Today's Sunbeam
Church merger details emerge
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
By COLLEEN P. MOORE
Staff Writer
http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-2/117980820316480.xml&coll=9
Announcements were made over the weekend at Catholic Masses throughout the county about preliminary planning recommendations that would see some parishes here merge and others cluster with cases of one pastor handling as many as three congregations.
A letter was given to parishioners at St. Mary's R.C. Church in Salem which suggests it will merge with Queen of the Apostles in Pennsville into one parish. That one parish will also cluster with Corpus Christi Church in Carneys Point and St. James Catholic Church in Penns Grove.
The latter two would remain separate parishes, but all three will be handled by one pastor.
Details about the parish recommendations for St. Anne's Church in Elmer and St. Joseph's Church in Woodstown were not available Monday. Neither were details about what this means as far as how these shifts would be handled.
The proposed plan for the churches was developed by committees set up from each church in January and it's part of a plan by the Diocese of Camden to strengthen services for the Catholic community.
"The problem with getting into details is that they are subject to change," said Andrew Walton, director of communications for the diocese. "That's really all we can say so far because the preliminary recommendations have not been reviewed."
The proposals will be reviewed, re-evaluated and possibly changed before Bishop Joseph Galante makes his final decisions on the fate of the parishes in February 2008.
Walton said the initial recommendations received by the diocese show approximately 25 percent of the parishes will remain one church with one priest.
Walton said most parish recommendations that were sent back to the diocese last week included mergers and clusters. Roughly 40 percent of parishes may merge and recommendations are for about 30 percent of parishes to be involved in some form of clustering.
Walton said the diocese handles 124 parishes in six counties, and there are 171 priests in those parishes. However, it is projected the number of priests will be cut in half in 10 years.
"The purpose of this initiative is to have stronger, more vibrant parishes," Walton said. "That means parishes that are able to effectively serve the Catholic people."
The changes are necessary because of available financial resources, demographic changes, population shifts and the declining number of priests.
Committee members at the individual churches took into account data such as the number of marriages, baptisms and Mass attendance.
Walton explained that committees were set up at each parish, but multiple committees worked together to come up with the recommendations.
"Rather than planning for just themselves, parishes have been asked to collaborate with other parishes and to develop recommendations that will strengthen parish life for their whole region of the diocese," he said. "That's a challenge because the natural impulse is self-interest. The challenge here in the planning process has been to break out of that and arrive at the recommendation that would be best for the whole region."
Some Catholics are upset about possible changes.
"I think it's ridiculous that the Catholic Church is in this mess," said Tom Pankok, a Mannington resident and long-term parishioner at St. Mary's. "I think the only way to get out is simple. All they have to do is let priests marry."
The process comes amidst a separate process going on involving merging Catholic schools. The school recommendations will be made in June with final decisions in November.
"The parishes recognized that there had to be a change," he said. "There's a need for a change. Not change for the sake of change, but change for the sake of a better future."