Previously we have quoted a bit from the 2002 Michael Rose book entitled, Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church. This excellent book is well researched and sheds a great deal of light on the controversy, unorthodox doctrine, emphasis on "lay ministry," and seminary/priest formation problems encountered in the Catholic Church in the United States today. Perhaps more than anything else, it explains well how the "priest shortage" crisis is contrived and utterly avoidable.

(As a side note, Bishop Galante and those attempting to make changes to the Church ought to pay attention. Unless we  miscalculate, Rose was 33 when he wrote this book. The younger generations, which the bishop is supposedly trying to attract, are often the ones most disenchanted by the lack of adherence to traditional, orthodox Catholicism.)

Seminary & Priest Formation Problems

From Chapter 5, "The Heterodoxy Downer: How False Teaching Demoralizes and Discourages the Aspiring Priest."

Beyond issues of grave sexual immorality, the seminary environment presents a number of other deterrents to the orthodox seminarian. The most obvious and perhaps the most insidious is heterodoxy, open or subtle dissent from the official teachings of th Church. Many faculty members are averse to teaching what the Church teaches, and some find it onerous even to hide their disdain for Catholicism. The seminarian who arrives on campus expecting to find faculty and staff that love the Catholic faith and teach what the Church teaches can be sadly disappointed.

Continued:

Dr. Louise Leidner, who taught students from the Washington Theological Union in Washington DC...during the 1990s claims that students who expressed orthodox Catholic opinions were "publicly mocked by their WTU peers and by WTU faculty and superiors for taking positions consonant with the Church's teaching." In addition, she says that "Several of her students...were actually kicked out of their religious houses because they expressed orthodox opinions that were 'dangerous and harmful to other people"--even though their positions were supported by the Catechism of the Catholic Church--because they would "negatively infect and unduly influence and contaminate" the other students.

Does it get worse? Apparently. In Chapter Four, Rose mentions several well-known nicknames for seminaries, including a seminary (St. Mary's) to which Bishop Galante, here in the Camden Diocese, has decided to send seminarians. Yikes. (Incidentally, last we heard, this is where our married, former evangelical seminarian/diocesan chaplain employee is currently taking classes.)

According to former seminarians and recently ordained priests...institutions have earned nicknames such as Notre Flame (for Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans) and Theological Closet (for Theological College at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC). St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore has earned the nickname, "The Pink Palace."

Meanwhile, St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia, a seminary the diocese of Camden has most often sent seminarians to, is "known to be of a much more conservative mentality" (page 165).

The Rise of "Lay Ministries"

Rose also researched a typical "Lay Pastoral Ministries Program" run by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. (Note that our own bishop is currently implementing one such program here in our diocese, while at the same time, by slow trickle, removing priests by the dozen to forcible retirement, military chaplaincy, removal to other dioceses, and ostensibly to "study" in Rome.) In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a man named Glenn Jeviden was interested in serving the Church and was directed to this Lay Ministries program. The screening process began with an interview conducted by what turned out to be a liberal sister who

asked me several times if I understood the Church was changing, and if I thought I was able to be "flexible enough to accept a pluralistic Church."

The interview was friendly enough but Jividen, though conceding that change is a part of life, asked the sister "if she believed that some truths never changed." She did not answer. He was next asked to write an autobiography, in which he discussed his pro-life activities, involvement with Catholics United for the Faith (CUF), and his devotion to the Church, the Holy Father, and the Blessed Mother, etc. He also had to take the Myers-Briggs personality test (a test based on Jungian psychological types) and was seen by a priest psychologist for other "tests."

During a psychologist visit, following the results of the tests, the conversation turned to CUF, and its alleged inflexible attitudes (read: orthodox) and Jividen's explicitly orthodox positions. The psychologist stated that the pope only had to be abided by when he spoke ex cathedra. It went on from there, you get the idea. Finally the priest psychologist suggested that Jividen would

feel uncomfortable with my CUF friends after entering the Lay Pastoral Ministries Program.

Needless to say, Jividen didn't make the cut and was told to "update" his theology. They suggested he develop his "personal spirituality" and that he see one of their spiritual directors, 22 of the 25 of whom were women.

The Agenda, says Rose?

Rose's point in discussing the lay ministries program is that some see the vocations crisis as "presaging a revolution and the demise of the  hierarchical structure of the Church" (quoting Helen Hull Hitchcock, 1999).

This is the contingent that has long been promoting "lay ecclesial ministry," the laicization of the clergy, and the clericalization of the laity. Simply put, they would like to see the laity take over the leadership of the Church at the parish level and beyond, from teaching and preaching to administering the sacraments. This program would effectively entail eliminating the priesthood rather than just "reenvisioning" it.

