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).

Make no mistake about it. St. Mary's parishioners continue to resist the merger and subsequent closure of their church. Why? Because merger is closure and we as a parish have a right to exist and to worship in peace.

Let us be clear: If our "convener" thinks that he is going to merge St. Mary's without significant inconvenience, he is mistaken. We are not like the frog in lukewarm water that is slowly boiled by turning up the heat just a little each time. We are not that stupid.

It has been argued that in order to somehow "prove" that we are all good little Catholics, we must "cooperate" by worshiping at the other churches in our "merger group." Well many St. Mary's parishioners do in fact  worship elsewhere from time to time or even regularly: St. Martin's or St. Anthony's in Hammonton, Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, Sacred Heart or St. Isidore in Vineland, or even Mater Dei Nursing Home to name just a few. We recognize that the Catholic Church is, by definition, universal.

However, the agenda of the convener (and those pressuring him) is to get St. Mary's to merge with other churches and to eventually close. Therefore worshiping at these locations potentially undermines the cause of St. Mary's autonomy and right to existence. This would be nothing less than false unity: a unity at the expense of Truth and Justice, a unity at the expense of the continuation of the Faith, a unity at the expense of the existence of a parish, and a unity that tramples on the God-given right of the Catholic people to worship in a church they built and maintained without incident for over 80 years. This is not unity at all, but instead the unnecessary destruction of unity and of a true community of Faith.

For that reason, if necessary, it would be better to attend any services at any other Catholic church than those in our "merger group" or even to worship privately in the home on days that are not holy days of obligation. Furthermore, if we at St. Mary's have no desire to merge with these other churches, (and as we understand the sentiment is mutual,) we should not be forced to.

We are one Catholic community throughout the world, but that does not mean we should consolidate into fewer and fewer Catholic churches. May God have mercy on those in our diocese responsible for the persecution of the Church. They will one day have to answer for their actions and for the loss of souls that results.

(As a side note, it was stated in St. Mary's bulletin this week that small children should not attend the Easter Vigil. The Easter Vigil Mass, long as it may be, is intended for everyone, even "restless little children." How dare anyone state that a member of the Body of Christ should not be welcome at mass. For shame! How anti-family and anti-life to imply that only certain people are worthy to attend mass. What about those with disabilities or those who have conditions requiring them to move or occasionally make an utterance? Lord have mercy! What are we coming to? The mass is for all people and it is not always necessary to be able to hear a pin drop.)

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...

Those who work against the Church by merging and closing parishes have bound themselves not to the law of god, but to the will of man.

St. Thomas More on following God above all things and resisting unjust and ungodly laws:

I never intend, God being my good Lord, to pin my soul to another man's back, not even the best man that I know this day living: for I know not where he may hap to carry it. There is no man living, of whom while he lives, I may make myself sure. Some may do for favor, and some may do for fear, and so might they carry my soul a wrong way. And some might hap to frame himself a conscience and think that, while he did it for fear, God would forgive it....

But Margaret, first, as for the law of the land, though everyone born in and inhabiting it is bound to keep it in every case under pain of some temporal punishment, and in many cases also under pain of God's displeasure, still no one is bound to swear that every law is well made, or bound under pain of God's displeasure to perform any point of the law that is actually unlawful....

I know well that if they were to make a law to do me any harm, that law could never be lawful, ...and then, as I told you, this is like a riddle, a case in which a man may lose his head and have no harm.... (From Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, pp. 521ff, emphasis added)

No, this is not a joke. Some of you may already be familiar with a dramatic 32-year-old man dressed as and introducing himself as a "bishop," wearing a bright red (almost hot pink) cap and swishy, black cape. He has come to St. Mary's several times now, the most alarming of which was today.

Uninvited, he showed up seemingly out of nowhere and interrupted the CCD children praying the rosary and began speaking. Then he handed out flyers which say at the top, "Joseph Galante is an abortionist." (It's just a sensational headline espousing the following logic: if our Mother is the Church and the parishes are Her children, then that makes Galante an abortionist. Yeah, we get the metaphor.)

We are posting this because we have heard that he has been "making the rounds" elsewhere in the diocese, including St. Gregory's in Magnolia, where he hopes to have a rosary rally. Notably, he plans to have this outside the church in their little prayer garden.

We want it known that we at St. Mary's have nothing to do with this man. Moreover, we do not appreciate his intrusion into our church, interruption of our rosary, and assumption that it was acceptable to speak to our children without our permission.

