This is a continuation from Parts I & II.

An outcome of so much of the Vatican II fallout, says Davies, is that mass is no longer an experience of peaceful reverence for many Catholics, but instead "going to Mass has become a misery for them, they come away disturbed and distressed." For many it is a chore rather than a joy. Naturally many of us have witnessed this fact. Still worse, many thinking Catholics find themselves in situations in which they "quite reasonably wonder whether the sacraments they are receiving are valid." In retrospect, I wonder the same thing about some places I have visited.

Davies believes that we are living through a period in Catholic history not dissimilar to the time of St. Athanasius in which heresy--in our age, modernism--is rampant. Even the age old mass, now known as the Tridentine mass, was unjustly outlawed until our current pope, the Lord bless him, corrected and clarified this error in his Motu Proprio only a few years ago. And so we find ourselves at a crossroads in American Catholic history, a time in which tradition is roundly and summarily dismsissed, our "church buildings" not far behind.

Never before in the entire history of the Church has there been such an abrupt and violent breach with Tradition and established custom. We can say with St. Thomas: "It is absurd and a detestable shame that we should suffer those traditions to be changed which we have received from the fathers of old."

I believe that the forcible closing of our churches in favor of what can be reasonably looked upon as "the new church" both physically and spiritually may fall under the heading of "an absurd and detestable shame." The very structure of a traditional Catholic church is under attack. In a "traditional" Catholic church we all face forward, not in a circle or semi-circle so that we may stare at our "community" during "the liturgy" (even the term, "mass" is apparently, by many, considered a relic of the past). We have kneelers, holy water fonts, stations of the cross, and, typically, stained glass and other art that educates and illuminates the faithful, as well as many other things. Perhaps most importantly, the tabernacle containing Our Lord's precious body is front and center, where it should be, for the purpose of proper dignity and worship!

In the case of St. Mary's, we are also blessed with an altar rail which clearly delineates the space where the Holy Sacrifice takes place. In addition, the choir loft an organ are in the rear of church, where they belong. In a traditional Catholic church, the mass is not a show, therefore we need not see the musicians. The music is meant to elevate our souls to God, who comes to us body, blood, soul, and divinity via the priest who stands in persona christi.

To be continued in Part IV.

We thought it 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 has 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).

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. Naab 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. It'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.

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

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

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


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


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


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


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

Says the Catholic Church of England and Wales:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to read article

Determined priest provides place for parishioners after Hurricane Katrina

by Sheila Stroup, The Times-Picayune

Sunday August 30, 2009, 5:00 AM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . . . . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . . . . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I received my most recent Coming Home Network International newsletter yesterday. In it, evangelical convert Keith Moore describes his journey into the Catholic Church. A combination of largely unchurched, Methodist, "nondenominational," and house church in background, he describes his first experience inside a Catholic church. He was visiting Washington state and attended mass at St. Aloysius, near Gonzaga University.

I will never forget walking into that beautiful Cathedral. I had never seen the Stations of the Cross. I had never seen such amazing stained glass windows, not just for their beauty, but for the stories they told of God's work in our lives. The statues were amazing...they suddenly seemed to me very important because of what they pointed to. I was almost trembling by the time we left that day.

St. Aloysius was built in 1911. How many "new" or modern Catholic churches have you seen that contain purposeful, beautiful, and inspiring art? I myself have seen almost none. That's not to say that it cannot be done, but that it usually is not.

What we have already in existence in the Diocese of Camden are churches that already have these things. St. Mary's, though small, has these things. It is not just a building, it is truly a house of God. It is through sacred art and the structure of a traditional Catholic church that we learn about the Faith. In and of itself, by virtue of its presence, it is a means of evangelization.

Beautiful churches draws in those who who know little about Catholicism, often without them even realizing why. In attempting to make our churches, and therefore our Faith palatable to those currently outside it, many have tried to lower the bar and create "spaces" that are less overtly Catholic and consequently less intimidating to those who do not understand the purpose of beautiful art inside a house of God. But in doing this we lose the very thing that makes our Church attractive to those who seek to join It. Our traditional Catholic churches are treasures that not only have historic merit, but serve an important purpose in our continual conversion.

When I am at mass at St. Mary's, I see all around me in the stained glass windows the saints who are interceding for us in Heaven, the angels who are witnesses at each and every holy sacrifice of the mass, and I am reminded of my place in God's order. Churches like St. Mary's should not be so flippantly dispensed with. They are God's silent tools of conversion.

Tonight I went to a farmer's market with my kids, my sister, and nieces. I just happened to be wearing my St. Mary's Malaga t-shirt (as seen on left). While checking out some of the great things one of the women at the market was selling, she asked me,

"Is your church one of the ones slated to close?"

I was taken by surprise because I forgot that I was wearing my St. Mary's t-shirt.

I replied, "Yeah, but not if we can help it."

