, but in case you didn't, Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores both offer teacher discounts and those discounts extend to homeschool instructors as well!

We just need some sort of "proof" of homeschooling, such as curricula or lesson plans. Membership in a homeschool coop or group would also suffice. I spoke with "Chris," a manager at the Deptford Barnes & Noble and "Linda" at the Hamilton Twp. Borders, both of whom confirmed that bringing in teacher lesson plans would be good enough proof, but I will see what else I can dig up to bring along.

This Thursday evening at 7pm the Borders at the Hamilton Mall in Hamilton Township, NJ (near Mays Landing) is having an event at which teachers may sign up for the teacher discount cards. At Barnes & Noble you may do this at any time. There is a particular teacher discount form you will need to request in person.

Borders discount: 25% off*
Barnes & Noble discount: 20% off

I am psyched! Homeschoolers buy a ton of books since we receive no subsidies or assistance of any kind from the state or textbooks from the schools. Of course, this the way we want it and that's all fine since the reason we homeschool is educational and religious liberty. That's just to say we spend a small fortune in books. Let me say here that I love dealing with small family bookstores where they exist online (rarely elsewhere anymore), such as Emmanuel Books or others. And we do sometimes use Amazon, particularly when there is a used book we want to purchase. In any case, hooray for books and hooray for discounts!

* I was quoted 25% but the website says 20% for orders under $1000. I will find out for sure Thursday night.

A reader weighs in about diocesan handling of schools

By
St. Marys
on August 8, 2009
We received this email yesterday. In reference to her last paragraph, I personally can attest to the fact that I know of at least three separate orders of priests who have offered to come into our Diocese and have been denied by Bishop Galante. I also know of an order of sisters who would love to come into the Diocese. They are apostolic, not contemplative, but habited and marian. I believe part of what they do is teaching. They would like to live at St. Mary's. If Galante and McGrath had really listened at the Listening Sessions, they would've learned that Catholics want religious and priestly vocations encouraged, but since that doesn't seem to fit in with the Diocesan plans, it is not something they are prioritizing.

It used to be that Catholic elementary schools were financed and controlled by the individual parishes. Parishes would support the churches through collections and parents ran fundraisers. Parishes had great pride in their schools.

Then Bishop Galante came with his plan to control and consolidate the Catholic elementary schools. He wanted the diocese to control them. As a part of his plan, he promised that parents would have more affordable tuition. When his plan took effect, many schools closed, teachers lost their jobs, and tuition nearly doubled. We are reaping the fruits of his plan for Catholic schools and it is foreshadowing of what will happen to the churches if his reconfiguration plan goes through.

Now Catholic high schools are a different story. Some of them are referred to as "diocesan" high schools, but they receive very little money from the diocese. They are largely funded by tuition; that is why they are more expensive than county colleges. However, they will probably continue to thrive for a while because parents are afraid of drugs and violence in some of the public high schools.

In addition, it is also shameful how this diocese is treating our retired sisters. Elderly sisters are discouraged from staying active in their vocations, such as teaching, and they get nothing from the diocese. They aren't even mentioned in the House of Charity appeal.Our bishop doesn't seem interested in promoting vocations in the Church.

Assumption Wildwood Crest's Pastor Retiring

By
St. Marys
on June 28, 2009
Fr. Richard Hadyka to retire this month. He's only 68. As it turns out, he was located at my own home parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, from the time I was six until I was nine, during the time I  received the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. (He was not, however, pastor there.)

We don't know the details of Fr. Hadyka's situation. But it bears repeating that for a diocese supposedly short on priests, it seems an awful lot of them who are willing to continue on in their posts are being retired and relocated lately. We at Save St. Mary's aren't the only ones who have made this observation. But hey, we're in the process of making big, big, happy "parish families" and "Catholic communities" aren't we? Whatever it takes. I feel all warm and fuzzy.

Thank you, Fr. Romanowski!

By
St. Marys
on May 5, 2009
We have been asked quite frequently of late "what is going on" with Fr. Romanowski. He is officially retired and is now residing at his house in Elm (near Hammonton). Hopefully he'll be getting some much deserved rest, but knowing Fr. Romanowski, he'll be busy as ever!