But just who is this person? He introduces himself as "Bishop Tomas-Martin Bell, OPD" and has listed his address as 19 Willis Street in Penns Grove. (His original name, however, is George Bell.) You may find information about his Dominican order here. Although on his Blogger profile he claims allegiance to our current Holy Father, we must be ever vigilant of associating with sedevacantists (those who deny the legitimacy of the pope) and orders that espouse potentially schismatic views. To the best of our knowledge, George Bell is not a true bishop according to Rome and is not formally associated with any diocese. The #1 page you get when googling him is one which announces him as a speaker at the American Paranormal History Society. This is his myspace page.

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/  

Bishop Galante & Co. must really not like Salem County. The closure rate there is simply unbelievable. When all is said and done there will be almost nothing left of the Catholic Church in the entire county. In this article, we read that Bishop Guilfoyle School in Carneys Point will close in June. Parents who want to send their kids to Catholic school will have to travel to Gloucester County, Cumberland County, or go over the bridge to Delaware, but as we all know, school and church closures are occurring all around us at an unprecedented rate, so enrolling a child in a Catholic school anywhere holds no guarantees. Parents who choose to enroll their child in a nearby regional Catholic school will have a lot of hard thinking to do as to how much "change" they are willing to put their children through. Let's face it, most of these kids are likely to end up in public school, not another Catholic school.

Lingering questions about Catholic school closures & Catholic education:

• What has the Diocese done to ensure proper financial management of these schools?
• What has the Diocese done to help support and assign good administrators to these schools? 
• What has the Diocese done to help provide quality, uncompromising, Catholic education and challenging curricula?
• What has the Diocese done to encourage the influx of teaching religious orders to the Diocese? Why has the Diocese turned away orders that have offered to come here?
• What has the Diocese done to help re-think making Catholic education truly affordable to parents? (Even in the past sixteen years or so, the tuition at my Catholic high school has roughly tripled.)
  
• How has the Diocese provided support to the new generation of Catholic home educators, those who have been either priced out of Catholic education and dissatisfied with the quality of some Catholic schools?
• Has the Diocese actually spoken to families and teachers at these schools or has it just decided to abandon them, sight unseen?
  

Read article by clicking HERE.

Snip:

By Phil Dunn, pdunn@sjnewsco.com

CARNEYS POINT TWP. -- Bishop Guilfoyle Regional Catholic School here will close its doors at the end of this school year, bringing an end to Catholic school education in Salem County.

The imminent closure was announced to parents of students via an e-mail from the Georgetown Road school's principal.

The school, operated by the Diocese of Camden, joins a growing list of Catholic schools in South Jersey to be shuttered.

"Declining enrollment in our schools, rising deficits and heavy burdens on the sponsoring parishes," have been cited as reasons Bishop Guilfoyle will close, according to the letter parents received.

The letter says the population of the area the school serves has declined 30 percent over the past 50 years, a situation that "has contributed to a marked decline in enrollment from our peak of 373 students in 2001-2002 to just 111 this year."

The school teaches students from pre-kindergarden through eighth grade.

Diane Sparks, a resident of Pennsville, has two girls enrolled at Bishop Guilfoyle. She has also been a marketing volunteer for the past five years at the school.

"We've talked to several families that came to the open house and they were interested in Bishop Guilfoyle," said Sparks. "Other families that had left last year were also considering coming back to enroll their children."

Catholic schools have long been favored by Catholic families and non-Catholics who believed the education their children would receive would be superior to public schools. But with the closing of the schools parents are now forced to return their children to the public school system or travel a longer distances for Catholic schooling.

"That is the most upsetting thing," said Sparks on Wednesday. "I don't want to bus my child 50 minutes away to a Catholic school in Gloucester County. It's just not reasonable."

This severe under-enrollment has resulted in a reduction of tuition income, thereby placing upward pressure on tuition rates, which, in turn, has made it difficult to increase enrollment, especially during difficult economic times.

This has resulted in rising deficits, which will be nearly $400,000 this year, the Diocese says.

Right now at Bishop Guilfoyle parents are paying tuition rates of $3,600 for the first child enrolled and $2,800 for the second child, said Sparks.

If parents choose to transfer their children to another Catholic school, the Diocese of Camden will be offering $1,000 vouchers to help reduce tuition costs at a new school.