She said, "Good for you!" and continued to express her general disapproval of everything that was going on in the Diocese. She said, "I'm just lucky that my church is not one of the ones he wants to close. They built a new one. It's ultra-modern on the inside and I'm not sure I like it."

I said, "That's why we love our church. People really sacrificed to build it. It's old and traditional, dating from 1922, it's got beautiful stained glass windows, and it's just gorgeous."

She said, "I hope they don't close your church."

I said, "We're fighting, and we'll take it all the way to Rome if we have to."

She nodded enthusiastically in agreement and said, "Yes! That's what you should do. It's not right."

We talked a little more before browsing more around the market. The woman was very nice, but she seemed a little depressed about the way things were headed in the Diocese, and what they'd done with her parish. My impression is that, for a lot of Catholics in the Diocese, churches like St. Mary's mean a lot to them, even if they aren't members there. They represent Catholicism as they know it. (Which is probably part of why we are being persecuted in favor of a "new catholicism.") Even to visit a church like St. Mary's helps them feel closer to God. I guess some of the larger, more sterile, "theater-in-the-round" churches (see below) just don't do the trick, so to speak, but it's what they've got.

As I said, I've had conversations almost identical to this any number of times. Not once have I heard someone say, "Well the bishop's probably got good reasons," or "Your church is too small anyway," or "There's a priest shortage you know," or anything like that.

A couple weeks ago a man who helps run a local pool where I took my son to swimming lessons found out I went to St. Mary's. He told me how much he loves that church, even though he's not a member there, and that I could return to the pool anytime I wanted, even though I'm not a member, just because he holds the church in such high regard.

A little over a year ago I visited a South Jersey historian who happened to be a Methodist. She said, "Well I'm not a Catholic, but there's just something special about St. Mary's. You can feel it when you walk in the door."

Without exception we have experienced popular support and, frankly, disgust over the bishop's intention to close our church and other churches. Most frequently, people disapprove of what they see as a discrepancy between church closures and diocesan real estate holdings, scandals, and, well, as one man put it to me the other week, "corruption and hypocrisy in the Church." Take the pulse of the people of the Diocese of Camden and the people on the street, and I think you'll find they are jaded to say the least. Evidently what people respond to are not grand "restructuring" schemes in which their churches are stolen from them, but bishops who obviously live the Gospel and love Jesus, who show that they really care about those entrusted to them, who are honest, and who are not politically involved. People are not stupid. They see right through all these things.

The point is, if these are the sentiments we are hearing expressed from people whose churches are not expected to close, and in many cases the sentiments expressed by non-Catholics or nominal Catholics, can you imagine what people think of the plan whose churches are in a limbo state (a la "secondary worship site," a status which supposedly no longer exists) or whose churches are supposed to get the ax? Maybe it's time for some more "listening sessions," huh?

Read the Article by Clicking HERE
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Ms. Thomasello showed me a copy of the newspaper article and relayed to me the group's interest not in changing anything at the church or shrine, but in finding out what it once looked like and helping to fix it up. Many in this group have contributed plants, stonework, and a heck of a lot of labor. All this they gave from their own time and effort without any expectation of repayment, just because they wanted to. Strangely, they have encountered much resistence to their efforts from the pastor, Rev. Pham. In their attempts to win his heart, they purchased from their own pockets a lovely statue of St. Bernadette, now the center of this seemingly ridiculous controversy, and had it sent to the rectory as a gift. Of course this strikes us as really odd since people donate things to St. Mary's all the time, eveything from stained glass windows to handywork to statues in the rosary garden to plants to small statues placed around the church. Our shrine room is bursting at the seems with beautiful statues, pictures, and relics of the saints.

Of course, Andy Walton has to chime in with a typically bizarre comment or two. "There's no history of that," (meaning no history of the shrine being dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes) as if he would have any familiarity with the histor of this parish anyway. (The man lives in Pennsylvania.) But isn't this beside the point? Whatever happened to courtesy? Why alienate the Catholic faithful by rejecting the gift of their time, talents, and gifts?

One has to wonder if the group of people involved were wealthy and influential, the Diocese would look quite differently upon them. With all this talk about wanting to transform the Diocese of Camden's churches into places that throb with "social justice ministries," it seems particularly ironic that they would allow a group of disaffected people to be treated so rudely. And all this talk about trying to win back lapsed Catholics, you would think a thing like this would warm the hearts of the Galante administration. Huh. Guess not.

Mr. Walton concludes with, "It's not her shrine." That's interesting. In my conversation with Thomasello she was mystified by the implication that she believed the shrine belonged to her. However it struck us that if in this "process" of "transforming" the Diocese was to be influenced by the "voice of the people," (which nobody I know truly believes,) then whose churches are they? Whose shrines are they? In the end, they ought to belong to the people who care for them, pray at them, and love them.

But of course, all this talk has nothing to do with politics or property value...


