Today's AC Press has an excellent article about the Diocese of Camden's recent purchase of the $800,000 luxury home in Pittsgrove.  Click here to see the full article. (A similar article can also be found in the well known publication Newsday.) The article was so well-written, excerpts really do not do it justice, but here are a few quotes from Diocesan spinmaster Andy Walton for your entertainment:

But some local Catholics have made much of the description of the new property: Advertised as a "lavish 5-6 bedroom home 11-acre country estate" when it was sold last July, the place boasts riding stables, an elegant fountain in the driveway and a feature described as a "wet bar" inside.

Andrew Walton, spokesman for the diocese, defended the choice of location and style of property for the new convent. "It suits the needs of the sisters, who are looking to expand the order," he said.

He also added that by taking up the new home, the sisters were not going against their vows.

"A vow of poverty has much less to do with where you live than how you live. It's about modest living, but also a poverty of spirit.

"I think there's an undertone of nastiness to some of the commentary, that these sisters' modest living arrangements should come under criticism. There's even that suggestion that, because they're from Kenya, that these arrangements are too good for them."

Andy Walton seems a little defensive - OK, a LOT defensive, even using the race card to try to divert attention from the real issue.  Well, I guess it must be frustrating for him that he cannot clamp down on the AC Press like he does on the Courier-Post (although we know he has tried)! 

Of course, one of the commenters to the article asked how much money Andy Walton makes that he considers an $800,000 home "modest living."  Good question! They could've bought the house I live in for the sisters--five of them, one for each, in fact--and spent the same amount of money. But of course, we have no fountain, wet bar, or stables. Heck, our garage doors don't even work.

Perhaps the most obvious clue to the continual dishonesty coming from the Chancery Offices is this piece of information:

A neighbor, John Langley lives opposite the property. His ancestors, who named the road, used to own most of the area. "Around December, I saw people from the diocese on the property," he recalled. "They said they had come to check it out, and that it might be a residence for the bishop."

Andy suggests that the property will be used in the future as a retreat for the diocese so we, the diocesan faithful, can be continually "formed." Surely it will be the fanciest retreat center we'll have ever been to, but we look forward to experiencing spiritual poverty. It will be so convenient that the new "retreat center" is only a short ride (3.5 miles, to be precise) from St. Mary's. We eagerly anticipate prayer while on horseback and cooling off in the fountain. Who will be tending bar? Pour me one of these.