As parishes continue to make progress in their preparations for merger, Bishop Joseph Galante has appointed a Diocesan Merger Review Committee to assess their readiness to merge.
Fourteen members on the committee will review the preparations made by Priest Conveners and Core Teams who are guiding parishes that will be merging. At least two review teams of 5-7 members will be formed from the committee membership, with each team assigned to a particular merger.
The Committee’s members have experience in key areas: canonical and civil issues, temporalities, clergy issues, liturgical preparation, ministry/formation, and pastoral planning. The Committee members are:
- Monsignor Peter M. Joyce, J.C.L. (Chancellor and Vicar for Canonical Affairs) and Ms. H. Roberta Small, J.C.L. (Vice Chancellor)
- Mr. William Murray (Bishop’s Delegate for Temporalities and Financial Officer), Mr. Larry Reader (Director of Temporal Services), and Edward LoCasale (Director of Finance)
- Father Terry Odien (Vicar for Clergy), Msgr. Robert McDermott (Vicar General) and Deacon Leo McBlain (Director of the Permanent Diaconate)
- Mr. Stephen Obarski (Director of Worship).
- Sr. Roseann Quinn, SSJ (Bishop’s Delegate for Lifelong Formation) and Mr. Kevin Connor (Director of Lay Ministry Formation)
- Sr. Marilyn Vollmer, SSM (Director of Planning) and Sr. Antoine Lawlor, IHM (Associate Director of Planning)
- Mr. Ed Duckworth (Office of Pastoral Planning)
Forty Priest Conveners and more than 350 Core Team members from merging parishes have been meeting since fall 2008 to lay the foundations for sacramental life, worship and pastoral ministries in the new parish. They also have been addressing issues related to the care of temporal goods, finance and accounting issues, as well as the range of canonical and civil considerations involved in bringing parishes together.
In collaboration with pastors they also have been developing a variety of community-building experiences among merging parishes, extending invitations to worship and pray together, engaging parishioners in suggesting names for the new parish and developing parish mission statements. Each Priest Convener and Core Team has determined the pace, timeline and the number of meetings that have been necessary based on the needs of their parishes.
During the next several weeks, some Priest Conveners and Core Teams will be completing their preparations.
As a merging parish completes its planning, it will prepare a checklist indicating the specific preparations that have been made. If all is satisfactory, the Diocesan Merger Review Committee will conduct an onsite visit with the Priest Convener and Core Team to confirm that the many tasks involved in preparing for merging have occurred. A written report addressed to Bishop Galante will indicate the planning and preparations are ready for a final review.
This review will be conducted by the Chancellor’s Office to ensure compliance with canonical and civil law. Following a favorable review by the Chancellor’s Office, Bishop Galante will be notified that a particular parish is ready to merge. At that time he will issue a formal decree establishing the new parish.
“The appointment of the Diocesan Merger Review Committee is a major step forward in this diocese’s effort to strengthen parishes, to address longstanding challenges facing the Church, and to improve care to the Catholic people in South Jersey,” said Andrew Walton, spokesman for the diocese. “We commend the Priest Conveners and Core Team members for their dedication, great love for the Church and the great progress that they have made in preparing parishes to come together.”
The review by the Diocesan Merger Review Committee is the next step in a parish planning process that began four years ago (see attached timeline). Soon after Bishop Galante’s installation in 2004, he held listening sessions (“Speak Ups”) at each parish and with various groups within the diocese to hear firsthand from the people about their concerns and hopes for the Catholic Church in South Jersey. More than 8,000 men and women- lay, religious and clergy-participated in the more than 140 sessions held in 2005 and 2006. From these sessions, six key pastoral priorities were identified: lifelong faith formation, youth and young adults, compassionate outreach, liturgy, lay ministry and priestly vocations.
Yet, given the challenges confronting the Church and because many parishes as presently configured lack the means to address these needs, Bishop Galante announced a comprehensive, multi-phased parish planning process in fall 2006 in order to strengthen and revitalize parish life, to address the decline in the number of diocesan priests available for ministry, to reverse the long-term decline in religious practice, to address population and demographic changes, and to bring financial health and stability to parishes in the six counties of South Jersey.
When Bishop Galante announced his intentions for the reconfiguration of parishes in the diocese last April, he indicated that the process of merging parishes could take anywhere from 12-24 months since the needs of each configuration are different. This allows for an ample period of time to prepare and transition before parishes are formally established by decree.