Article below:
 

By JULIET FLETCHER Staff Writer, 609-272-7251 | Posted: Monday, May 11, 2009 12:25 am

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

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

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

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



Created with flickr slideshow.

"Vibrancy," as Bishop Galante defines it (a large number of paid professional lay ministers in each parish), apparently comes at a price that is simply too high to be sustained.  You may remember when Bishop Galante referred to St. John the Evangelist Church in Naples, Florida as a model for the parish vibrancy he seeks here in the Diocese of Camden.

Quoting from the Philadelphia Inquirer article, which is quoting Bishop Galante:

And all he [Bishop Galante's brother] talks about is how vibrant the local parish is: the people going to Mass, the wonderful preaching, concerts with sacred music and popular music.

The vitality and community his brother has found in Florida are what he hopes South Jersey Catholics will one day encounter in the 66 parishes that will remain.

Now, Naples is a very wealthy area.  Half of the American Fortune 500 CEOs live in Naples, FL.  And this is a huge parish, with 5,200 registered families as of last October (before a downward revision to 3,200 families by removing inactive parishioners).  And yet this vibrant parish, whose bulletin that reads like a magazine so impressed Bishop Galante, is finding this level of paid, professional lay ministry unsustainable.

St. John the Evangelist had a whopping $229,000 deficit for Quarter 1 of this past year (07/01/08 - 09/30/08).  Click here for link to bulletin with minutes for the Pastoral Council Quarterly Board Meeting.  Their March 8, 2009 bulletin showed a year-to-date income of more than $1,175,000 (in just over 9 months), but it also revealed that this was insufficient to support their paid staff: 

Consequently, four administrative support positions have been reduced into two.  We have also had to let go of one full time and two part time members of our maintenance staff.

We are sorry for those who lost their positions, especially in the difficult economy we are facing, but there is an important lesson in this.  Most of our new "mega-parishes" will be less than half the size of this church and our parishioners are certainly much less affluent, on the whole, than those from Naples, FL.  So, if St. John the Evangelist, with all its size and wealth, cannot afford the "vibrancy" desired by Bishop Galante, how can we, especially with all of the ill-will created by these mergers?

As a side note, we are glad to hear that the local bishop has requested St. John the Evangelist church install kneelers. ("[A]t St. John's we stand in joy rather than kneel in fear.")  We are also pleased to hear that they are no longer allowing VOTF to have their annual Mass at St. John the Evangelist.  Now, if they only move their tabernacle from its current location ("in the back of the church on the left side") to front and center and fix a few other problems related to their "understanding" of the Real Presence, they might be OK, despite their financial crisis!

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.

From 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.
 
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.
 
People 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 1997 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. If 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.

Despite 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 cast 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!

The late John Updike wrote this:

There was a time when I wondered why more people did not go to church. Taken purely as a human recreation, what could be more delightful, more unexpected, than to enter a venerable and lavishly scaled building kept warm and clean for use one or two hours a week. And to sit and stand in unison and sing and recite creeds and petitions that are like paths warn smooth in the raw terrain of our hearts. To listen or not listen as a poorly paid but resplendently robed man strives to console us with scraps of ancient epistles and halting accounts hopelessly compromised by words of those intimations of divine joy that are like pain in that the instant they're gone the mind cannot remember or believe them. To witness the windows donated by departed patrons and the altar flowers arranged by withdrawn hands, and the whole considered spectacle lustrous beneath its patina of inheritance. To pay for all this no more than we are moved to give, surely in all democracy there is nothing like it. Indeed it's the most available democratic experience. We vote less than once a year. Only in church and at the polls are we actually given our supposed value, our arithmetic of equality, one equals one.

I thought there was something beautiful about this description of what a church experience meant to one important American writer and I wanted to share it with you. (Of course, St. Mary's is open every day of the week...)

Not so long ago, we were informed that the St. Padre Pio Shrine over in Landisville, which is a shrine erected on family property as an act of devotion by private citizens and not by the diocese, was turned over to the Diocese of Camden.


We do not have the details of the transaction, but have been aware for some time that Bishop Galante and Company have been after this property for awhile.


View Larger Map

As many of you are probably aware, lay Catholics have been erecting shrines, altars, and even chapels on their farms, in their homes, in their yards, on roadways, and elsewhere as long as the Catholic Church has existed. These private devotional areas have not typically been under the purview of the Church. This is nothing new. (link, link, link, link, great link)

Continuing in this ancient tradition, we could walk or drive down a residential street in just about any town in America and find statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Jude, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, heavenly angels, you name it.


In the case of my own neighbors, they have a shrine on a small hill in honor of St. Jude. This little shrine in their backyard was erected in thanksgiving. When the mother (and family matriarch) got sick with cancer, one of her daughters prayed for the intercession of St. Jude, saint of hopeless causes, in the hope of a cure. When the mother got well, seemingly miraculously, the daughter kept her promise to St. Jude that she would erect a shrine to his honor.