It is our understanding that he will be returning to St. Mary's for the traditional Latin mass. In addition, he will be helping to fill in over at Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin (the traditional Roman Rite mission church in the Diocese of Camden) on a temporary basis.

St Mary's Christmas eveWe at St. Mary's Shrine Parish would like to thank Fr. Romanowski with all of our hearts for his dedication to the Church and to our church in particular. Now would be a very good time to mention just a few of the things that Fr. Romanowski has done for our little parish.

When Fr. Romanowski first came, the lot adjacent to the rectory was just that--an empty lot. The Rosary Garden was his idea. Many parishioners stepped up to the plate, with the grace of God of course, to help make that idea into a reality.

  • Father has been a steadfast supporter and participant in the Legion of Mary. We now have two adult Praesidia (groups) as well as the Junior Praesidium.
  • He reinstated the Holy Name Society that had been discontinued by a previous pastor.
  • Father is the spiritual director for the Promoters of the Blessed Sacrament.
  • Of course it was Fr. Romanowski who instituted the two-and-a-half (and now three days) of Eucharistic Adoration at St. Mary's. This is no small task for so small a parish, but there is no shortage of graces received!
  • We have the traditional Latin mass at our parish now.
  • Father has never been known to turn away a soul in need of help, and has always been available for the sacrament of Confession. In a time when other churches have seen a decline in Confession, I know that I personally have been around when Fr. Romanowski has commented about the abundance of Confessions heard at St. Mary's--and not just at the appointed times, either. Even when he was tired after a long day, Father has heard my Confession. I know I don't need to tell you that not all priests are as accessible as this.
  • Father has made the Divine Mercy Chaplet a post-mass tradition at St. Mary's.
  • He has instituted countless devotions, novenas, special prayers, and has been vigilant in praying for certain special intentions (for example, pro-life, reverence at mass, an increase in attendance at mass, etc.).
  • Father is also extremely committed to visiting the sick and homebound.
  • He also serves the spiritual needs of the Catholics at the Veteran's Home in Vineland.
On a personal level, those of us who know Fr. Romanowski--myself included--deeply appreciate not only his sincerity but most especially the fact that we never have to doubt his spiritual counsel. He teaches only what Holy Mother Church teaches. Good spiritual guidance is worth more than all the gold in the world.

We at St. Mary's cannot even begin to thank Fr. Romanowski for all he's done for us over the past twelve years. Now our task is to live up to all he's given us, and never take for granted the wonderful parish community he has helped to forge.

NJ Catholic Population INCREASE: Perhaps It Bears Repeating

By
St. Marys
on April 19, 2009
A certain "newspaper" which shall remain nameless but whose initials are "CSH" is again "misrepresenting" information (we are being kind here). We have shared the truth with you before (twice at least) and for truth's sake will give you the link to our most recent post on the subject.

The bottom line? The Catholic population in NJ has increased. You see, since the total population in the state has increased, there has been an increase in the religious diversity of the state, making the total Catholic percentage or proportion of the total population decrease. Numerically, there are many more Catholics in the state of NJ than ever before. 2.5% more since 1990, actually.

See link to this March 13, 2009 article in which we give you the numbers.

An aside regarding the artificially created priest shortage...
Oh, you may find this entertaining as well. Apparently those who resist the closure or merger of the parishes are now being "mean" to priests. (We won't even bother linking to the piece of junk disguised as journalism we refer to.) Boo hoo, cry me a river. All we ever do is encourage all Catholics to pray for priests! These are the men who counsel us, hear our confessions, and bring us the body and blood of Our Lord. As if we were the ones who decided to send dozens of priests out of the diocese, force retirements, forbid both religious priests from outside the diocese and Fraternity of St. Peter priests, create a priest shortage, and then overwork the ones who are left. Our new pastor at St. Mary's now has three churches and a high school to look after. He himself has told us that he has a near impossible situation since he does not yet know how to bilocate. Well we the lay faithful didn't create that situation--but we all know who did. These priests are being set up for failure. Why? To make legitimate the mergers and closures of our parishes and the institution of a lay-led, feel-good Church. Oh, and by the way, how precisely is the Diocesan Administration encouraging priestly vocations? What young man in his right mind would want to walk into the mess that is the Camden Diocese, anyway? May God help us and His Immaculate Mother pray for us!