"We are exploring the possibility of having the tuition reimbursement honored at area Catholic schools outside of the Camden Diocese as well," said Andrew Walton, spokesman for the Diocese.

Jennifer Jones, whose daughter is enrolled at Bishop Guilfoyle feels the Diocese did not look deep enough for a solution to declining enrollment.

"I'm devastated and I'm not sure they did everything they could to keep Catholic education in Salem County," said Jones who serves as executive director of the Salem County Chamber of Commerce. "It seems to me there are a number of smaller buildings in the county that could of been optioned to keep the school open."

Walton directed those parents who wish to voice their concern about the closing to the school administration.

"I think that if parents have a particular concern they should certainly surface those concerns to the leadership of the school," said Walton. "If the school administration and sponsoring parishes believe the bishop doesn't have the information he needs, they will forward it to the Diocese for review."

As for the school's staff, the letter parents received said the Diocese would help place as many teachers from Bishop Guilfoyle as possible in other Catholic schools and for those it can't, it would offer "an assistance package" during their transition to other employment.

The fate of the building itself is unclear.

Some parent were taken aback by the sudden decision to close the doors of the last Catholic school in Salem County.

"Most of the talk going on at board meetings was the consolidation of Bishop Guilfoyle and Guardian Angels (Catholic school) in Paulsboro," said Bishop Guilfoyle PTA President Tom Hassler. "So it caught me off guard."

Hassler said they were looking to consolidate the school under a new name and use the Bishop Guilfoyle location.

Those not wanted to travel to Gloucester or Cumberland County have been looking to schools in the Wilmington Diocese in neighboring Delaware.

"From what I heard, schools in New Castle and Wilmington will apparently welcome us with open arms," said Hassler. "They are willing to work with us to provide some type of transportation, too."

Hassler also believes the Wilmington Diocese has a more educational sound system in place.

"The Wilmington Diocese is pro education," said Hassler. "Wilmington gets the school up and running before they add a church."

Bishop Guilfoyle's closing is the second major blow to Catholic education in the county in the past decade. It's been about 10 years since the Diocese closed St. James High School (which was located in the building now used by Bishop Guilfoyle) and St. Mary Regional School in Salem and St. James Elementary School in Penns Grove.

 The students from the two elementary schools, along with another Catholic elementary school in Gloucester County, were transferred to Bishop Guilfoyle.

The news of the school's closing comes at the same time the Diocese of Camden is consolidating neighborhood parishes in Salem County. That action has left many Catholics unhappy.

The Diocese of Camden, Hassler said, has written off Salem County.

"They are going to lose a whole new generation of Catholics," said Hassler. "It's spiraling down more than it already was."

Snip:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read this article about Diocese of Peoria

Dear Committee to Save St. Mary's Malaga,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,
(We have withheld his name.)

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

Andy Walton, Diocesan spinmaster (spokesman), was quoted in the CP article we linked to yesterday as saying, "the [law] suit was premature because 'no (merger) decree has been issued and there's been no alteration of the parish.'" Well that's an interesting perspective, isn't it? Using this logic, all "core team" meetings and other plans to close, consolidate, and otherwise alter parishes and churches are also premature. Of course, if a decree had been issued, they would argue that if a complaint was to have been registered it should have been raised before the decree was issued. Let's face it. Any parish who sees the writing on the wall needs to act quickly and proactively, not after the ink is dry and the wrecking machines are in place. When wrong is being done, we are obliged to speak out about it. Using Divine law as a guide, all plans to destroy God's churches and, as the current Diocesan administration intends to do, change the Catholic Faith to resemble evangelical protestantism, are always premature since they are entirely unwarranted and wrong. But it doesn't appear the Diocese is using Divine law as its guide, but instead corporate law, or something equally ungodly.

Across the diocese the theme of the week directed towards all those opposed to the bishop's closure plans has been to accuse them of being "divisive." Word for word, in at least three different geographically disparate parishes now, the phrase has been "tear[ing] the church apart." Apparently these conveners must've all got the same memo. (This memo must've been close on the heels of the "if you want your church to remain open you aren't charitable" memo.)

Charity as defined by the Church, is not equivalent to niceness.

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?

• Is closing half the churches in the diocese "scandal?"

• Would erecting in their place quasi-catholic megachurches be "scandal?"