Here's another interesting little story about this family. The same daughter, whose first name is Rita, was thus named in thanksgiving to St. Rita. While fighting in World War II, her father was saved from gunshot by crouching behind a statue of St. Rita. He promised that if ever he had a daughter, she would have the honor of receiving this saint's blessed name.

When we thought of privately constructed shrines, strangely enough, what came to our minds was the "Chapel of Peace" located in Storybook Land in EHT. You may remember the 18 by 20 foot "Chapel of Peace" there and never gave it a second thought.
 

It was originally located in Vineland. It was built on private property (a farm) in 1885 by eighteen-year-old Andrew Cresci as a gift to his parents. It has a pipe organ inside, lovely stained glass windows, and mass was said there regularly.


According to the posted history, this chapel was never diocesan property. Eventually the chapel, along with a couple other small, historical buildings, was relocated to Storybook Land.
 

Undoubtedly many of you are familiar with other shrines and chapels whose stories are similar.

The point is, why is it that because a layperson or group of laypersons erects a shrine on private property, our current bishop feels that he has the right to it? Are all things Catholic now subject to "eminent domain?" Look out if your property is in a particularly desirable area. Worse still if he sees it as prime territory for one of his Quatholic McMegaChurches.

A question remains in our minds: If the elderly woman who helped build the Padre Pio Shrine had instead decided to open a pizza place, would Bishop Galante and Company have felt as easy approaching her for the "donation" of her property? Probably not.

Given the abundance of real estate wheelings and dealings and corporate ventures in which the Diocese of Camden has gotten itself involved, it seems that Galante and Company are now in the business of gobbling up not only churches but also private property to which they believe they have a right. This increasing corporatization of the Church leaves us with a very uneasy feeling. We are to be the Pilgrim Church on Earth, in the world and not of it. But perhaps those sentiments need only apply to the laity.

The Example of the Holy Family


The Holy Family suffered during the painful trip to Bethlehem. They are the example to us of what it means to be a follower of Our Lord. Yes! Having the Lord of Lords within her Virginal Body enables the Pure Mother of God to sustain the perilous trip mandated by Caesar Augustus. We are sustained on our perilous journey of life by the Divine Son of God. Only with the ongoing assistance which is really his Grace enabling us to be one with Him are we able to fully enjoy the life on earth that leads to Heaven.

St. Joseph is such a model of faithful living. Despite his poverty he was able to fulfill his vocation as the foster father of the Christ Child. We can learn from his humble, holy obedience to God's will what it takes to traverse the journey that leads to eternal life with God.

God Created the Perfect Mother for His Human and Divine Son

Emmanuel means God is with us. When we appreciate His Presence in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we can fully see the blessings that come from our celebration of Christmas. God is with us giving us the Son of God in the body of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Faustina tells us of the incomparable beauty of Jesus' Mother. Jesus is dependent on human care just as later He will be subject to human cruelty.

We Celebrate the Coming of Emmanuel Every Day


Deepen your devotion to the Blessed Mother by the recitation of the Rosary. Allow those sublime mysteries to be in your hearts, souls, and spirits so that you can continue to conquer the wiles of the devil.


Worship God just as the shepherds did. They stopped everything because the Lord of Life, the Truth Himself, had come into the world. Similarly, we must recognize in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the Truth, and this Truth illuminates everything in our lives. Yes! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The innocent Babe who attracts us by His humanity becomes real to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That Reality enables all of us to live in His Grace, to attain holiness on earth, and ultimately to obtain salvation in eternity.

Praised Be Jesus Christ,
Now and Forever!
Father Jerome Charles Romanowski, Pastor

Wonder what will happen to the beautiful stained glass windows in your church if the closures go through?  Check out this article from the Republican Herald.

"The Diocese of Allentown is using the Internet to sell the stained-glass windows from the former Immaculate Conception Church in Kelayres and the former St. Bertha Church in Tuscarora.

Matt Kerr, director of communications for the Diocese of Allentown, confirmed Wednesday the diocese is "organizing" the sale of the windows, but will not get the money from the windows' sale.

"The diocese posted the windows for sale on the Internet 10 days or two weeks ago," Kerr said. "Proceeds from the sale will go to the succeeding parish."

Funny how the Diocese is always quick to point out that they have nothing to gain by these church closures, yet they seem to have their hand in everything.  I want to know if the parish owns the property, not the diocese, then why does the parish have no say whatsoever in whether the church is closed.  Sounds to me like selective ownership.  If a diocese is being sued, they own and control nothing.  If convenient for the diocese, they make decisions about the very existance of such parishes and their right to continue without any concern for the parishioners. 

Anyway, if you are interested in purchasing stained glass windows or just curious to know how much those stained glass windows are worth, you can check them out here.  Here's a cute little window you can buy for $2,135, complete with the inscription "In Loving Memory of Corporal Paul Kuhn." 