Pray for the courage and faithfulness of your priests at this difficult time and always.

Prayer for Priests

By
St. Marys
on April 17, 2009
This is from the diary of St. Maria Faustina and was printed in our bulletin this past week. Right now priests in our diocese are in great need of prayer. Please do not forget to offer your prayers for them, morning and night! They are in need of courage, for now is a time of trial for all Catholic Christians, and especially for the priests, so many of whom have been persecuted by being sent away, forcibly retired, sent to the military, etc., artificially creating the "priest shortage" so desired. Shame, shame, shame! Our Lady predicted this persecution which so offends Our Lord and St. Faustina urges us to pray for our priests. Remember, strange as it may seem, enemies of Our Lord may come from without or within! So we must keep close to the merciful heart of Jesus, says St. Faustina.

  Picture below is a statue of St. Faustina at St. Mary's.
St. Faustina, ora pro nobis!Oh my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit, and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You O Lord.

Lord, give us holy priests; You Yourself maintain them in holiness. O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

May the power of Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things.

Amen.

Bankroller of Galante house purchase back in news

By
St. Marys
on March 17, 2009
skitched-20090317-145010.jpg
Bill Clinton and "friend" on Ron Burkle's
private jet back in sunnier financial times.
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.

Sentinel Article on Bishop's $800,000 Executive Home

By
St. Marys
on March 13, 2009
Since the Sentinel of Gloucester County doesn't have their articles online, we've typed it in here for your purview:

$800,000 EXECUTIVE HOME PURCHASED BY DIOCESE
by Cindy Merckx   IMG_0745

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: IMG_0731"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." ****

   Editor's Comments/Notes  
* 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.

Several Articles Profile Bishop Galante's Luxury Estate

By
St. Marys
on March 13, 2009
An article in today's Gloucester County Times profiles Bishop Galante's as yet unoccupied "McRanchon," as some have called it.  The article also ran in today's Salem County Sunbeam and in today's Bridgeton News. Supposedly this estate was purchased for five religious sisters, but it's been empty for quite some time. Quote:

"Given the need of the sisters and given the fact that the property was being offered to the diocese at such a substantial discount, we've purchased the property for the religious sisters," [diocesan spokesman] Walton said.

But the Council of Parishes of Southern New Jersey, a grass-roots parish organization, said the sisters moving into the house is a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the Diocese of Camden and that it was not its original, intended use.

"We don't believe it," said Leah Vassallo, co-chair of the Council of Parishes. "First of all, it makes no sense. Why should nuns live in what is described as a lavish country estate? It's completely contradictory to what the nuns mission and purpose is." ....

"There's a huge difference between a five-bedroom house and an $800,000 house," Vassallo said.


As you may remember, we covered this back in December here on Savestmarys: Click here to read our expose.

Additionally, The Sentinel of Gloucester County published an article entitled "$800,000 Executive Home Purchased by Diocese" (see next blog article). You'll notice that Andy Walton, IMG_0736spokesman for the Galante Administration, claims that the house was intended for a very small group of religious sisters. Well then why has the diocese let it sit vacant for the better part of a year? And what sisters who've presumably taken a vow of poverty would want or need such a lavish house? Is this one of the "charitable works" that the Bishop's Annual Appeal goes to fund? My own family of four lives in a small post-war house with three very small bedrooms and practically non-existent closets. We're very happy here, but we have taken no vow of poverty. Perhaps we ought to join a religious order and upgrade our lifestyle.

Needless to say, most have long assumed that estate was not originally purchased with the sisters in mind, but for Bishop Galante, possibly for his retirement. But since the Follieri Scandal, which broke July 15th, 2008, exactly one week before the Diocese bought this estate, all eyes have been focused on the various residences of the bishop. So it seems that now they have to move the sisters into the estate home to make it look legit. Or at least, that's the way it appears to most observers we've spoken to about it.

The estate is located here (see map below). As you can see, St. Mary's Malaga is remarkably close by.


