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

Just a brief update for all of you. CCD is now underway. In the event there are any unregistered children out there, please register as soon as possible. Should you have any difficulty in contacting the "office staff," please feel free to call Julie at 609-561-4992 and I will make sure you get registered. (I'm now the Religious Education "liaison" or whatever you want to call me.) In case you are unaware, CCD at St. Mary's is far different from any other parish I've observed. It's very small, personal, and not standard "classroom," as my own was, if for no other reason than the fact that we have no actual "classrooms!" It begins with the rosary in the church. Rosaries will be provided for children without their own. After the rosary the children split up to their various classes and often it ends with a hymn singing in the church led by our music director and/or choir members. St. Mary's CCD doesn't just aim to teach the Faith, but to implant a love of it.

On Sunday night we had a Parish Council Meeting, which was very well attended. Happily we are moving forward in increased organization of the parish. Very soon we will be holding a vote to elect three officeholders: president, vice president, and secretary. Nominations are welcome. Rather than nominate and vote on members at the Parish Council Meeting, we preferred to instead have the entire parish take part in this process. (After all, real "processes" have no veils of secrecy.)

In addition, we have established various committees to aid in the running of the parish. Some of the committees are familiar, others will seem new. We have the finance council, the religious education committee (RCIA, CCD, Adult RE), the spiritual life committee ("liturgical ministries" such as altar boys, Legion of Mary, Eucharistic Adoration, Knights of Columbus, etc.), the social events committee, the maintenance committee, and the "ad hoc" or "special events" committee. (The "ad hoc" committee is not a permanent committee. It will take various forms as the need arises. For example, the feast committee and the Christmas Bazaar committee are "ad hoc committees" because it is not needed all year round.)

Of course we always have the music ministry and choirs, which are always looking for members, so if you are interested in music please contact Mr. Jim Wilson, music director. In addition, one of our parish members will be tackling the food pantry, which will be a committee unto itself. If you would like to help in any way please contact the church. We also have the evangelization committee,

In addition, the need for a sacristan was expressed. However, as a small parish we certainly cannot afford to have this be a paid position. We hope to train some of the older altar servers to take on some of the duties of a sacristan. We also hope that perhaps some adults from the parish will volunteer. We anticipate creating a monthly schedule in which different individuals would be "sacristan" on certain days. The sacristan's responsibilities would include making sure the sanctuary lamp remains lit, the candles are in ample supply, and other church and liturgical needs are met. It goes without saying that this is an extraordinarily important responsibility.

Officially under the heading of the spiritual life committee, the altar boys will be trained very soon. This will, of course, be an ongoing thing. Those wishing to serve as altar boys should have already received their First Holy Communion. Remember that altar servers do not have to be children. Traditionally adult males have served in this position.

If you are interested in joining any of these committees, please contact the church.

In closing, various members of St. Mary's reiterated our intention to resist the unnecessary merging and closing of our parish. In this we are of one mind, moved by the Holy Spirit. We believe what we read in the Bible, pertaining to obedience to GOD above all things. In opposing error there is no wiggle room.

But the Pharisees hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together: And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him: Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. Matthew 22:34-40. See also Deuteronomy 6:5

In the [newest] Catechism we read:

Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.

There can be no doubt that it is God's will that St. Mary's remain open. All parishes--and Catholic faithful, for that matter--have integrity and rights. These rights are currently being violated not only in our own diocese, but all over the country in the form of forced parish closings. In our case, we have been incredibly privileged in that Our Lady has sent us a miracle in the Rosary Garden, one which many have witnessed. We take this as a message for our parish, that Our Lady is with us. For those who prefer strictly secular verbiage, we are indeed hopeful that our ever increasing "vibrancy" will, as always, shine through!

Here are a few comments on a recent letter to the editor lamenting the pain that Catholic parishes are now enduring. The person who emailed us the link to these comments said this:

Please check out Charlie 164's post. He is saying that even parish core teams are realizing that the bishop's reconfiguration plan will financially hurt the parishes and Catholic schools. Remember, core team members had to take an assessment to prove that they were open minded about the bishop's plans before they could be designated core team members.

Geraldine:
just wait til the churches come down and the wawas go up
8/10/2009 9:47:13 AM

Charlie164:

We are putting up these old feast photos again because we had an email submission identifying the individuals pictured! Thank you!

The first & last photos are of the DiMatteo family and some members of the Infante family (who visited the DiMatteo farm during the summer). The first photo includes Rex DiMatteo, Nick DiMatteo, his wife Mary, Rose DiMatteo Gambino, Josephine DiMatteo Giordano, Elia (Willie) DiMatteo, Theresa DiMatteo, and Henry DiMatteo. The last photo includes Giovanni DiMatteo (founder of the Feast), his wife Antoinette, his father, Guiseppe, Joseph DiMatteo, Jennie DiMatteo Ali, Henry DiMatteo, Nick & Mary DIMatteo, Rose DiMatteo Gambino, Infante family members. Photo's were probably taken in late 30's.

Just one month ago I was privileged to receive a letter from Bob Nardelli. You know Bob. He's the "Chairman and CEO of Chrysler LLC." There's good news from his end, it turns out. He tells me he's "very pleased to announce that Chrysler LLC has signed an agreement in principle to establish a global strategic alliance with Fiat to create a vibrant new car company." Wow! Vibrant! I know all about that now. Vibrant is good. Peppy. Positive. A breath of fresh air. Pulsating growth. Good joojoos. It should be interesting to see what the new Fryslers look like.

I thought, though, that the letter might be of use to the Diocese in trying to shill their merger packages. So I took it upon myself to revise where necessary. I guess Fryslers may be something like "Catholic family faith communities," now that we're moving away from the term "church." Church is so...churchy. So uncool.

For the past couple years we have worked tirelessly to reach agreement with key parties on concessions that would allow the Diocese to complete its alliances and closures and proceed with its plans without any need for actual transparency. Despite substantial progress on many fronts, largely due to lay complacency and a willingness to believe those in positions of authority, our own continual spinning and bending of information, and the use of heavies, outright political propaganda, and the like, we have been able to receive concessions. As a result, to facilitate these alliances and create new merged entities we will be proceeding with what is typically referred to as "structured" consolidation and closure.