Makes you think twice about making donations in memory of loved ones, doesn't it?  I can only imagine what the windows at a church like Sacred Heart in Vineland are worth!

On the brighter side, we are hearing all sorts of rumors about change that may be coming our way.  At this point, none are confirmed, but it seems promising, so keep up the prayer and hard work.  Let's be like that persistent friend from Luke 11:5-13:

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,' and he says in reply from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.' I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

After all, if we aren't willing to stand up and fight for our churches and parishes, maybe we don't deserve them. 

 

Bishop Galante has defined the Diocese's pastoral priorities as lifelong faith formation, compassionate outreach, liturgy, youth and young adult, and priestly vocations.  (Clearly, however, judging by the plans and actions taken, the overwhelming "priority" is the closure of churches in order to finance the implementation of a massive paid lay ministry program.)  Compare these "pastoral priorities" and the entire planning process with the following excerpt on pastoral priorities and pastoral renewal from The Priest - Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community, published by the Congregation for the Clergy in 2002:

"Novo Millennio inuente sets seven pastoral priorities: holiness, prayer, the Sunday celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Penance, the primacy of grace, and listening to and proclaiming the Word. These priorities became particularly clear from the experience of the Great Jubilee. Not only do they offer parish priests but, all priests engaged in the cura animarum, the content and substance of the pastoral questions on which they should carefully meditate. They also provide a synthesis of the spirit with which the renewal of pastoral work should be approached."

It goes on to explain further:

"A truly pastoral promotion of the holiness of our parish communities implies an authentic pedagogy on prayer, a renewed, persuasive and effective catechesis on the importance of the Sunday and daily celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist, on community and personal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, on the frequent and individual practice of the Sacrament of Penance, on spiritual direction, on marian devotion, on the imitation of the Saints, as well as on a renewed apostolic commitment to live the daily duties of the community and of individuals, proper pastoral care of the family, and on a consistent political and social engagement.

This pastoral renewal will not be possible unless inspired, sustained and activated by priests imbued by this same spirit. "The faithful draw great encouragement from the example and witness of the priest. They can rediscover the parish as a 'school' of prayer in which encounter with Jesus Christ is not merely expressed in implorations for assistance but also in acts of thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, prayerful listening, ardour of affection, to the point of truly loving him". "It is fatal to forget that 'without Christ we can do nothing' (cf. Jn 15:5). It is prayer which roots us in this truth. It constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness. When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration? We then share the experience of the disciples in the Gospel story of the miraculous catch of fish: 'We have toiled all night and caught nothing' (Lk 5:5). This is the moment of faith, of prayer, of conversation with God, in order to open our hearts to the tide of grace and allow the word of Christ to pass through us in all its power: Duc in altum! ".

A good laity is scarcely possible without truly holy priests. Without them everything is dead - just as it is almost impossible to have a blossoming of vocations without Christian families which are domestic churches. It is therefore erroneous to emphasize the laity if this entails overlooking the ordained ministry. Such error ends by penalizing the laity and frustrating the entire mission of the Church.

The rediscovery in our communities of the universal call to holiness should be the basis for all pastoral planning and orient that same planning. The soul of every apostolate depends on divine intimacy, on placing nothing before the love of Christ, in seeking the greater glory of God in all things, in living the Christocentric dynamism of the marian "totus tuus". Training in holiness "places pastoral planning under the sign of holiness" and constitutes the primary pastoral challenge of contemporary times. In the holy Church, all of the faithful are called to holiness." (Emphasis added).

It seems Rome has already spoken on this issue, and pretty clearly at that.  So the current plan is doomed to failure.  What's worse is that by the time it fails, massive and irreparable harm will have been done to parishes and parishioners throughout the diocese.  Keep praying, writing letters, making phone calls, etc. - maybe that Apostolic Visitator will be sent soon!

Here's yet another letter to the editor. We've missed many, we know. (Thanks everybody for sending in all your letters and links.) Certainly the Courier Post doesn't publish everything it could, by any stretch of the imagination, since they seem to be in the Chancery's pocket. Shameful. In any case, here's the link, and the text is below. (By the way, this is a truly excellent letter, Mr. Malloy, and really hits the nail on the head.)

Corporation

CourierPostOnline.com • October 24, 2008

The information (below) about St.Gregory's was submitted by Barbara K., member of the Council of Parishes and St. Gregory's parishioner. St. Gregory's is located on the White Horse Pike (Route 30) in Magnolia (Camden County), NJ. On my way home from the convocation in Cherry Hill yesterday, I stopped at St. Gregory's to take some pictures. Unfortunately the church was locked up tight so I couldn't get in to take pictures of the interior. It's really a beautiful little church, but from the outside you can't get the best view of the lovely stained glass windows. When you look at the pictures of this church, I know you will agree with me that St. Gregory's is just about one of the sweetest and most beautiful little houses of God you've ever seen. It reminds me of a newer and stone version of St. Mary's Malaga. I hope that those of you with interior photos will submit them to me since I don't live especially close to St. Gregory's.