Indeed in many places, the lack of priestly vocations (or in our case, the forced scarcity thereof) is embraced as a way to promote a new vocation to "lay ecclesial ministry," that is, non-ordained, paid church professionals. Some bishops, priests, and other diocesan and seminary authorities actually seem to rejoice over decreasing priestly vocations as an opportunity for creating a "new model of Church" in which the laity can "take their rightful place" (quoting Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles).

This philosophy, drawn out by many over the last decade of the 20th century, betrays a peculiar attitude--the priesthood as a barrier to the emergence of the laity in their own dignity and mission (pages 209-211).

The word vibrant, is of course dropped--its use is not new--and the priest shortage is described as a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Where lay ministry is overemphasized, the priesthood becomes devalued" since it is reduced to sacramental ministry, viewed as being on par with "music ministry," "hospitality  ministry," "youth ministry," etc. Priests are mistakenly "defined...by what they do rather than what they are--an alter Christus."

The Vicious Circle

Tell us if this doesn't look familiar to you? The "vicious circle" looks like this:

Catholics in key positions of authority...actively discourage vocations to the priesthood in order to promote lay ministry. Yet at the same time, lay ecclesial ministry  is proposed as the answer to the dearth of priestly vocations, as if this were a permanent and perhaps ideal situation. Parishes run by lay ministers are likely to foster little, if any, interest in vocations to the priesthood. The result is that the number of priests will continue to decline further, necessitating more lay ministers to fill their places (211).

Rose goes on to describe church closures and radical "faith communities" formed in some places:

Priestless "faith communities" over time are likely to become simply congregational communities centered on the reading of the Scriptures, the homily, and on sharing bread and wine--devoid of the act of perfect worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--based on the model of Protestant community.

Continued:

The so-called shortage suits them just fine, precisely because they can use the crisis to justify radical change in the local Church...one run by "lay pastors." This "new model of Church" is not really about solving the priest shortage. It is about advancing their agenda of a politically correct Church.

Potential seminarians will, and do, gravitate toward dioceses and orders "that support the ministry of the priest as defined by the Church." The bishops in such diocese are not "issuing pastoral letters introducing parish 'clusters' or worse. Rose suggests that there are all too many in positions of Church leadership who have a "death with for the male, celibate priesthood."

Nothing New

Friends, what we have going on now in the Camden diocese is nothing new. As we have seen, it has been going on for a couple decades now, it has been perpetrated elsewhere, it has ruined other dioceses, it has discouraged vocations to the priesthood, it has wrought havoc and confusion in the Church. Now this downright un-Catholic plan is being recycled here in South Jersey in order to liberalize the Church by depriving us of the priesthood and even our very churches. Our churches are the places that reflect who we are in God's cosmology, they put us in our rightful place! But Galante, Vollmer, and McGrath would like to replace our churches--and Church--with something altogether different. Make no mistake about it. Bishop Galante even brought along one of the leaders from the Los Angeles Archdiocese--a diocese infamously known as one of the greatest messes with one of the most corrupt bishops in the entire country--"Sister" Marilyn Vollmer, to bring a bit of that mess here. (Of course, they called the program "Gathered and Sent" there, now they're calling it "Gathering God's Gifts" here, so at least they switched up the name a tad.)

Currently we are undergoing a screening process in which the "core groups" at each parish--those who are meant to lead the church mergers--are chosen based on their willingness to close or otherwise undermine their parish and positively participate in the bishop's agenda. Those who don't agree with the closure or status of their church and the direction the Diocese of Camden is headed are quickly weeded out.

Don't fall for the nonsense! Keep the faith. It his a hard thing to keep in a time when church leadership, even some bishops and priests, believe things very different than many of us do, a model of church unlike what we have known and what has been promulgated down the centuries. So continue to pray for Bishop Galante. He needs our prayers. And continue to pray for the holy courage and fortitude of the priests of our diocese and seminarians everywhere.

We've long known about the lay leadership program that Bishop Galante has been planning for the Diocese of Camden. In this brief article, we read about the signing ceremony with the College of St. Elizabeth. In the past, Galante has cited an alleged priest shortage as a rationale for the need for lay "ministers, but he continues to send priests away for "training," as military chaplains, and has even forced retirements and sent priests he disliked  to treatment centers or to different dioceses. Usually the priests who are sent away are of the most orthodox ones in the Camden Diocese. This hardly seems accidental. Of course Galante also says that church attendance is down, and that we need to consolidate (close) our churches, but with fewer churches, wouldn't it follow that fewer priests would be needed? The real agenda here is instituting a liberal lay leadership program and pushing for married and, probably, for female priests.