In doing this, we have submitted motions under Section 1234567890ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ in Subsection EENYMEENYMINYMO under Canon Law #1UKMA in order to carry out this plan. With or without the approval or consensus of Catholics within the Diocese, and with or without the guidance of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the scheduled mergers, closures, and consolidations are expected to be completed in an undisclosed time period.

Rest assured that there will not be a moment's interruption in our work to meet the needs of all Catholics in the Church of South Jersey. The new entities will seamlessly transition so as to accommodate all. The new "faith communities," "parish families," and the like--as we will henceforth be calling them--will continue to produce and support quality spirituality over the long term, under the "Catholic," "Christian," "Church of South Jersey," and several other brands.

Some may be wondering if remaining or becoming a Catholic at this time, amidst all this turmoil and confusion, is a wise decision. Beginning today, the Diocese of Camden can look forward to the future with great optimism. In most cases your new local "faith family community" will have programs you will find attractive, including various varieties of coffee products, scones, and in some cases trendy pop spiritual products such as labyrinth walking workshops, Deepak Chopra CDs available to borrow, or even "A Course in Miracles." All products and programs will be well-priced and attractively packaged. Your local worship leader or lay minster would welcome the opportunity to speak with you about today's products--not that old, stodgy and medieval Catholicism--but spiritual products for the modern Catholic, which have the highest quality rankings in the history of our Church.

We are profoundly grateful for the support of the gazillions of Catholics in South Jersey who support our program. We take enormous pride in the contributions we have made to the religion industry, are honored by the trust you have placed with us for the past several years of the Galante Administration. We look forward to continuing to serve you for many years to come.

Again, I thank you for your support and look forward to serving you with outstanding Catholic spiritual products and services from a strong, new, and most importantly a significantly shinier Diocese of Camden. We aim to make vibrancy something you can sink your teeth into! To show our appreciation, we would like to extend the attached coupon incentive that will admit you and any three family members, free of charge, into any of our newly merged "parish community" entities, to any Sunday "liturgical celebration" taking place in the coming 24 months. (Offer expires July 2011.)

Update: Just yesterday Jimmy, Bob's bud, sent me a letter. You'll be happy to know that "Chrysler LLC has successfully emerged from our restructuring as a vibrant new car company called Chrysler Group LLC." It's reassuring to know that the "Church of South Jersey" is in such good company. Who knew that "vibrancy" was something Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was shooting for when He established the Church upon earth? I feel shiner already. 

"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!

My son and I stopped by to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament today and were happy to see that Fr. Romanowski has begun Perpetual Adoration at St. Mary's. What a true privilege it is to have Perpetual Adoration of Our Lord. May God the Father have mercy on any bishop who is nonsensical enough to close a church--no matter the size--committed enough to have Perpetual Adoration of Our Eucharistic Lord. We will beg Jesus to protect our parish and others.

Don't get me wrong, St. Mary's continues to be packed at Sunday masses, but what difference does it make if there are thousands of people in attendance at a mass if those in attendance have no love or devotion to God? Any parish capable of the kind of Adoration that goes on at St. Mary's--three and four days a week for twelve consecutive years--is a special place.

How unfortunate it is that Bishop Galante believes social services are what constitute "vibrancy" when what we have at St. Mary's (and other parishes he has chosen to persecute) is true Christian community, authentic devotion to the Blessed Trinity, and genuine love for the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, Tabernacle of the Infant Jesus. Please beg Our Heavenly Queen for her intercession for Bishop Galante, that he may be totally converted. All things are possible with God and Our Lady is our greatest advocate with Him!

I snapped a few pictures while visiting. Enjoy the slideshow.

Bishop Galante's parish reconfiguration plan, if implemented, will result in a reduction of parishes in the Diocese of Camden from 125 to 68 (a 46% reduction) and a reduction of churches from 133 to approximately 103 (a 22% reduction).  One of the four justifications offered by Bishop for the parish reconfiguration was "shifting demographics."   The following is an excerpt from Bishop's reconfiguration announcement:

 

"Second, in many areas of the diocese, parish facilities exist in very close geographic proximity to each other.  They were established in a different era to serve Catholic people that have now moved from former Catholic population centers into other parts of South Jersey or even out of the diocese completely, leaving behind under-utilized and often aging facilities." 

 

A quick summary of population data for some areas of the diocese are shown below (all from wikipedia):

 

                    Deptford           Salem County                Camden                   Atlantic City

1950                 7,304                 49,508                       124,555                       61,657

1960               17,878                 58,711                       117,159                       59,544

2006-7*          30,529                 66,595                         80,010                      39,684

*most recent available estimate

So, here are some logical conclusions based on these demographics and Bishop's statement above.  Deptford, which has more than quadrupled in size since 1950, and Salem County, which has seen slow steady growth and is one of the few areas left in NJ that is not already built out, should see very little impact from the reconfiguration.  On the other hand, Camden and AC, which have lost more than one-third of their population will likely suffer a high percentage loss of churches and parishes.  This all seems pretty basic and straightforward, so let's see if the high paid diocesan consultants came to the same conclusion.   (We're not going to bother pretending that anyone else had any input into the decisions). 

 Let's look at Salem County first.  Salem County started with six parishes and six churches.  After the reconfiguration, only one of the six Salem County parishes will remain, with three churches.  This is an 83% reduction in parishes (compared to 46% throughout the diocese) and a 50% reduction in churches (compared to 22% throughout the diocese).  That's odd.  Did those high price consultants (paid for by YOUR DONATIONS) somehow conclude that rural Salem County is suffering an extreme Catholic exodus?  Perhaps the result of urban decay, loss of industry, gangs and crime?  Do they actually think that Salem County's six parishes (the fewest of any county in NJ) are somehow "in very close geographic proximity to each other," thereby justifying their closures?  Could it be that they believe the small churches in Salem County are actually huge, empty "facilities" falling into disrepair?  Have they ever even been to Salem County?  For that matter, has the Bishop?  Is this what they would expect us to believe about Salem County?

Two more Catholics leave Salem County. They walk past former luxury apartments, now in a state of decay and infested by cows...