Additionally, on church grounds there is an eight classroom school, once used as our elementary school, which has been unkept throughout the years. It was most recently used for Our Lady of Lourdes nursing students and at present is still used for parish meetings and CCD classes. This school has been the focus point of the directors of the St. John of God school for developmentally challenged students. Because the school is a one-floor edifice and has wide doorway openings which would accommodate wheelchairs, etc., it would be the perfect solution for an annex type school in Camden County (the original school is in Gloucester County). The use of this building for this purpose should be carefully considered.

Our parish is also home to the Camden County Deaf Ministry. At least 100 or more members come from as far away as Delaware, Philadelphia areas, and all southern New Jersey to attend the 11am Mass each Sunday which is presented in sign and voice. The bonding that is present in this group would be lost with the closure of our church. Where would this group find another parish with a priest that meets their special needs with signing?

The bishop's idea of a very large, and in his opinion, vibrant parishes would not meet the needs of most of the parishioners in any of the churches slated to merge. Our church is a very good size for our parish, with vibrant and specialized activities and capacity for future growth.


Although a few parishes within the Diocese of Camden may have financial difficulties, these have always been provided for through the House of Charity-Bishop's Annual Appeal, of which a certain percentage is earmarked for disadvantaged parishes. At St. Gregory's, in particular, we are debt-free and have, within the last month, completed the restoration of our church foundation; the renovation of our church hall, including floor, windows, new lighting, tables and chairs; and a totally new kitchen including appliances, cabinetry and plumbing. All work was performed by parishioners and all costs of the renovation were paid by donations from parishioners since a loan from the diocese was never granted, nor have we received any kind of assistance from the Diocese of Camden. Additionally, the buildings and grounds at St. Gregory's are well maintained and in excellent condition. Because the parishes we are slated to merge with are also financially secure, there is no financial justification for the closure of St. Gregory's.

"Even if there was no shortage of priests, the diocese would still move forward with the configuration." -Andrew Walton, spokesman for the Diocese of Camden

Boy, the henchmen of the diocese just can't get their story straight, can they?

First it was about a lack of priests going into the future, but now it's not about that. In the Gloucester County Times this morning, Andrew Walton, spokesperson for the diocese, belittled the concerns expressed by the laypeople whose churches are proposed to be closed. He said these types of displays [the rally] are "to be expected." How condescending. I suppose it is also to be expected that the "speak out sessions" were a complete farce. The people could "speak out" but the bishop sure wasn't listening.

Walton patted us laypeople on the head again:

"The display is an indication of these parishioners' love for their parish. It's an affirmation really of the importance they place on their faith," Walton said. "But over time, there will be an increased appreciation, I believe, even among those who are disappointed with the decisions."

HA! Now what does that sentiment remind you of? Remember when Mommy or Daddy said to you when you were a kid, "I'm doing this for your own good." Or, my own Mom's special favorite, "I know you don't understand now, but when you're older... (fill in the blank)" My little dearies, you will understand in time the wisdom of our decision when we sold off the church of your ancestors, didn't tell you why, and had it demolished and replaced with a strip mall/SuperWawa/etc. Is it any wonder that the bishop referred to our small, historic churches as Wawas with crosses? Perhaps they were taking up space he saw as more appropriate for Wawas. Churches are so non-lucrative, after all, they ought not be taking up prime frontage. Right now I'm thinking specifically of St. James in Ventnor, just a stone's throw from the casinos. Yeah, sure, that historic church will survive.

I don't know what universe Walton's on, but I seriously doubt people are going to appreciate their churches being taken away from them just so that they can go to the local McChurch.

Even though they expect a decrease in priests (founded or not), Walton said that, "even if there was no shortage of priests, the diocese would still move forward with the configuration."

"It's not being driven primarily by the number of priests available. It's being driven by the desire to create stronger parishes. The bishop has indicated his primary motivation is to revitalize parish life."

Oh yeah? What if the church doesn't need "revitalization?" What if the local church is as "vitalized" as possible? I suppose what we really need to do is translate. Perhaps what the bishop means by "revitalize" is "enlarge" (as in, create megachurches) or "make less distinctively Catholic." If the little, old historic churches are what he's targeting for closure (the ones already bought and paid for, by the way, and more easily disposed of), he may also be getting rid of the churches that retain the most traditional architectural elements: altar rails, large statues, real stained glass, and non-stadium seating. Well you know what? The churches don't belong to the bishop. Apparently others agree with me on this point.

I love what Anthony Mecca of Queen of Peace Parish, Pitman, said:

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

And Patty Gioffre of dear little St. Anthony's, Waterford, was right on the mark:

"You knew from the beginning he was going to do what he wanted to do," Gioffre said, referring to the hoax that was the "speak out" sessions. "He's tearing the hearts out of all these little communities. As long as we can remain fiscally soluble and keep our outreach to the community, we should be able to stay open." AMEN and AMEN!!!

