Bishop Joseph Galante formally announced today that Queen of Heaven and Saint Peter Celestine parishes in Cherry Hill will merge and the new parish resulting from the merger, The Catholic Community of Christ Our Light, will be established July 29, 2009.
The announcement establishing the new parish was made in a formal, written decree, which is published in the June 26 edition of the Catholic Star Herald, the diocesan newspaper (to read the decree, click here., for recourse instructions, click here).
“[I]n response to the request of the pastor of these communities, Reverend Thomas A. Newton, to unite these parishes; the favorable advice of the Vicars Forane; and having listened to the opinions of the Presbyteral Council about the needs of the Catholic Faithful in this area of Camden County, I have determined that the pastoral care of these communities will be fostered best by consolidating these individual communities and uniting them as one new parish,” Bishop Galante announced in the decree.
Father Thomas Newton, the current pastor of the communities and Priest Convener for the merger, has been named pastor of the new parish, which will serve about 3,800 families. The seat of the parish will be St. Peter Celestine Church and the parish boundaries will be those of the existing parishes.
“This is a time of great joy and rebirth for the Catholic faith community in this area of the diocese,” said Bishop Galante in a statement. “The work of addressing the great challenges facing the Church has been met with even greater faithfulness, zeal and love by the people of Queen of Heaven and St. Peter Celestine. I am grateful for the dedicated work of the Priest Convener, Father Tom Newton, and the Core Team and for the collaborative spirit and good will demonstrated by parishioners who have united in hope for a stronger Church and a better future.”
The decree states that consolidation is necessary to provide more effectively for the pastoral needs of the faithful, to assure the vitality of parish life, to provide for a better stewardship of resources, and to provide for the optimum use of clergy, religious and lay personnel.
Accompanying the decree are instructions on the recourse process provided for in Church law to ensure that the rights of the faithful are upheld in the alteration of a parish.
It is the first decree issued by Bishop Galante in a diocesan-wide restructuring he announced last year. After having heard from the people of the diocese at more than 138 Speak Up sessions in 2005 and 2006 and following a period of extensive consultation with deanery planners, the Diocesan Planning Commission and the Presbyteral Council of the diocese, Bishop Galante on April 3, 2008 announced his intention to reconfigure parishes of the diocese in order to address challenges facing the Church in South Jersey and to improve pastoral care to the people.
The challenges include a decline in the number of diocesan priests available for ministry, shifts and changes in population, a decline in religious practice, the need to revitalize parish life and to advance pastoral priorities identified as most important by the people of the diocese. Many parishes also are struggling financially due to the changes in population and decline in mass attendance and lack the resources to provide needed ministries.
Bishop Galante has emphasized that the uniting of parishes will galvanize resources and parish energies in order to create stronger, more vibrant communities of faith, improve pastoral care to the people of the diocese, and create greater opportunities for outreach.
When Bishop announced his intentions for the reconfiguration of parishes, he indicated that it would take 12-24 months before decrees would be issued in order to provide ample time for parishes to complete the necessary preparations.
Three other parishes have completed their merger preparations and have had onsite visits by the Diocesan Merger Review Committee. Decrees establishing these new parishes are expected later this summer.
To prepare parishes for merger, Priest Conveners for each merger were appointed last August. Core Teams were formed last autumn with representation from each parish to assist the Priest Convener in their work.
Father Tom Newton and the Core Team, composed of four members from St. Peter Celestine and four members from Queen of Heaven, as well as various subcommittees, met more than 15 times beginning last October to tend to the range of pastoral, civil and canonical matters necessary to establish the new parish.
After hearing from both parish communities, and working with a subcommittee of the Core Team, Father Newton last February proposed that the name of the parish be The Catholic Community of Christ Our Light.
In April, Father Newton notified Bishop Galante that the Core Team had completed its work and asked that its preparations be reviewed by the Diocesan Merger Review Committee. An onsite visit by the Review Committee on May 19 confirmed that the necessary steps had occurred. With preparations complete, Father Newton and the eight members of the Core Team wrote to Bishop Galante on June 2, 2009 requesting that he issue the decree establishing the new parish.
The process of uniting the two communities began almost three years ago when a team of parishioners began to review spiritual reports, parish data, demographic reports and to develop recommendations on how to strengthen parish life in this area of the diocese.
In January 2008 deanery planners recommended to Bishop Galante that the parishes merge. Following consultation with the Diocesan Planning Commission in February 2008 and a formal consultation with the Presbyteral Council of the diocese in March 2008, Bishop Galante announced his intention to merge the parishes on April 3, 2008. Bishop Galante heard again from the Presbyteral Council last month before issuing the decree this week.
Alice Corica, a Core Team member who has been a parishioner of Queen of Heaven for 35 years, said, “It’s a time of sadness, but also joy. We’ve done the work, we’ve made the preparations. I’m ready to go forward. It doesn’t mean that I don’t feel bad or that I don’t love what we’ve had, but I think it’s time. We’re going to establish something new and wonderful.”
Within 30 days of the establishment of the new parish, Father Newton will nominate two lay trustees and a ceremony installing him as the new pastor will be scheduled. Within 30 to 60 days, new parish pastoral and finance councils will be formed.
Father Newton and the Core Team also have worked to ensure adequate staffing of the new parish and the provision of ministries, including those that will address pastoral priorities identified through Speak Up sessions. The new parish will add for the first time a full-time pastoral associate for Young Adult Faith Formation, as well as a pastoral associate for Justice and Community Outreach.
“This is a very exciting time for our two parish communities,” said Father Newton. “Throughout the past year, many dedicated parishioners have worked through their initial hesitation about the merger to come to a place where we can actually celebrate the new parish and the tremendous possibilities it opens for us. Together, we are much better able to do exciting and effective ministry for and with people of all ages. We have become so aware of the opportunities that have been opened up to us because of our becoming one.”