Compare this to the way Camden and Atlantic City fared in the reconfiguration process.  Camden began the parish reconfiguration process with nine parishes and nine churches.  After the reconfiguration, Camden will have six parishes and eight churches.  So there will be a 33% reduction in parishes (compared to 46% throughout the diocese and 83% in Salem County) and an 11% reduction in churches (compared to 22% throughout the diocese and 50% in Salem County).  Wow - those consultants must have concluded that Camden has NOT suffered from shifting demographics, while the rest of the diocese has.

 

Similarly, Atlantic City started the process with five parishes and five churches.  Oddly, Bishop actually lists a sixth parish, Holy Spirit, saying he intends to "merge Our Lady Star of the Sea (Atlantic City) and Holy Spirit (Atlantic City) at Our Lady Star of the Sea."  But since Holy Spirit Parish does not actually exist, I am not going to count it.  After the reconfiguration, Atlantic City will have, stunningly, five parishes and five churches, a 0% reduction in each.  Is Atlantic City a model of Catholic vibrancy or what?  Who are these consultants?  Follieri and company?  Someone else as equally "qualified?"   

 

Apparently they must have concluded that the plight of urban decay, with Catholics fleeing rust belt cities, has affected areas of the diocese like Waterford, Blue Anchor, and Malaga.  Have they ever heard of the Pine Barrens, Pineys, the Jersey Devil?  Have they ever seen a cranberry bog?  But, perhaps most distressing of all is that they seem to believe that ALL Catholics have left the apparent aging metropolis of Deptford Township, as evidenced by the fact that after the reconfiguration it will have zero Catholic churches.  That's right - no Catholic presence in Deptford. 

You gotta love consultants (no offense intended Bob).  It seems that the area that more than quadrupled in size (Deptford) will lose all of its parishes and churches.  The area that had steady growth (Salem County) will lose the majority of its parishes and churches and the two areas (Camden and AC) which lost more than 1/3 of their population will be almost completely unaffected.  Oops - guess it must have been "backwards day" at the Chancery when this plan was hatched! 

(By the way, I'm not suggesting that churches in Camden or Atlantic City should close; rather, I am simply pointing out that the justifications for the churches that are closing are completely bogus.)

Last weekend, on November 15th, Leah and Julie (me) attended an information session for the shiny, new lay ministry program that Bishop Galante (etc.) is initiating. It was held at Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Absecon, which happens to be the parish in which I was raised and received the sacraments. The introductory session, led by Roseann Quinn (yet another undercover "sister" who works for the diocese) was rather dry. I was expecting more information on the broader vision for the lay ministry program; you know, how they intend to implement it in the long run. But almost nothing was said about this. (Other than that the requisite, "we want more vibrant and dynamic parishes.") Instead they focused on the various degree and certificate programs affiliated with the College of St. Elizabeth and Georgian Court.

$$$

But no information was given about the programs before discussing money. What we did get, to my surprise, was a commercial advertisement. Literally. Roseann broke down the cost of the courses/program various times, each time emphasizing how cheap it is. I believe she even used the word, "cheap." I felt like I was witnessing one of those infomercials you see on tv late at night. It was a bargain basement sale. Roseann Quinn literally said that the tuition costs were "83% off." But wait! There's more! They even pushed up the application deadline from the one printed in the booklet, you know, in the spirit of "Don't delay, act NOW! This is a limited time offer!" The application date is now December 15th for the diocese (and as I recall December 5th for the graduate program at Georgian Court). Frankly, I was disgusted with the manner of the presentation. These people weren't attending because they were interested in purchasing Ginsu Knives.

While I appreciate the fact that the schools and diocese are going to such great lengths to make these programs affordable, on the other hand I personally would have emphasized the quality of the program and degrees the students would be receiving, the excellent professors and curricula, and the overall vision, with the ultimate affordability making said program a realistic option for those interested. When you initiate an educational program, the number one thing to put out there, to my mind, would not be, "Do this! It's cheap!" Again, I quote,

"If you feel the energy of the spirit working in you, keep up that energy. Don't delay. You'll never get a better bargain."

Two Thoughts

I came away from the information session with two distinct thoughts.

1. I don't think that the Diocese of Camden was being honest in its presentation of the program(s) and their overall intentions of, essentially, replacing priests with "lay ministers." Since I already have a Masters in Religion, the importance of study and knowing one's faith (as well as others) is not something that's lost on me. I do think it's important for all Catholics to better know and understand the Faith. It was interesting and quite telling, though, that Roseann claimed that six points "percolated up from the Speak Up Sessions" that "we as Church developed." The "diocese heard loud and clear that we as laity need to be empowered and educated." Well, what they "heard" is neither here nor there, since they hear what they want to hear. (I'm sure they also heard, "Close my church! Please!") Anyway, she listed these six percolations as:

    1. Liturgy
    2. Lay ministry
    3. Youth/young adult ministry
    4. Priestly vocations
    5. Lifelong formation
    6. Compassionate outreach

She then went on to say that senior ministry was just added, since "it wasn't anywhere except for housing." (Housing. Ha ha, she said it, I didn't...) She also said that consultants were brought in for families, youth, and RE (lifelong faith formation). In other words, Roseann went over every point...except priestly vocations. What, pray tell Roseann, is the diocese planning to do to ENCOURAGE (not DIScourage) priestly vocations??? Is there no fancy, high-paid consultant you can hire to solve that problem? (Or maybe they already have, and the consultant advised them to send priests away, because with every priest you get rid of you get three new ones somehow?) I myself find it remarkable that the laity's outcry for priestly vocations even got onto the actual list, considering the bishop's and his cronies' poor listening skills.

In any case, if you plan on applying for one of these certificate or degree programs, be prepared to be "empowered." Peace, man, power to the people! Be free. Liberate yourselves, dudes. Be assured that this program will "allow more pastoral time for priests." Yeah, a whooollllle lot more pastoral time. It's called retirement.

2. On the face of it, though, the Georgian Court program appears acceptable. I must say that I was impressed with the woman who came from Georgian Court who, after we went to smaller groups, discussed the graduate program. She was very nice and entertained all manner of questions in a professional manner. I have no idea the quality or content or "Catholicity" of the Georgian Court theology program, although I did have a younger relative graduate from that school recently in a different field. I believe she liked the school overall despite some difficulties here and there. However her degree is not in theology.

What's more in question, I think, is what the Diocese of Camden plans on doing with recipients of the degrees and what it does not do to increase religious or priestly vocations.  What we have to fear is how our current bishop and his "administration" plan on changing the Church as we know it.

