Financially Troubled Elizabeth Church Has a Future, Newark Archdiocese Says

By Richard Khavkine
The Star-Ledger
January 2, 2013

http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2013/01/st_mary_of_the_assumption_in_e.html

Standing outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, Barbara Burke ( left) and Marilyn Iorio, members of St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth, join a group protesting the removal of the priests from their church. 1/2/13 (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

Standing outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, Martisa Jaramillo, a member of St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth, joins a group protesting the removal of the priests from their church. 1/2/13 (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

James Goodness, Director of Communications of the Archdiocese of Newark talks to reporters about the removal of priests from St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth. 1/2/13 (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

Standing outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, Barbara Burke, a member of St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth, joins a group protesting the removal of the priests from their church. 1/2/13 (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

[with video]

NEWARK — Despite the recent ouster of three parish priests and the reassignment of another, the financially troubled St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Elizabeth has a future, an official for the Archdiocese of Newark said today.

James Goodness, a spokesman for Archbishop John J. Myers, said a new administrator will assess both the church’s finances and the parish’s operations before a permanent pastor is installed, possibly in the next few months.

“The archdiocese truly believes in the future of the parish,” Goodness said.

Goodness spoke after about 20 parishioners from St. Mary’s gathered across the street from the archdiocese’ offices to express concern about St. Mary’s, Union County’s oldest church, following the ouster of the church’s pastor, Monsignor Robert Harrington, and of the Revs. Jack Martin and Pat Donohue.

The parishioners also rebuked the archdiocese for what they called a lack of communication by Archbishop John J. Myers’ office, which, they say, bordered on disregard for their 1,000-plus congregation.

“We find your order calling for immediate discharge of the leaders of the church disrespectful of these devoted individuals and the parish at large,” Barbara Burke, a nearly 50-year parishioner of St. Mary’s, read from a letter she said would be sent to Myers.

About 1,200 people attend Mass each weekend at the church, which was founded in 1844.

Burke and others, who stood in a blisteringly cold wind in the shadow of Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart today said the church meets vital community needs, chiefly through the parish’s 66 ministries, that would otherwise go unmet.

The ouster of Harrington, Martin and Donohue, as well as the departure of the Rev. Esterminio Chica, who has ministered to the church’s growing Hispanic congregation, was disquieting, several said, particularly since parish members were not told of the change by the church hierarchy.

Goodness said the declining health of both Harrington and Donahue was a factor in Myers’ decision. Martin, who is officially retired, is also being reassigned.

“There needs to be a change at the parish,” he said. “So this was the best decision to make for the long-term health of the parish.”

But some parishioners said the personnel moves appeared to be Myers’ response to the congregation’s changing demographics, which in the last few decades has gone from largely Anglo to Hispanic.

“I don’t think he cares about the community,” Marilyn Iorio said. “I think he cares about the almighty buck.”

Another parishioner, Alejandro Jaramillo, said he feared that the church’s financial difficulties might serve as a convenient pretext for an imminent closure, despite what he said was the congregation’s steady growth. Jaramillo said that scenario was reflected in what he said was the uncompromising way Harrington, Martin and Donohue were dismissed.

“I think the priests and the community are part of the solution,” he said. “We feel the way (the archdiocese) have handled it is arrogant.”

Goodness declined to provide details about the parish’s finances. But Harrington has said the church owed the archdiocese $1.4 million — a debt that could be traced to 1994, when the archdiocese stopped its annual $110,000 subsidies.

Myers has named the Rev. Charles Kelly as the parish’s temporary administrator. Beside managing the church’s day-to-day, Kelly will also appraise the parish’s longer-term outlook and its finances, Goodness said.

That Kelly, as an assistant to the archbishop who could also be saying Mass by this Sunday, is taking those responsibilities, is a sign the parish is a priority for Myers, Goodness said.

“I think it’s in good hands,” Goodness said. “He will be forthright with the parish.”