Having completed a lengthy process of consultation with deanery planners, the Diocesan Planning Commission and the Presbyteral Council, Bishop Joseph Galante next week will announce his intentions for the reconfiguration of parishes in the six counties of the diocese.
The announcement will be made Thursday, April 3 at 1:30 p.m. through a web-based video that will be available for viewing at CamdenDiocese.org. The video, along with the full text of Bishop Galante’s remarks, will be archived on the website for viewing at any time after that. Bishop Galante also is expected to brief area media that afternoon.
For those who do not have access to the Internet, the text of the Bishop’s remarks will be printed in its entirety in the April 4 edition of the Catholic Star Herald. DVDs of the announcement will also be available to parishes.
In January 2007, Bishop Galante announced the multi-phased planning initiative, Gathering God’s Gifts, saying he wanted to collaborate with the people of the diocese to find ways to strengthen and revitalize parish life in the diocese and to advance the pastoral priorities identified by the people at more than 140 Speak Up sessions that were held with him in 2005 and 2006.
More than 500 men and women, representing every parish in the diocese, assumed local responsibility for the planning initiative. Each parish selected at least four representatives who met with other planning partners in their geographic region to review census and demographic information, financial data, Mass attendance and sacramental trends, facilities and other parish data. Based on this review, they worked to develop recommendations on how to best configure parishes in each region/deanery and to strengthen parish life in each area of the diocese.
“These recommendations from the parish representatives, along with the review by the Diocesan Planning Commission and the Presbyteral Council, provided the bishop with valuable input as he has considered what is best for the common good of the diocese,” said Sister Marilyn Vollmer, director of planning for the diocese.
When Bishop Galante announced the planning initiative, he said he felt action was needed now given the realities confronting the Church. He noted that the declining number of priests available for ministry and other realities would necessitate new models of configuration, including mergers and clusters.
The diocese projects that by 2015 there will be half the 171 diocesan priests the diocese had in ministry in the diocese in 2005. Last month the diocese reported that there are 162 diocesan priests now in ministry.
At a January 18, 2007 briefing announcing the planning initiative, Bishop Galante said, “We know that our 124 parishes serve areas of the diocese where populations have shifted resulting in declines in the Catholic population in certain areas, even as total Catholic population has increased. In other words, we, like most Northeast dioceses, have Churches and facilities that were established decades ago in areas where the Catholic population is substantially diminished. This has created not only a financial burden, but even more importantly, it has compromised the ability of these parishes to serve our people well and to meet the demands of the future.”
“While most United States dioceses are experiencing similar challenges, few dioceses are addressing these realities in such a comprehensive manner, with a process that so extensively involves the lay men and women of the diocese. [Given the] challenges facing the Church, the status quo will not be an option if we are to serve the needs of the Catholic people now and in the future, especially those needs identified as pastoral priorities through Speak Up Sessions.”
“This will mean, at the end of the planning process, fewer parishes… It will mean the consolidation and merging of parishes… It will mean the pooling and sharing of financial, material and human resources. It will mean a changed Church of South Jersey, but a stronger one, a revitalized one, and a more dynamic community of faith,” he said at the time.
Editor’s note: For more information on parish planning, see www.GatheringGodsGifts.org