Remarks Interesting Or Disturbing

First, the more or less disturbing things.

"Prayer"
The day started out with "prayer," although it was no prayer that I would recognize as Catholic. As it turned out, it was not Catholic at all. Roseann had obtained a "prayer" written by well known Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, ordained pastor in the liberal United Church of Christ. She made a point of saying what a fan she is of Dr. Brueggemann. Of course there was no Sign of the Cross, and naturally no other "formula" prayers you and I would be familiar with. There was certainly no talk of the saints, angels, or the Blessed Mother of God. Here it is:

An Answering and Refusing

We confess you to be a God who calls,
                                           who wills,
                                           who summons,
                                           who has concrete intentions for your creation,
                                           and addresses human agents who do your will.
We imagine ourselves called by you...
        Yet a strange lot:
                 called but cowardly,
                 obedient but self-indulgent,
                 devoted to you, but otherwise preoccupied.
In our strange mix an answering and refusing,
          We give thanks for your call.
          We pray this day,
                for ourselves, fresh vision;
                for our friends, great courage,
                for theological students
                         in places more dangerous than ours,
                                                 deep freedom.
As we seek to answer your call, may we be haunted by your large purposes,
We pray in the name of the utterly called Jesus. Amen.

Well, I could comment quite a bit on this prayer, my fellow "human agents," but my "fresh vision" and limited space disallows me. Just one thing though: Although I call the Third Person of the Holy Trinity the "Holy Ghost," I never imagined that He "haunted" me. Kind of bizarre. There were also a few moments of ummm...what did she call it...centering prayer? As a closing "prayer," they read the mission statement for the Diocese of Camden. Needless to say I skipped out on that and went to visit Our Lord in the church for a few minutes. I came back toward the end of the mission statement prayer recitation.

That Ol' Time Religion Ain't Our Religion?
Roseann also said that if the last religious education was that which you experienced in the 1950s, you need an update. The implication was decidedly that if your initial religious education and formation as a young Catholic occurred prior to Vatican II, you need a faith update. I personally found this shocking, because the Faith is eternal and, of course, does not change.

And finally, a couple of things I found interesting.

1. The person sitting next to us saw my St. Mary's Malaga shirt under my jacket and asked us how the efforts were going. She seemed depressed about what she saw as the immanent closure of her church, which is currently categorized as a "secondary worship site." Apparently no one at her church believes the nonsense about "worship sites" and is of the mind that their beautiful, historical church will ultimately be closed.

2. Several in the group asked Roseann questions related to the merger situation. One asked about their current pastor letter of recommendation would suffice; one asked whether, once they got the degree, they would be ministering at their current church if it was slated for merger; and one asked if they would actually be put to use in the newly constructed diocese if they went through all the effort of obtaining a degree. In response, Roseann answered, "Priest conveners have no authority until the new parish is actually established, and that will be a ways off." She also said, "If you are recommended by your pastor then you would work in your current ministry....but there is no guarantee."

3. The Diocese of Camden has apparently hired a man named Travis Lawmaster who is originally from the Archdiocese of Newark, which as many of us know is in just fabulous shape. (?!?!) He was at the information session. Travis was hired to do youth and young adult ministry so that we may have "vibrant, faith filled communities," "a seamless garment of formation," and "relational ministry." Though he's probably a nice enough guy, I have no idea what he was talking about, but wish him the best of luck with his garment and relational vibrancy and whatnot.

...Now with Twice the Vibrancy (and Still No Transfats)

 

Recently, St. Mary's reassessed its ministries and was delighted to find that we have not only increased our ministries but, in fact, have doubled them.  Not since the days of New Coke has something transformed itself so remarkably. 

 

Last month, at a birthday party for Fr. Romanowski and Leah, who share a September 2 birthday, we put many of our new ministries proudly on display.

 

First, our Celebration of Important Things Ministry conceived the idea.  They had already had a party for Fr. Romanowski the previous weekend (prior to his birthday), but they are a vibrant group and opted to have another party the weekend after his birthday.

 

The Outreach to the Bishop in Hopes to Convince Him to Stop his Dastardly Scheme Ministry sent invites to the Bishop and some of his friends at the Chancery.  Sadly, they did not attend, although Msgr. McGrath was kind enough to send his regrets.

 

 

Another new ministry, the Cake Delivery Ministry completed its second project of the year. 

 

Click here to see the first.

 

At the party, we also unveiled our new Cappuccino Ministry. This seems to be a staple of any vibrant parish.

 

  

Unfortunately, Charlotte burnt her finger while providing this ministry, which prompted a quick response from our Next-Best-Thing-to-Your-Mother Empathy Ministry

.

After a healthy dose of empathy, the First Aid Ministry (or in this case Second to Next-Best-Thing-to-Your-Mother Empathy Aid) sprung into action.

 

 

 

Charlotte's new at this, so our Cleanup Ministry was also involved.

 

This is just a sampling of the many new ministries we have introduced lately.  Some of our other new ministries include:

 

Ø      Picketing the Bishop Ministry

Ø      Sending Letters to Apostolic Nuncio, Etc. Ministry

Ø      Media Ministry

Ø      Website Ministry

Ø      Canon Law Appeal Ministry

Ø      Civil Law Ministry

Ø      Blogging Ministry

Ø      Fundraising for Save St. Mary's Ministry

Ø      Planning the Billboard Campaign Ministry (Coming Soon to Highways Near You) 

Ø      Planning the Vigil Campaign (ala Boston)

 

The ministries are so vibrant, it makes me wonder why we didn't start them years ago.  Oh, wait . . . that's right, BECAUSE NO ONE WAS TRYING TO STEAL, I MEAN CLOSE, OUR CHURCH BACK THEN! 

 

Not to go on about our ministries, but we also discovered from a recent Courier-Post propaganda piece that we already have many "ministries" that we didn't even know were ministries. Like the church in Richardson, TX, we also have a Bulletin Ministry.  And by the same ministry identification logic, we have a Bathroom Ministry (actually two - one for men and another for women).

We have a Warmth Ministry, although this only operates in the Winter.  In the Summer, we offer a Cooling Ministry.  We also have a Parking Ministry, which shares space with our Basketball Hoop Ministry.  I could really go on and on, but I don't like to brag - we're not perfect.  We don't have a labyrinth, after all, although we are thinking about a Corn Maze Ministry for next year. 