View Larger Map

Here is a photo of the stable/horse barn. Who knew the sisters rode horses in their spare time? Perhaps they are one of those obscure equestrian orders.
.IMG_0729

Save St. Mary's Newsletter Vol. 1, Issue 1

By
St. Marys
on March 9, 2009

To help facilitate communication, we have started a newsletter.  The first issue went out to the 8:30 and 11:30 Sunday Mass attendees and the CCD parents.  For anyone who missed it, the content is posted below.  Please also see the Editor's Note at the bottom.

St. Mary's News

As most of you are aware, we now have a new pastor, Fr. Edward Namiotka.  Fr. Romanowski has appealed his removal as pastor of St. Mary's*, but while the appeal is pending, Fr. Namiotka will be pastor.  Fr. Romanowski has chosen retirement over reassignment as a parochial vicar at St. Nicholas in Atlantic City.  If he wins his appeal, Fr. Romanowski will be reinstated as pastor of St. Mary's.  In the meantime, he will continue to reside at the rectory at least through the end of April and will assist Fr. Namiotka with the pastoral care of our parish.  We welcome Fr. Namiotka and continue to support Fr. Romanowski. 

Many people are wondering what this transition means for our efforts to save St. Mary's.  For the most part, we will continue on exactly as we have been.  Fr. Namiotka's appointment does not mean our church will close anytime soon, nor does it mean that our church will stay open for the duration of his six year term.  This will be explained in more detail at the Save St. Mary's Meeting on Monday, March 9th at 6:30 pm.

 

"Those who do evil under the pretext of obedience perform an act of rebellion rather than obedience."   - St. Bernard

 

 

Upcoming Events this Week

9th

Save St. Mary's Meeting (6:30 pm)

10th

Jr Choir Practice (7:00), KOC/Choir Practice (8:00)

11th

Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and Miraculous Medal (7:00)

12th

Rally (TBD), Jr. Legion (4:00), Legion of Mary (7:00)

13th

Rosary (6:30), Stations of the Cross & Sacred Heart (7:00)

14th

Confession (3:30)

15th

Third Order Carmelites (1:00)

Saving St. Mary's

What You Can Do To Help

1.        PRAY!  Say a quick Hail Mary, a whole rosary or a decade, offer a mass, visit St. Mary's, offer time before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, whatever you can do.

2.        STAY ACTIVE!  Try joining a parish group, participating in a devotion, become a lector, etc.  Our parish is active every day of the week, stop by anytime and encourage others to come to St. Mary's. 

3.        CONTRIBUTE!  It's important that St. Mary's be self-sufficient.  Please contribute generously to your church (the first collection) and also to Save St. Mary's.  

4.        WORK WITH ONE OF THE SAVE ST. MARY'S COMMITTEES!  We have several committees working to keep St. Mary's open.  Please join one of the following committees to help with the planning:  Prayer/Devotionals, Picketing/Rallies, Media, Letter Writing, Fundraising, Vigil Prep, Canon Law Appeal, Civil Litigation. 

5.        CONTINUE WRITING LETTERS AND RALLYING!

For more information, please attend our meeting on Monday, March 9th at 6:30 pm or contact Leah Vassallo (692-0222) or Kevin Kelton (694-2748) for more information.  We will also provide more details in our next newsletter.

 

Fr. Edward Namiotka's Contact Info:

     Address: Queen of Angels Parish

           202 North West Blvd.,

           Landisville, NJ 08326

     Phone:     697-1450 or 691-4491 x. 1116

     Email:       enamiotka@shhslions.com

 

"To not resist error is to approve it, to not defend the truth is to suffocate it."   - Pope St. Felix III

 * Editor's Note:  Since the publication of this newsletter, Fr. Romanowski has informed us that he has withdrawn his appeal.  We will present this latest change at tonight's meeting and in next week's newsletter.

From Fr. Romanowski: March 8, 2009

By
St. Marys
on March 8, 2009
St-Catherine of Siena-circa_1746_by_Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo.jpg
St. Catherine of Siena

An Apology

Some loving people have asked me to explain the situation at St. Mary's because I have kept St. Mary's Malaga Sacred Heart statue
people in the dark. I apologize for that and truly want to make amends for that sin.