• Are corruption, greed, and lies from positions of authority within the Church "scandal?"

• Is needlessly causing one's church to be difficult to get to physically, logistically, or psychologically, "scandal?"

• Is closing a holy place "scandal?"

• Is seeking personal political gain by climbing the "corporate" ecclesiastical ladder at the expense of the faithful one is charged to protect, "scandal?"

• Is showing a complete indifference for the loss of souls, "scandal?"
  

• Is directly causing a decline in Catholic faith and practice, "scandal?"

• Is sending away priests by the dozen, discouraging seminarians, and then claiming priest shortage, "scandal?"

• Is saying nothing in the face of wrong, "scandal?"
  

• Most importantly, is watering down the Catholic Faith and claiming churches are "just buildings," just "bricks and mortar, wood and nails," "scandal?"

Here is what the Church says. From the Catechism #2285-2287:

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his  neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obligated to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible."* This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, or manipulators of public opinion who turn away from moral values.

Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!"

*Pope Pius XII, 1941

• Because a church is a sacred, consecrated space. Churches are permanently consecrated. The one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church has always taught this, continues to teach this, and it has been a major point of difference and contention between protestants and Catholics. While mass can be held anywhere, ideally it should not be held just anywhere. That is why Catholics have churches. God deserves reverence and this is why a beautiful and lovingly created church is best suited to His worship in the highest form of prayer, the holy sacrifice of the mass.*

• Because we love our little community. For goodness sakes, that is reason enough! If "the Church is the people," as is the popular sentiment these days, then it does matter that when I look around the church, I know the people around me. It does matter that I can notice someone has been absent awhile and I can check on them to see if they are ok. If one has not been a member of a true and united community of Faith like this, it may be hard to understand why that community is such a treasure. This treasure should not be needlessly destroyed.

• Because small is wonderful!

• Because with the loss of churches come the loss of souls who are not as strong in the Faith or who are disillusioned by the corruption around them. These souls matter to Our Lord and should not be written off as unimportant. We need to try to help them and strengthen them in the Faith. We can only do that if our doors are open and if the churches they know, love, and are familiar with are still there. Because of this, when we close our church's doors, we often close off the last possibility that a soul will return to Holy Mother Church. Those who have already left the Church--and they are many--are no longer around to tell their stories.
  

• Because in struggling to hold on to our parish, we are hope and strength and justice to others who are not strong enough to speak up. We have been confirmed in this countless times.
  

• Because in the case of St. Mary's, we are truly an "intergenerational" community, which is something the Diocese sorely wants churches to try to be and is trying to implement in its "lifelong faith formation" program. We already are, so why destroy it only to try to rebuild something that approximates it?

• Because while we are happy to do things with others, a parish has a right to existence as stipulated by canon law. Wanting one's parish to remain as it is does not make one an "isolationist." It makes one content.

• Because our forefathers and mothers worked hard and sacrificed to give us the great gift of St. Mary's and we do not take this gift for granted.

• Because the church belongs to the people of the parish. They built and maintain it and it belongs to them.

• Because St. Mary's has been financially solvent and debt-free since 1922 and there is no reason it cannot continue to be. St. Mary's parishioners have always been very generous in donating, fundraising, and contributing their time and efforts to directly maintaining the parish. This is part of our culture.
  

• Because we are obligated, by virtue of our baptism and confirmation, to defend the church from error and attack, both from within and without. See Pope St. Pius X's encyclical against the modernists for more on this. It is not just St. Mary's and other churches that are under attack here, but the Faith itself. Purporting that our churches are "just buildings" is example enough. Look at the bishop's job positions, which include audio visual technicians whose job is to install and maintain screens and sound systems, as well as the inclusion of rock bands during mass. Visit any number of "modern" catholic churches which have had their tabernacles removed from a place of prominence on the altar. Look at how many times Bishop Galante has held up Gloucester County Community Church, an evangelical protestant church, as an example to be striven towards. We could go on. Which leads to the following point...

• Because we want to remain Catholic, and that includes holding on to our traditional churches.  

• Because St. Mary's has had and continues to have wonderful devotions available to all, including Eucharistic Adoration from Wed. morning through Friday evening every week. This is something not found at every parish.

• Because our CCD program is small, personal, affordable, our kids love it, and it is worth saving.

• Because we should not have to defend our right to exist, and no parish should.

• Because there has never been a saint who became holy by closing churches, only saints who became holy by erecting them.