 

So stop by the New St. Mary's, a MegaVibrant SuperParish in the Diocese of Camden.

 

Editor's Note:  This blog entry was provided by our Sarcasm Ministry.  This new ministry will remain active throughout our Denial Stage of the Diocese of Camden's Four-Step Mourning Process.  If you don't like it, beware of the Anger Phase.

All photos copyright of St. Mary's PhotoMinistry.

Hmmm...the only thing that St. Mary's lacks in "vibrancy" is frothy mochaccinos. Oh well, our loss. There's a Wawa down the street.

• The Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is available for devotion in the home. Call the rectory or sign up in the back of the church.

• Father kindly thanks everyone for the lovely cards and gifts he received for his birthday. (Incidentally, the party was a lot of fun and we hope to get some pictures up soon!)

• A new Praesidium of the Legion of Mary will be on Sat. Oct. 4th at 10:00am.

• Donations to the food pantry are requested.

• Movie night, which is every 4th Saturday, will be Sat. Sept. 27th following the 5:00pm mass. The movie Miracle of St. Therese will be shown. All ages are welcome, and refreshments will be available.

• Family Game Night, which is every 1st Friday to coincide with First Friday devotions, will be on Fri. Oct. 3rd. There will be a potluck dinner from 5:00-5:30. Bring a game to share from 5:30-6:30. After that, there will be Rosary in the church beginning at 6:30, Sacred Heart Devotions and Benediction at 7:00, and Holy Mass at 7:30.

• Junior Legion of Mary will meet in the Shrine Room on Thursday from 4-5:00pm. Draw closer to Jesus and Mary through the Holy Rosary, Legion prayers, and our holy pastor's instruction. Bring Jesus and Mary to others through your prayers and service.

• Junior choir will practice on Tuesday from 6:30-7:30pm. Sing at various masses and Christmas concerts, as well as at local nursing homes.

• A Camden Diocese sponsored Marian pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception will be on Saturday Oct. 11. Call 856-845-8575 if you're interested.

• CCD will begin October 5th. Don't forget to register if you haven't done so already!

• CCD teachers and aids: There will be a meeting in the Shrine room on Sept. 28th after the 8:30am mass.

• A Harvest Dance with Jerry Blavet will be hosted by Queen of Angels parish and held at Notre Dame Regional School (601 Central Ave., Landisville) on Sat. Nov. 22nd from 7:00pm until midnight. Doors open 6:30. $25 admission includes buffet, dessert, coffee, soda, etc. (BYOB) Tickets on sale now. Call 856-697-1450 to buy a ticket. There is limited seating, but tables of ten can be reserved, so buy your tickets now.

Undoubtedly some things have been left out, so please don't hesitate to contact savestmarys with your news/event information.

Quote:

An analysis of tax rolls across the diocese's territory reveals churches worth a total of about $59 million. Add other parish holdings - from rectories to gardens to vacant lots, as well as affected missions that are expected to merge with parishes - and the land is worth more than $89 million.

These lots cover hundreds of acres across six counties and occupy sites next to highways and bayside towns.

They include a $27 million church site at St. Vincent Pallotti, in Haddon Township, Camden County, whose property includes a school that will not be closed - and St. Anthony's Mission in Commercial Township, Cumberland County, assessed at $129,200.

Shocking! The churches the bishop and Roger McGrath wish to close are sitting on properties worth a whole lot of money?! Who would've thought?! It's pretty hard not to notice. A thoroughly researched article by Juliet Fletcher of the AC Press, who does well to expose the obvious. Do give it a read.

Click here to read article.

This was just recently submitted to savestmarys:

Apparently it's starting in Cleveland: the diocese there won't announcing the closings until March 2009 but apparently their local paper is already releasing results and digging. The Diocese just sent out a press release hinting at a scathing article about to come:

http://dioceseofcleveland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=721:for-the-record-an-important-message-to-the-people-of-the-diocese-plain-dealer-cluster-story-is-unfair-and-irresponsible&catid=1:latest&Itemid=385

Meanwhile their former CFO has just been convicted of steering over $17 million of business to an associate for kickbacks:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/jury_to_announce_verdict_in_di.html

There they call the closures "Vibrant Parish Life" campaign.

The lies! We in the Diocese of Camden are hardly alone in our struggles to keep the faith and save our houses of God. Corruption at high levels is, unfortunately, far-reaching. The devil himself is having a field day in our Church, and we must pray hard and work hard to expose his workings. This is why praying for priests is so important! Wherever there are those doing the work of God, the devil will try to attack those souls and drag them down.

Always remember, when given a rationale for any action taken by the diocese, accept nothing at face value! "Vibrancy" is a ridiculous, meaningless, empty, corporate term that is being used to cover countless wrongs.

True Motivation of the Merger Process:
It's Financial
by An Anonymous Contributor
(hey, if the Catholic Star Herald can have anonymous writers, so
can we!)

The Catholic Star Herald recently published the following Q&A on
its webpage further explaining the merger process as Galante
would have it happen. 

Read it here. 

What the answer fails to include, however, is that the Bishop
is ordering these "Priest Conveners," as their very first
duty upon appointment, to take an ENTIRE INVENTORY OF THE
PARISH. He's apparently concerned with preventing theft.
(Seriously, this is the exact reason he provides for ordering
these inventories!) This is ironic since he keeps saying the
mergers are about "vibrancy," but his very first directive
with respect to the mergers is clearly MATERIAL in nature.

As if we're too simple to see past his patronizing one-
dimensional answers, Galante has brushed aside our concerns by
explaining that parish assets don't belong to the diocese. Well
if it's not his plan to have his new parish priests sell all
the assets and funnel the $$$ back to the diocese to create the
ultimate legacy (of his ego), then why is he so concerned with
trying to protect his (OUR!) possessions from theft by the
faithful? Which concern is, in itself, so telling about his
notions of spirituality!

__________________________________________________________

6/22 Editorial Note:
Although it may be true that Canon law makes necessary the
inventory of all material goods of a parish, the point of the
above writer is well-taken. The material aspect of this
"reconfiguration" is over-emphasized.

