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	Church Closings / Sad but Inevitable Press of Atlantic City April 7, 2008 http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/146/story/125900.html Bishop Joseph A. Galante, the head of the Camden Diocese, made his long-awaited announcement about parish closings last week. The 124 parishes in the diocese, which serves six counties in southern New Jersey, will be cut to 66 through mergers and closings. Like the previously announced closings and mergers of Catholic schools in the diocese, the elimination of 58 individual Catholic churches is sure to generate anger and bitterness among some parishioners. That's understandable - to a point. The closing of any house of worship - of any religious denomination - is always a loss for a community, and not just for the highly religious. Churches, synagogues, mosques often fill a need that goes well beyond the daily Masses, services and prayers. Houses of worship are also social centers, program sites, oases of peace and serenity and safety. And when it is not just any parish that is closing, when it is your parish that's closing, the sense of loss is real and palpable. As a secular newspaper, it is not our job to tell Catholics how to feel about this disruption of their spiritual lives, nor to pass judgment on Galante's decisions. But from the outside looking in, the bishop seems to have taken great care to develop a rational, reasonable plan for the closings. And it does seem as if something had to be done. The Camden Diocese serves an estimated 450,000 Catholics. Fifty years ago, 74 percent of Catholics could be counted on to attend at least one Mass a week. Today, it is fewer than 24 percent. The number of priests is also dwindling. In 2005, the diocese had 171 priests. But retirements are taking their toll, and the number of new priests does not come close to keeping up. By 2015, the diocese expects to have only 85 priests - nowhere near enough to staff 124 parishes. Catholics, of course, are not alone. Many, if not all religious denominations, struggle to draw young people and new members into the pews. But there will be some interesting benefits to the mergers. The folding of 1,236 parishioners from St. Peter's in Pleasantville, which will close, into St. Bernadette's in Northfield will change the complexion of that church - literally. Most of St. Peter's congregants are Hispanic or Asian. "It's a beautiful thing," St. Bernadette's parishioner Rosemary O'Dowd said. "We welcome them. Demographics change and we're here, and that's all that's important." Change is never easy, Galante noted. Parishioners angry at the closing of their churches may complain that the diocese is focusing too much on the bottom line. Others may note, with some justification, that if the Catholic Church had not been forced to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle sexual-abuse claims nationwide, the church would be in far better shape financially. But in the end, the local diocese had little choice but to respond to changing demographics and the toll modern life has taken on Catholicism and other religions.
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