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	Church Closing Announcements Loom in Camden Diocese By Jim Walsh Hammonton News March 30, 2008 http://www.thehammontonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/NEWS/80330003 CAMDEN — An announcement of dramatic changes in the Diocese of Camden, including a cutback in the number of parishes will be announced this week. Bishop Joseph Galante is preparing to decide the fate of each parish in the six-county diocese after soliciting input from parishioners, priests and others over a 15-month period, said spokesman Andrew Walton. "It's clear that the status quo is insufficient," said Walton, who noted the diocese must cope with a priest shortage and other concerns. "The traditional model of one pastor, one parish, will be impossible to sustain in every area of the diocese in the future." Galante's announcement will be posted at www.CamdenDiocese.org beginning at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. At least one parish isn't waiting to hear from the bishop, however. Members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Fatima marched Thursday from their Camden church to Galante's office in the city's downtown. "This is home," Julianne Jaquez, 17, of Camden, said of the 101-year-old church, which rises above an impoverished neighborhood in the Bergen Square section. "They'd be taking a piece of us when they close this building." "We'd like to be left alone," added Yolanda Aguilar de Neely, a parishioner who works as an aide to Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison. But, she says, "They've already let us know we could not be a stand-alone. We know they're thinking about that (merger)." "This church has activities going on every day, every week," said Angie Feliciano, a state employee who lives in Woodlynne. "Are we going to lose our name, which is our tradition?" She also notes the parish's name reflects another merger 30 years ago when a Hispanic church, Our Lady of Fatima, was merged into Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which at the time served a dwindling congregation of Italian-Americans. "We feel the diocese has already put us through this once," Feliciano said. Walton says the diocese sees a distinction between church buildings and the congregations they serve. "The Church — with a capital C — is the people of God," Walton said. "The Church is fundamentally not about individual buildings because that's something that can change." Without a change, the diocese eventually would have more parishes than priests, Walton said. The diocese, which has 124 parishes, expects to have only about 85 priests by 2015. It has about 170 priests now. Changes also are needed to strengthen parishes "by combining resources," Walton said. While some parishes may keep the traditional single-pastor model, others could be merged or clustered, the diocese says. In some cases, parishes would be run by a team of priests or by a parish life director. "Right now, many stand-alone churches do not have the ability to provide a full range of services and ministries," Walton said. Galante has received input from planning teams at each parish, as well as from an 18-member diocesan planning commission. He met this month with the Presbyteral Council, a group of priests whose advice is needed when a parish may be "altered notably" through merger, boundary change or some other configuration. "In the end," Walton said, "we're confident this long process will bring about stronger, more vibrant parishes."
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