On multiple occasions the bishop has spoken about the assets
of particular parishes and emphasized his role as being over
the entire diocese. A parish with significant funds and/or
property will eventually be "merged" with another parish that
does not. After that time, the first parish will cease to exist
as an entity, but because it was "merged" rather than suppressed,
the money is still usable.

In other words, it is clear that assets of parishes not in
arrears will be used (at least in part) to "bail out" parishes
that are. Take for example the case of Our Lady Queen of Peace
in Pitman and Our Lady of Lourdes. Bishop Galante wishes to 
merge these two churches. The former parish has significant
assets, the latter is in debt. While the bishop may be
concerned about theft from the diocese on some level, what's
really going on is pure and simple theft from parishes by the
diocese. The bishop wishes to legitimately seize
assets from parishes for the benefit of the diocese. If the
church doesn't have cash assets, they may be strategically
located on potentially valuable real estate. I can think of
many such parishes off the top of my head. In the end, who knows
what will really happen to these funds.

Further we see multiple rationales given for the
"reconfiguration"--an eventual priest shortage,
demographic shifts [evidence please ???], lack of funds, and a
need for slick, paid "ministries," the need to strengthen or
"revitalize" the diocese, whatever happens to be the
"rationale du jour. Financial difficulties are often on
the list. The bishop and Msgr. McGrath still are able to dig deep
and find--without apparent problem--five MILLION dollars to buy
land for a new high school that will cost tens of millions of
dollars.

Meanwhile, he shutters our beloved churches and schools 
and ups the "Appeal" goals for most parishes to astronomical levels.
He makes demeaning comments in a television interview quipping
that parents want a "quality" education for their children, 
clearly implying that the schools he chose to close did not
provide "quality" educations. Those poor teachers must feel
horrible to receive such a put-down for their years of service.
But to Galante, the more money you can throw at a school or parish,
the better the "quality."

The point? Money's a huge motivator. Unfortunately that old
saying my dad used to quote all the time still holds true:
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's
such a shame that this is happening in the Church Christ founded.
No, in fact, it's embarrasing.

On Sunday June 8th we had a little letter-writing table set up outside the church before and after both masses. At this time we are appealing to the Archbishop of Newark, His Excellency Archbishop Myers. Time will tell just what Archbishop Myers may decide to do or not do to help us here in the Diocese of Camden, but we were pleased with the level of participation at St. Mary's.

Bishop Galante likes to disparage us small churches as lacking vibrancy and vitality, but at a roughly 65% participation rate in letter-writing activities, I beg to differ. We came to St. Mary's on Sunday with three boxes of pre-addressed and stamped envelopes (hand-written), 50 in each box. All three boxes were empty by the time we left. There were a handful of envelopes left in the final box, but several of us who were manning the tables hadn't yet written our own letters (recently, anyway), so we we took those for ourselves. We also gave away something in the neighborhood of 10 or more personal stationary-type envelopes, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 letters were sent.

It was wonderful to hear just how many people say to us that they'd already written the Archbishop, some of them several times already. Many told us that they would go home and ask every member of their family to write, too.

Here are a couple little pictures I took yesterday. I now realize I should've taken more, especially ones with the little children writing!

Bishop Galante, be advised: If you should choose to keep up this unholy battle to close the shrine parish of St. Mary's Malaga, you will have a tremendous uphill battle ahead of you. We will fight you all the way to Rome if that's what it takes. The pressure will not cease, it will only increase. We will use canon law and civil law to protect what is holy and True.

Warning: Plainspoken Julie below. Feel free to add you two cents about this evening!

Tonight, Bishop Joseph Galante visited our little church. It was packed to overflowing and people picketed out in the street. It was an impressive turnout, to say the least. Interestingly, Bishop Galante brought a whole cavalcade of people along with him, including Roberta Small and "Sister" Marilyn vollmer, commonly known around the diocesan offices and beyond as "the other bishop." (He brought her along with him from Texas when he came to NJ.) You'd never know she was a "religious." He also brought along Fr. Carmen Carlone, pastor of St. Joe's in Hammonton.

As an aside, I joined St. Joe's awhile ago even though I never, ever attend (except once a year for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and that's about all I can stand). I joined hoping that I might be able to request "as a parishioner," that they offer Eucharistic adoration there. While I'm no longer a member there (and was in name only--the "liturgies" there were that appalling), when I attended the "welcome to the parish" event "Father" Carmen sported a salmon pink tank top, capris, and leather thong sandals. He's a real character. I have never seen him in a collar, actually, until tonight. He must've had that suit specially dusted off and pressed for the occasion. He looked good. But I digress.

The bishop and Msgr. Joyce, the slick moderator with the shiny shoes, gave us "one hour and ten minutes," with 2 minutes per person, to say our piece. Lots of incredible things were said, I couldn't even hope to repeat them all here. There was so much courage and conviction in the room, and lots of applause for points well-made. If the bishop got nothing else from our meeting, he must know this: that we are not, I repeat NOT going to give up until we obtain victory not just for St. Mary's, but for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament who must be so outraged and offended by the actions of this bishop.

Friends of St. Mary's, let the Blessed Sacrament be at the very center of our struggle. So many tonight spoke to the bishop about their love of the Blessed Sacrament. Several children spoke about their experiences at Eucharistic adoration, and one girl who looked to be about ten said that she'd gone to adoration at 3AM this past night for the sake of our church, and walked off in tears. One little boy of about eight told the bishop he wanted to be a priest at St. Mary's! One man, who does not drive, takes the bus all the way from Margate to attend St.Mary's and to go to adoration there. How inspiring. And he wasn't the only one. Person after person stood up and said how far they go to get to St. Mary's and how they pass this church and that one because what St. Mary's has is truly special. And yet to the bishop, the level of commitment and love for the Lord that exists at St. Mary's is simply not "vibrant" enough.

I myself witnessed to the bishop of the heresy preached on the website of the parish of St. John the Evangelist, the millionaire South Florida church he holds up as the model he believes South Jersey churches should become. At St. John the Evangelist, they believe that the bread and wine remain after the consecration as the Lutherans do and as the Council of Trent condemned. That's called consubstantiation. It's heresy. He just sat there smugly and shook his head at me. But I spoke the truth, and he knows it. The truth cannot and must not be hidden!

