Decree issued on March 4 establishing St. Joachim Parish

Bishop Galante formally announces the establishment of St. Joachim Parish, formed through the consolidation of Annunciation, Bellmawr; St. Ann, Westville; and St. Maurice, Brooklawn effective on April 6, 2011.

The announcement establishing the new parish was made in a formal decree, which is published in the March 4 edition of the Catholic Star Herald (see pages 14-15).

Father Piotr Szamocki has been named pastor of the new parish, for a six-year term.

The present Annunciation Church will be the worship site and seat of the new parish, serving the pastoral needs of the 1,685 families from Bellmawr, Westville, and Brooklawn.  The parish boundaries will be those of the three merging church communities.

It is the 32nd decree issued by Bishop Joseph Galante in a diocesan-wide reconfiguration of parishes announced two years ago to strengthen parishes and improve pastoral care to the people of the diocese. The reconfigurations are a result of more than a year of study by parish and deanery planners, who considered population and demographic trends, the number of diocesan priests available for ministry, Mass attendance and trends in religious practice.

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