Purchase of these t-shirts is not a fundraiser for St. Mary's. We don't make any money from sale of the shirts. We have been working with a company that allows t-shirts to be printed up individually so we do not have to buy them in bulk, which would be quite a bit of money for us up-front. This way the t-shirts may be printed up individually.

Wearing a t-shirt will be a good way to raise awareness of the problems churches like St. Mary's are facing, and to demonstrate your support of St. Mary's in particular. If you'd like to see other designs offered or other clothing items (such as sweatshirts) with St. Mary's on them, contact us. You will also see that you have the ability to alter the t-shirt (click "edit") before checking out.

Here (above) is our newest shirt! By popular demand, we have a Fr. Romanowski tee with his well-known and humorous saying. To buy, just click on "buy."

This is a red and white Sacred Heart ringer tee with an image that should be familiar to you. On the front of the shirt is an image of Our Lord that comes from St. Mary's churchyard. Around the image of His Sacred Heart it says, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!" On the reverse side there is an image of the Heart and beneath It in small letters it says, "miserere nobis." To purchase Sacred Heart tee, click here.

The next shirt was designed particularly with rallies in mind. Wherever you choose to wear it, you should know that it is definitely our most popular shirt. It is blue with a picture of St. Mary's on the front and the words, "St. Mary's Catholic Church, Malaga, NJ, Since 1922." The words are in lemon yellow.

On the back it says, "St. Mary's Malaga, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow." (Clever phrase courtesy of the Vassallo sisters.) We wanted the shirts to be a gender neutral sort of color yet something that could identify us as a group while at a rally or other event. We always get complimentary feedback about this design.

To check out the design and purchase, click here.

This shirt is a white ringer tee with blue accents (see below). The writing is also in blue to match. There is writing on front and back. The image is taken from the stained glass above the door to St. Mary's.

On the back of the shirt it says in smaller writing, "Save St. Mary's Malaga, shrine and house of God." The design is pretty straightforward.
 
To purchase this t-shirt, click here.

The following shirt (below) is new (summer '09).  Just click on the photo where it says "buy."

Again, if you would like to see other items offered, just email us (see contact page) or feel free to design your own shirt. It's fun! I like to use images from things around St. Mary's on the shirts. Other colors of shirts are available as well as sweats. Please drop us a line if you order any of these shirts. We'd like feedback on the quality and how the printing looks. Feel free to call the company printing them up previous to ordering if you have any concerns. (CustomInk.com, 1-800-497-2067.)

Part 1: The Origins of St. Mary's
Part 2: 1922-1939: A Mission Church of Sacred Heart Parish
Part 3: 1939-1961: A Mission Church of St. Rose of Lima Parish
Part 4: Since 1961: An Independent Parish
Epilogue: Pastor's Vision for the Future
Acknowledgments: About this history

In May 1938, the Most Reverend Bartholomew Eustace became the first bishop of the Camden diocese, which Pope Pius XI had created by dividing the Diocese of Trenton in two. The Pope took this action in light of population growth in southern New Jersey.

The following year, Bishop Eustace formed St. Rose of Lima parish in nearby Newfield. Previously, St. Rose of Lima Church (as well as St. Mary's) had been a mission of Sacred Heart parish of Vineland. The Reverend Thomas Gooley, who resided at the rectory in Newfield, served as St. Rose's first pastor.

Because of Malaga's proximity to Newfield (two miles), the bishop decided to put St. Mary's under the administration of St. Rose of Lima parish rather than have it continue as a mission of Sacred Heart parish seven miles away. Thus, Father Fooley served as pastor of St. Mary's of Malaga as well as St. Rose's in Newfield.

St. Mary's First Improvements

During the period Father Gooley was pastor (1939-1944), he oversaw two main improvements in the St. Mary's physical plant: landscaping the church grounds and finishing the basement. To accomplish the former project, Father Gooley tapped the young men stationed at the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Bridgeton. (The CCC was part of the Roosevelt Administration's effort to provide young men with training and job experience during the Great Depression, when about one-third of the nation's workforce was unemployed.)

With materials provided by Messrs. Michael and Nicholas Cesare, the CCC men graded the area around the church, seeded lawns and planted shrubbery. They constructed a concrete walk leading from the front to the rear of the church, where the entrance to the basement was then located. These projects improved the external appearance of St. Mary's markedly because the grounds had never been landscaped.

Renovation of the church basement began by replacing the original wood-burning furnace with an oil-fired heating system. This change freed space that had previously been used to store wood and stumps. Parishioners poured cement over the unfinished earthen floor and covered the resultant concrete with asphalt tiles. They installed knotty-pine paneling, a new ceiling, lighting fixtures, and food service facilities. These improvements transformed the original basement into an inviting church hall and enabled St. Mary's to sponsor spaghetti suppers, card parties, bingo games, bake sales, and other income-generating activities.