Have No Doubt
Most importantly, St. Mary's will remain open. I have never doubted that because of the special blessings we have received from our Blessed Mother. This privilege has been given to her by Our Lord's Sacred Heart.*

It is With Fr. Romanowski's Spiritual Support and the Intercession of the Saints that we Fight On!

Catherine_GregoryXI.jpgI am going to leave St. Mary's on April 30, 2009 A.D., the feast of St. Pius V, the great pope of the rosary and the Council of Trent. Prior to that day we celebrate significant saints' feasts. We celebrate St. Catherine of Siena, the illiterate Dominican tertiary who changed history by impressing upon the Holy Father [Pope Gregory XI, see picture at left] to leave Avignon and return to Rome. We also celebrate the feast of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the saint whose spirituality has guided St. Mary's parish life for decades beginning with Msgr. McCaffrey. (Not insignificant is the fact that Bishop Galante was officially installed on the 30th of April, 2004 A.D.)**

All Our Lives May Be Consecrated to and Illuminated by Him

I ask everyone who reads this article to read it prayerfully. Remember: You only have to prayMontfort3.jpg the aspiration: Through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, for Mary--Through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, for Jesus.*** If you pray this prayer and meditate on events at St. Mary's, the Diocese, and throughout your life, you will see the light and not remain in the dark.**** Certain parishioners see this clearly now and continue to see all the events of their lives with the foundation of a spirituality which Servant of God John Paul the Great lived and recommended to all. As he said in his native language: "Niech bedzie pochawalony Jezus Chrystus," which translated means, "Praised be Jesus Christ!"

...Now and Forever,
Fr. Jerome C. Romanowski
Pastor Emeritus

N.B. Remember to be athletic and wholesome!


Editor's Notes

* Please note we are working as vigilantly as ever to save our church through the "Save St. Mary's" organization. The battle is far from over. To get involved or if you'd like to know how you can help save your own parish, please call Kevin: 856-694-2748 or Leah: 856-692-0222.

** What we suspect Father means here is that it is ironic that the bishop's installation anniversary coincides with his "leaving" St. Mary's. We are certain that Fr. Romanowski would have loved the opportunity to stay at St. Mary's, if it were not for the "situation" our Diocese currently faces, what with the current oppressive "Administration." Father remains eager to say the mass, help the laity receive the sacraments, and perform other priestly functions. It is a shame that he and so many other priests are being pressured to retire, become military chaplains outside the diocese, or otherwise go away. With so many priests out of the way, it paves the way for the "lay ministry" programs Galante so wishes to implement that seek to undermine functions traditionally and rightly relegated to holy priests trained and consecrated to perform those functions.

*** This formula has as its origin the spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort.

****John 1:9, "That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world."

Why We Fight

By
St. Marys
on March 2, 2009

Since the Bishop's reconfiguration announcement, I have often wondered why so few parishes have really fought against their pending mergers. I think at least part of the reason is because people do not really understand the degree of harm these mergers will have on the faith of many parishioners. At St. Mary's, we know from our own experience and that contributes, at least in part, to the reason we will never stop fighting to keep our parish open.

St. Mary's history has not always been a pretty one, but it's important to share because it illustrates the magnitude of the impact of this type of "reconfiguration" on the salvation of souls. The information below is not intended as a criticism of the former pastors of St. Mary's, but simply to illustrate this point.

Perpetual Adoration BeginsFrom its establishment as a mission in 1922 until it became a parish in 1961, St. Mary's did not have a resident pastor. A rectory was built when the parish was established and from that point on we have had a resident pastor.

One of our first resident pastors was a very personable German priest, who the parishioners loved very much. The only criticism that I've ever heard about him was that he drank a lot, and this did become a big problem. He installed a full bar in the basement of the rectory and, on weekends, he would go down to the docks in Camden or Philadelphia and bring groups of German sailors back to the rectory for rowdy parties. A friend of mine (and distant cousin) who grew up next door to the church remembers waking up on Saturday mornings to the sight of these sailors passed out on her front lawn. Large sums of money were taken from the St. Mary's bank account to pay for the alcohol and parties. At one point, one of the trustees took the checkbook from the pastor, but he apparently had another checkbook hidden somewhere and continued to spend the parish's money on alcohol.