• Because many priests, bishops, and even popes have been wrong in the history of the Church. We have an obligation to defend Her. Many saints have been redeemed in time. Saints Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Thomas More, and John Fisher (the only bishop to defend the Faith against evil Henry VIII), ora pro nobis!

• Because keeping open or closing a parish is not a "managerial" decision. Our Church is not a corporation and should not be run like one.
  

• Because we must obey Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church first and foremost, not men.
  

* We have written extensively on this in the past so we will not include references and links here. If you would like them, search our site or the Catholic Encyclopedia online (newadvent.com). You may also refer to the Catechism of John Paul II, the Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, the Baltimore Catechism, canon law, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, countless papal encyclicals, and on and on. That the church is "just a building" is a protestant view, not a Catholic one. Now this heterodox view is expediently and shamefully used by the very men charged with defending our Faith and our churches and because they are in positions of authority, people trust them, listen, and believe them.

This was sent from an anonymous reader. We get lots of email since we are so prominent in the struggle to save our church.

Do not be misled: These mergers (closures) are not going well and people are not happy about them. Even at Diocesan sponsored events, we have heard widespread discontent, and this is among those who are sticking with "the program"...for now.

People are leaving their churches in droves, and in some case they are so disgusted they are leaving The Church. Why? They are appalled. They are disillusioned. Their Faith as been shaken, and who can blame them? If your answer is, "who cares?" let us enlighten you. You should care if for no other reason than that they are taking their wallets with them.

But money or no money, downsizing the Church does not strengthen the Church. Among Christ's words were not, "Go, therefore, and consolidate." No, he said this: Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28:19

We ought to care of souls are being led astray! As this reader and so many others have expressed, what is happening is evil. If we are children of God by our Baptism and soldiers of Christ by our Confirmation, we cannot support that which is evil. We are called to resist it.

Email follows:

As of today, 1/13/10, St. John Vianney has ceased to exist as a Catholic parish. It feels as if there's been a death, it's heart rending and gut wrenching. I can hardly believe any of this has happened, the destruction of the Catholic Church in the Camden Diocese.

The wonderful ex-pastor of St. John Vianney will now be doing non-pastoral work, along with many other good priests from the diocese. If there's a priest shortage, why on earth have there been so many assignments to work other than pastoral work?

I cannot understand how people do not see this is evil work being done? Is this diocese blind? Is Rome blind? It seems there is a systematic destruction of the Catholic churches schools, orchestrated by the current leadership--the thing is, I cannot figure out why? It has to be more than power. It has to be more than believing their left-of-center ways are "best"? It is nothing but pure, unadulterated evil.
.....
...this bishop has no mercy and no compassion, and I think he'll do anything he can
to close every single remotely-traditional parish in this diocese.

Your response to the Wildwood Catholic fiasco has been incredible. Here is the response of just one of our readers:

"If Catholic high school enrollments are the sole criteria in determining which high school is closed, then look whose high school is next."

Paul VI High School, Haddonfield -- 1,192

Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill -- 844

Gloucester Catholic High School, Gloucester City -- 729

Holy Spirit High School, Absecon -- 749

Sacred Heart High School, Vineland -- 289

Saint Joseph High School, Hammonton -- 417

Wildwood Catholic High School, North Wildwood --194

What does the reader mean? Sacred Heart High School, with the next lowest enrollment according to the Diocese/Catholic Star Herald, is the school at which Fr. Edward Namiotka, St. Mary's current pastor, has been president of for some time. As a side note, this is my (Julie's) mother's alma mater, a school my family supported and helped to found.

In saying this I personally am not claiming that Catholic schools do not need improvement. It is my sense that they do. However Bishop Galante has chosen, rather than attempting to improve these schools, to instead abandon them and, by extension, their students and teachers, alumni and communities. Let's face it. It's easier to just close a school than it is to wrestle with real problems, to pray for God's guidance, and to seek and implement real solutions.

In closing smaller, community schools, is low enrollment intended to be a reflection on administrative flubs, reflective of intentional sabotage (as has been stated by some in the case of Wildwood), or is Galante's real agenda to simply bus all Catholic high school kids in South Jersey, no matter the distance, to his proposed megaschool in Gloucester County? Maybe he just likes everything to be big.

Link to the Catholic Star Herald Stats above

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

Read Press of AC Article Here or scroll down