World War II

The church hall became available at about the same time that ccivilian gas rationing was imposed during World War II. Loval Boy Scouts were enlisted to patrol the area in their uniforms on Tuesday nights, when the church sponsored weekly bingo games, to discourage anyone from siphoning scare gasoline from parked cars.

On other occasions during the war years, members of the St. Theresa Society used the hall to assemble kits containing a rosary and a prayer book. They mailed the kits to servicemen from St. Mary's, who served in the United States and in the Pacific, North African, and European Theaters of War.

Women were not included in the regular military services during World War II. However, they had the option of joining the WACs (Women's Army Corps) or the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), the women's auxiliary of the U.S. Nacy. Most of the women of St. Mary's contributed to the war effort by working on family farms or in nearby factories that converted to production of military clothing.

During the 1940s, the families of American servicement and servicewomen hung a rectangular flag with a white field in their front windows. A blue star for each person serving in the military was sewn on the white field.

Because the church's founders of 1922 had had large families and many of them had draft-age sons at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the front windows of virtually all of St. Mary's appriximately 100 families had flags with one, two, or more blue stars. Fortunately, no family of St. Mary's Church had to go through the agony of replacing a blue star with a gold one--the sign of a fallen soldier, sailor, or airman. However, several were severely wounded in battle.

The Postwar Era

August 1945 saw the end of the war and the return of St. Mary's veterans to their homes and families. Gas rationing ceased and this enabled the Reverend Leonard Naab, who had been appointed pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish and of St. Mary's Church in 1944, to use his car to visit every Catholic family withing St. Mary's boundaries. These visits better acquainted him with his parishioners and helped him develop an accurate, up-to-date census.

During Father Naab's tenure, the church acquired its first stained-glass windows. Parishioners contributed funds for creatinig and installing twenty-two stained-glass  windows, dedicated to various saints (see Figure 5). Father Naab insisted on first-rate materials and workmanship. "The color in this glass will never fade," he said on numerous occasions. More than half a century has passed since he uttered these words, and his prediction has proven to be correct.

Church Organizations

At this point in St. Mary's history, three religious organizations existed: the Holy Name Society, the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, and the St. Theresa Society. The Holy Name Society had been active for years; its men contributed many hours to maintaining the church's physical plant. Under the guidance of Father Edmund Aherne, pastor from 1954 to 1955, the Holy Name men built St. Mary's Shrine (located on the west lawn).

The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin can be credited with enriching the spiritual lives of St. Mary's young women during the church's middle years, and the St. Theresa Society--named after St. Theresa of Lisieux (France)--contributed to the purchase and maintenance of altar linens and church vestments. Miss Antoinette Cesare served eighteen years as its first president.

The 1950s

National prosperity was the hallmark of the postwar era, and this prompted the building of new homes on undeveloped land in the Malaga area. To accommodate the growing population, the church offered a second Sunday Mass for the first time. Thus, someof the Masses were celebrated not by the pastor, but by other priests. These included Fathers Peter Hughs, Cletus Moran, Cornelius O'Leary, and James Villani.

In the early 1950s, the church wasin need of expansion and refurbishing. Under the leadership of Father Edward O'Connor (later Monsignor O'Connor), who succeeded Father Naab in 1950, the church was enlarged by lengthening the altar end about fifteen feet. 

Father O'Connor moved the sacristy into the newly constructed area and used the space previously occupied by the sacristy to accommodate a new, reconfigured altar (funded by the St.Theresa Society). This made it possible to increase seating at the front of the church. Father O'Connor also made more seating available at the rear of the church by moving the organ and choir from the main floor to a newly constructed loft, located above the main entrance.

During the renovations, workmen removed the original tin coverin gonthe interior walls and ceiling of the church and replaced it with modern wood panelingand dry wall. To completment the structural changes, parishioners contributed funds for anew crucifix, tabernacle, and hand-carved statues (see Figure 5).

The Reverend Patrick Madden (later Monsignor Madden) was pastor from 1955 to 1961. He provided leadership for additional changes, including the installation of a new altar rail in 1957 and the acquisition of land across the street from the church (where the rectory now stands) the following year.

Despite subsequent changes, the church's interior retains the aspect set by the 1950s renovations. On the outside, the architectural elements of St. Mary's remain the same as those set by the founders. Embellished by both Gothic and Romanesque features, the church has served many well for seventy-five years (Figure 6).

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Part 1: The Origins of St. Mary's
Part 2: 1922-1939: A Mission Church of Sacred Heart Parish
Part 3: 1939-1961: A Mission Church of St. Rose of Lima Parish
Part 4: Since 1961: An Independent Parish
Epilogue: Pastor's Vision for the Future
Acknowledgments: About this history