I've heard stories of him being so drunk at parish functions that he could not even walk, but would have to crawl around on his hands and knees. The final straw, from what I'm told (this all happened before I was born), was when he was so drunk during some important, solemn Mass that he fell over backwards while saying Mass. At that point, a few parishioners complained to the Bishop.
 
The Bishop removed this German priest, and sent in an Irish priest to take his place as pastor. This new priest quickly alienated the entire parish. He made remarks from the pulpit that he "wasn't used to dealing with ignorant farmers," and that he was too educated to associate with the people of Malaga, because only two of St. Mary's parishioners had college degrees at that time.
 
Stained glass donated by...He immediately disbanded all parish organizations, which included a very active St. Theresa's Society, Holy Name Society, and Knights of Columbus. In their place he allowed only the Legion of Mary (an organization of Irish origin). He seemed to dislike Italians, which would have included most St. Mary's parishioners at the time, and all things Italian. He began giving away (or at least trying to give away) the religious items of the church (including the tabernacle), most of which had been donated by parishioners, and replacing them with used items from inner-city Irish churches.
 
Perpetual Adoration BeginsPeople believed he had been sent to St. Mary's by the Chancery as a punishment for having complained about the previous pastor, which everyone thoroughly regretted having done at that point. Everything came to a head when the reforms of Vatican II were implemented and the altar was relocated. This pastor wanted to cut a foot off the width of the marble altar, which the St. Theresa Society had purchased from Italy for more than $5,000 just a few years earlier, so that it would be easier for him to move around behind it. Parishioners sought help from the Bishop, but were told that they were attacking the church and that they were anti-Catholic, etc.  (Basically, the same lines we are hearing today.) Receiving no help from the Bishop and unable to reason with the pastor, one of the women from the St. Theresa Society finally just made the pastor an offer he couldn't refuse.
 
From that point on, he generally backed off, but the damage was already largely done. Disillusioned and feeling betrayed by this pastor, some parishioners left the Catholic Church altogether. Many others remained Catholic, but just quit going to church. Most of these have still not returned - this type of wound does not heal quickly or easily. In fact, the Treasurer of the St. Theresa Society, after it was disbanded, waited for approximately twenty-five years (until this pastor finally retired) before turning the Society's funds over to the church.
 
During the course of those twenty-five or so years, this pastor actually became very fond of St. Mary's and its parishioners. When he finally retired, he bought a house just a few streets down from the church. I remember back in Looking inside St. Mary's Catholic Church1997 or 1998, several years after he had retired as pastor of St. Mary's and shortly before his death, this pastor came back to say a Mass, during which he apologized for "nearly destroying the parish." At the end of the Mass, he knelt in the middle of the doorway and everyone had to touch his head on the way out of church as a sign of forgiveness. It was kind of weird, but I think it was good that he at least understood and tried to make amends for the damage he had done to St. Mary's and its parishioners.
 
The shame of the situation is that this pastor had driven so many people from the Church in the process of trying to "improve" the parish and implement his "vision" of what the parish should be. Yet even the scandal of his alcoholic predecessor did not cause anywhere near the amount of harm that he did by trying to improve the parish. Ironically, he is considered to have been a great priest by many people (mostly outside of St. Mary's) for really developing the Legion of Mary within the Diocese of Camden. While I have a great deal of respect for the Legion of Mary, this positive work that he did could easily have been accomplished without doing so much damage to the parish of St. Mary's.

I feel the same way about the Bishop's plan today. Many things can be done to "improve" the vibrancy of parish life without destroying parishes. Birthdays celebrationIf people lost their faith (at least in the Catholic Church hierarchy, if not altogether) because of the betrayal and marginalization felt when their religious organizations were needlessly suppressed and their religious items, donated by parishioners, were needlessly discarded, how much more so will it be when the parish itself is suppressed and the church itself is needlessly sold off. The previous blog post is just one example of how the faith of parishioners is being affected already.