One wonderful woman spoke with such conviction about the fact that clearly, this whole thing must be about money, and that we must withhold our money from the diocese if they won't listen to us. They're our churches, we've paid for them, and they want to take them away from us anyway. I completely agree with her--I will not give a dime until St. Mary's is safe.

The bishop admitted that the "community church" model of megachurch that attracts many people--you know, that lukewarm, happy clappy, superficial religion--should be what we model our future churches on. Boy does he have it all wrong. He thinks Catholics are going over to the evangelicals because they want to be entertained. He's wrong. They are seeking out truth and not hypocrisy. I question whether they find it there in those sorts of churches, of course, but I understand what they're looking for. Bishop Galante expressed that he thinks "young people" want a paid youth minister and all sorts of services and "ministries"--all the "ministry" money can buy. He's wrong. The bishop couldn't be more wrong. Youth want the Truth, pure and simple. They want to be real Catholics, not sugar-coated, watered-down ones. And if they can't be that or do not know how to be that, they're going to leave. More of the same old crap that they've been feeding us over the past 40 years isn't going to make the situation better, it's going to make it worse. Non-practicing Catholics (including a sibling of mine) are completely disgusted by this whole situation. Closing the churches that are their last remaining physical connections to the Catholic faith will only distance them further.

When Bishop Galante had the opportunity to speak at the end (and some of the points he made I've mentioned above), he was extremely unconvincing. It was really just the same stuff he's been saying for months, so no surprises there. However, he may have been surprised by our allergic reaction to his remarks and the continual interjections from the peanut gallery (myself included, I was very hot under the collar). His rationale is completely nonsensical and we all saw through it tonight. It was wonderful that he impressed, convinced, or persuaded no one. We were truly united as a community, a thing Galante supposedly seeks to encourage--by tearing down our churches and building up artificial communities. He came in knowing he had his own plans and that he would not truly listen to us. The whole thing was for show, really, just to pretend he actually cares, just like the "speak up sessions." None of us fell for it.

In a nutshell, Bishop Galante is still claiming there will be a priest shortage, that Catholics are not attending mass, that churches need to be open seven days a week, "vibrant" liturgies need to happen everywhere (whatever the hell that means--I guess holy, Catholic liturgies are less important), that we need to have peppier music, and that outreach is centrally important. Of course, all of us sitting in the pews, in answer to every point he made about how the churches need to change, said, "we ARE doing that." St. Mary's is open all the time. It is "vibrant" liturgically, it does do outreach (but in a personal rather than a "slick" sort of way), and does have authentic, Catholic music.

The bishop also stood up and shamefully lied about several things, such as the financial motivation. He said that the assets of a parish, once merged, remain within the new entity. He failed to mentioned all the money grabbing that would occur after the "merge" (closure) and his power to control said assets. He failed to address several questions posed by the parishioners, including one very important one posed by Leah Vassallo, which was, basically, "What could St. Mary's do to demonstrate its 'vibrancy' to you, Bishop? Do you even think it's possible for a small church community of about 250 families, such as ours, to be vibrant?" After the bishop finished speaking (after having been interrupted numerous times by the faithful in the pews), Leah demanded he answer her question, and he completely ignored her. But in a way, I think he did answer her question. He talked about nothing but numbers and "big" churches, paid ministries, and bringing in masses of people. (Of course, when you close all these churches the megachurches will have to be large and bustling--they'll be the only places left to go! May God spare us that abomination!) While he conceded that even large churches could fail to be vibrant, the definite implication was that this was an exception. Big=vibrant to the bishop.

Bishop Galante was also confronted about his use of the name "Wawa" to refer to our little churches. Wonderfully, the speaker, our cameraman and a self-identified "Catholic in name only" and "doubting Thomas," said that Wawa was so successful because "there's one on every corner" and you can easily find them! Also, you always know you can get good food there and good service. Haha! What a wonderful point. Perhaps we should claim the term "Wawa church." As in, "My church is a Wawa church! You can find St. Mary's always open on the corner of 40 & 47!"

Finally I ought to mention that Bishop Galante stated that he could have come to this diocese and had an easy last few years before retirement, to which all of us applauded and said, "Why don't you?!" He was not happy with this remark and several times over admonished us to act as Christians. Last time I checked, it's our job as Christians to stand up and tell the truth. "Nicey-nice" ain't synonymous with Christian. But again, I digress. Anyway, the bishop said his "conscience wouldn't allow him" to keep things as they are, the "status quo" as he calls it.

As the days go on, Friends of St. Mary's, I am increasingly convicted. I know that we are doing the right thing, that God is on our side, and that we are doing His will. And the more unsavory information I learn of the bishop and his past, the more I realize that something unholy is afoot. We must continue to pray for the bishop, for nothing is impossible with God, and for the priests of our diocese. And let us keep working to save A Light in the Diocese: St. Mary's!

(PS: My four-year-old son Theo would like to add, "St. Mary's is a special church." He typed that himself.)





Friends of St. Mary's Malaga: Please email me, call me, comment here, or send letters detailing your experiences of this evening and opinion of the bishop's scheme. Feel free to comment below.

Consistently, the bishop and the diocese have been using such elusive words as "vital" and "vibrant" to describe parishes worth keeping. I have come to loath these words since they essentially mean nothing and can be manipulated for whatever use one desires. In any case, I'd like to pay some attention to the word "vibrant." Let's go straight to the old Merriam-Webster:

Function:

adjective

Date:

1616

1 a (1): oscillating or pulsating rapidly (2): pulsating with life, vigor, or activity <a vibrant personality> b (1): readily set in vibration (2): responsive, sensitive2: sounding as a result of vibration : resonant <a vibrant voice>3: bright 4 <a vibrant orange>

-- vi·brant·ly adverb

As you can see, definition #2 is what we're looking at: "pusating with life, vigor, or activity." Of course, when used in connection with a parish, this could mean any number of things. Not all "life, vigor, or activity" is even desirable. For those of us at St. Mary's, we are well aware that our little parish indeed pulsates with life, vigor, and activity. It is a spiritual powerhouse. There is Eucharistic adoration weekly for several days per week,  there is the Promoters of the Blessed Sacrament group, Third Order Carmelites, the Legion of Mary, the Holy Name Society, daily mass and of course weekend masses (three altogether on the weekend--pretty good for a small parish), the Feast of the Assumption (which predates the parish), the well-kept meditative Rosary Garden, the outdoor Stations of the Cross, and on and on. People at St. Mary's love God and love to worship Him.