The worst part is, for parishes like St. Mary's, which have already suffered at the hands of the hierarchy, closing the parish and church will just be the final nail in the coffin for so many of those who already left. The last attachment they have to the Church will be taken from them. No choir, however beautifully they sing, and no ministry, however convenient or useful, will fill that hole. Bishop Galante doesn't have twenty-five years to realize the harm he is doing - he won't have the opportunity to kneel in the back of the churches and ask forgiveness.

Donation BasketDespite St. Mary's difficulties over the years, however, we have persevered. No matter the challenges presented by pastors, obstacles imposed by bishops past and present, or even lack of parishioners' material wealth, St. Mary's remains. In fact, our willingness to fight for our parish, for our Diocese, and for our Faith epitomizes the difference between a weak parish and a strong parish.

My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall encounter various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh endurance (James 1:3).

It has been a blessing to be strengthened by these tests of faith over the years:

Every one shall help his neighbor, and shall say to his brother: Be of good courage. The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved....Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not castIMG_5366 thee away. Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee. (Isais 41:6-10)
It is our belief that this most recent struggle is merely another chapter in the history of St. Mary's. In all of life's struggles we are blessed by God, and we offer our efforts to Christ Crucified, His Majesty, who is our Master. We certainly will not give up now. So we fight on!

From Fr. Romanowski: March 1, 2009

By
St. Marys
on March 1, 2009
Lent

We continue to pray for St. Mary's. We now have a new pastor, Fr. Edward Namiotka.* I have known him for many years. He is a good priest and will become a good shepherd of souls. My part of St. Mary's will not change much as far as the visible devotional and evangelical portions of the parish are concerned.

Our Lord commands that we continue to build the Faith of St. Mary's Shrine Parish. This is God's will. In the future a more visible change will take place a we continue to see the grace of God illumine our parish and diocese. When we face the devil, we must be always on guard against his wickedness, but never forget that Our Lord will bring about the necessary changes despite the apparent obstacles. We must continue to pray and perform penances.

Our dedication to the Holy Mother of God (our true Mother) and to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are unbeatable sources of strength needed in today's battle against the forces of the devil. St. Paul was inspired by God when he wrote to the Ephesians:

Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord and in the might of His power. Put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Ephesians 6:10-12

Fr. Romanowski
Praised be Jesus Christ,
Now and Forever!
Fr. Jerome C. Romanowski, Pastor Emeritus

Reminders:
  • Stations of the Cross each Friday at 7:00 during Lent
  • Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Farima: Don't let it be dormant. Call the rectory of you would like the privilege and blessing of having the pilgrim statue in your home. Our Lady of Fatima, ora pro nobis!
* Editor's Note: Fr. Romanowski's second six-year term as pastor of St. Mary's expired around a month ago. Though officially "retired" or soon-to-be "retired," Fr. Romanowski has elected to remain in residence at St. Mary's Malaga as our beloved spiritual director and pastor emeritus. Fr. Namiotka, as some of you may know, is pastor at Our Lady of the Angels Parish (St. Michaels Minotola and Our Lady of Victories Landisville), as well as President of Sacred Heart High School Vineland. We are blessed to have Fr. Romanowski remaining in residence to tend to the spiritual needs of St. Mary's parishioners. Fr. Romanowski's "situation" is currently being appealed, and Fr. has written multiple times to the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome. May His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI come to our aid here in the Diocese of Camden. Please pray for Fr. Romanowski and His Holiness, the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI. Also please pray for all the priests here in the Diocese of Camden that they may do God's will.

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Why Save St. Mary's?

What's true for OL Queen of Peace, Pitman & Assumption, Wildwood Crest is also true for St. Mary's Malaga:

"The people in Pitman bought that ground and built that church and it belongs to them. You can't just take it away."

-Anthony Mecca, Queen of Peace Parish, Pitman (also on the slate for closure), May 8, 2008

"This is God's house. Let us live here with God as we've done all these years."

-Fred Spiewak, Assumption Parish, Wildwood Crest, June 11, 2008

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Full list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Church Closings

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Confidential Tip Line

We would like to announce our totally confidential tip line, for anyone with information pertaining to St. Mary's or their own parish, dealings with the diocese, etc. Remember, you need not give your name, or you may if you choose to. Contact us by email: info@savestmarys.net or phone: 856-692-0222 (ask for Leah).