Our problem at St. Mary's, however, is that the bishop doesn't seem to be interpreting vibrancy in the same way we would. To him, vibrancy has to do (a.) with numbers and (b.) with lay "involvement" (downplaying the priestly role and replacing it as much as possible with laypeople). Since we are a small church that relies heavily on our priest to bring us the holy sacraments, this seems to be the opposite of what Bishop Galante sees as essential to vibrancy. St. Mary's is moving in the opposite direction he would have us move.

However every Catholic knows that there are many who attend church on Sunday (if even then) who are not especially religious and who are utterly uninvolved in other activities at their church and who don't necessarily live a Christian life. Non only that, but the numbers churches have "on the books" do not necessarily reflect their attendance patterns.

And there are also some churches, Catholic and Protestant, in which people attend more for social than religious reasons. Even "activity" at a church does not equate spiritual "vibrancy." This is a basic error in logic. Activity, in and of itself, has little to do with living an authentically Catholic life. Similarly, the number of people in attendance at mass does not always have anything to do with piety. We see this every week at churches where half of those in attendance leave immediately after receiving Holy Communion, for example.

Let us challenge the bishop to draw out specifically what he means in the use of these codewords. We must either claim the word "vibrant" by disabusing ourselves of the bishop's misinterpretation of it or disown the word altogether. St. Mary's is obviously "vibrant" to just about anyone who walks through the doors of the church. You can feel the power and presence of God in this place, and we at St. Mary's try to live out what God calls us to be as Catholics. Why is a strong and fervently Catholic religious faith not enough for the bishop? What would he have us become?

 

A Little About St. Mary's: What Makes It Such a Great Church?

Historic St. Mary's Church in Malaga, New Jersey was completed in 1922. It was organized primarily by Italian-Americans whose history in the area went back around seventy years previous to that. Current members of St. Mary's include descendents of the original founders, and several of the eldest members of the parish even remember St. Mary's being constructed! But descendents of the founding members are certainly not the only people who love St. Mary's Malaga.

Newcomers also find welcome at the church. Such people are attracted to St. Mary's because of its vibrancy and are willing to drive quite a distance to get there. I've even met a young family who moved to the area simply to be near St. Mary's. What makes this church so unique? The closeness of its community, the depth of spirituality, the Truth that is preached, the holiness of its pastor, regular opportunity for Eucharistic adoration, and so much more. Even the casual observer notices that there's something extra special about St. Mary's.

The small church is locted near the intersection of two major thoroughfares (routes 40 and 47) and because of this it attracts a third contingent: travelers. Father Romanowski has often spoken of the highway drop-ins. I am among these as I occasionally stopped at St. Mary's on my way home from college in the Baltimore area some years ago. But Father even knows of a seminarian or two who, because of St. Mary's location, discovered their vocations to the priesthood. Indeed the seeds of the vocation were planted by Our Lord, but He used St. Mary's to help those seeds to grow.

St. Mary's in Malaga is unique because it is a shrine as well as a parish church. It affords opportunity for meditation in the tranquil Rosary Garden and outdoor Stations of the Cross, and time before Our Lord exposed in the Blessed Sacrament. There is even a picnic area in the Rosary Garden. There are also several grotto areas, a gazebo, and many benches where a parishioner or a weary travelor can go to relax and pray.

The church has a rich and wonderful history which you will soon be able to read about on this hastily prepared site. In addition, we hope to include memoirs and little remembrances of St. Mary's through the years. Hopefully--with your help--this will include some video, too.

Bishop Galante Wants to Close St. Mary's...

...but we don't! We love this little church because it is a beacon in a dark world. Not only is St. Mary's a spiritually vibrant community, small but mighty, it is completely financially viable. This is exactly the type of church that any diocese ought to want to keep. In an era where church debt is commonplace, St. Mary's Malaga has no debt. Its forebears paid for it, and every last dollar was accounted for. You can even see a list of all the contributors hanging on the wall beside the entrance. And the church has plenty of money in the bank so it's certainly not a potential drain on the Diocese of Camden.

If St. Mary's could start with a small group of immigrant families who gave of their sweat and blood to see it built, certainly there are many more of us who attend St. Mary's now! If there was a cause for St. Mary's 86 years ago, there is all the more cause now than when Malaga was even smaller (hard to imagine, huh?). Contrary to statements on the part of the diocese as rationale for massive church closures, the Vineland-Buena-Malaga area is growing, not shrinking. So those of us who love St. Mary's want to see it and its ministries live on. We believe it is a church worth keeping.

What Can You Do?

1. TELL US ABOUT IT!
If you've ever been to St. Mary's and loved it, if you are a parishioner at St. Mary's, if you're a priest or religious with something to say about this little church, we want your story, however short or long it may be. Please email us (or call Fr. Romanowski 856-694-2576) and we'll gladly put it up on this website. If you are open to it, maybe we can interview you, so please contact us. (Of course, there's also the comments area on the blog that you may want to use.)

2. WRITE THE NUNCIO!
Please write the Apostolic Pro Nuncio about St. Mary's Malaga:
The Most Rev. Pietro Sambi (In your letter, address him as Your Excellency)
Apostolic Pro Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008-3687

3. CONTACT THE ARCHBISHOP!
Please write Archbishop Myers, the Archbishop of Newark Diocese and the metropolitan of the state of NJ.

The Most Reverend Archbishop Myers (Address him as Your Excellency)
171 Clifton Avenue
PO Box 9500
Newark, NJ 07104
(phone #: 973-497-4000)

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

5. JOIN ST. MARY'S
If you don't have a parish or are not content with your current parish, consider joining St. Mary's. Boosting St. Mary's numbers couldn't hurt.

6. MAKE A DONATION
Your contribution will help support our canon law appeal, vigiling, and other activities designed to keep St. Mary's open.  Please donate through the paypal button below (anyone can make a credit card contribution, but you will need a paypal account to make a bank account contribution).  If you prefer to send a check or other form of contribution, please email us at info@savestmarys.net for more information.

Fear not! At St. Mary's you are safe. We're a