We have long known of two lay men who want to be diocesan priests here--both of whom Rome recently rejected, presumably because they are married--who are still taking seminary classes down at Baltimore's "pink palace," St. Mary's. Not only this, but to the best of our knowledge, both are living in housing paid for by the Diocese of Camden, and one is currently employed by the Diocese. The latter individual I spoke with myself a couple months ago, and he informed me that Bishop Galante asked him if he was interested in being a priest within minutes of meeting him, full aware of his age (he appeared to be in his late 50s), evangelical protestant religious background, poor health, and marital status. If Rome has told these men "no," then why are they still training for the priesthood and, last we heard, still living in diocesan housing? Your guess is a good as mine.

We couldn't make this stuff up. ICHANGE is the web-based "tool"/program that the bishop/Diocese is using to select the "core teams." This comes straight from their website, www.i-change.biz. This information was sent in by an outraged contributor, who comments, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????????" After all, if the Diocese of Camden is going to be run like any other non-religious, corporate business, it ought to be taxed and its leaders held similarly accountable. Again, how does God fit into this picture? Clearly nowhere.


A very valid and important question!

The link to a Catholic Star Herald  article on "core teams" (uhhh...could we possibly get any more corporate???) was submitted to savestmarys by a reader, who made the following comment:

Notice the criteria for people being picked to be on the Core Team. They want people who are willing to follow the program and be willing to lose their parishes. No dissent allowed. This is very sad.

Quote from the article:

Core Team members will be selected from a pool of nominated parishioners. This month, each current pastor of the parishes that will be merged will nominate six lay persons from his parish who meet key leadership criteria.  

This month, all Core Team nominees are asked to take a web-based assessment tool (ICHANGE) to determine their attitude toward change.  The nominees will forward the results of the assessment to their pastor.

The Priest Convener and the current pastors will meet by Oct. 1 to review the nominees, their leadership and experience, their capacity for assuming the responsibilities, their attitude toward change, and their receptivity to the work ahead (see side bar).

Ooooh, wow. Just gives you chills reading about it, huh? Can you just feel the Holy Ghost at work here? YIKES! Are these "nominee" people applying for a job? Must they also submit a resume? Why in the world would anyone do this? And where does it say in the article that interested participants ought to pray about this?

It just makes you wonder how much further Vollmer, Galante, and Company could get from Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. Do they pray? How in the world could they possibly think that an ungodly "web-based assessment tool (ICHANGE)" could involve the promptings of Our Lord in this "process." They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Let's pray for them daily. Pray for their conversion to the Holy Catholic Faith. They will be responsible for the souls they take down along the way, and the ones who stay away from the True Church because of their actions. And faithful Catholics, please don't be afraid to speak out about something you know to be wrong. Call a spade a spade.

Sent to savestmary's from J:

In sad news, the Diocese goes to settlement on St. Bridget's School in Glassboro on Thursday. (That happened awfully quickly, didn't it?!)

From Kate, submitted today:
We, the parents at St. Bridget's, have for a long time wanted to expand to have a multipurpose room where students could gather for gym, lunch, and other activities. We explored several options and due to the very limited space on our property, could not expand.
 
Although a painful experience, the decision to recommend merging with St. Catherine's presented the opportunity to have a larger school campus in a neighborhood where police are not conducting drug raids two doors down from the school on Lake St and netting an AK47 and ammunition for their troubles. (See Glassboro crime log from Summer 2007)
 
The school is right smack in the middle of the Rowan Blvd/ Glassboro Redevelopment project. (Google Rowan Blvd) Not only is the construction itself an ugly, unsafe mess, but having a hotel or strip of stores and college apartments next to our school probably wasn't the best thing for our kids either.
 
Fr. Mazz made us a promise that if we moved to another location he would use the profits from the sale of the school building for two things: to pay off St Bridget's parish debt (which he had worked to lower since coming to St B's) and to give the balance of the money to the 'new' school (now called St Michael the Archangel) for classroom space and improvements to the property. Hopefully we didn't "miss the boat" on the sale of the property. If we had sold last summer before the housing bust, we would have gotten a cool $2.5 million easily due to the greedy developers who want in on the Glassboro redevelopment.
 
Again, although painful to leave St Bridget's, the school merger has been good for both school communities. St Catherine's got enough students to keep their school open. St Bridget's got a gymnasium and hot lunch program. Through the excellent leadership of Ms Jan Bruni and Sr Janice Novak a strong St Michael's family is developing, we now have a middle school electives program we didn't have before. And being double-graded brings other social and psycholohical benefits to students who otherwise would have spents 9 years of their education with only the same 15 - 30 people, thereby limiting their experiences during the bulk of their waking hours each school year.
 
I still hum our school song- St Bridget watch and guide us, bring your wisdom here. St Michael protect and defend us. (He already is- we will keep our church, our convener is already the pastor.)


Response:
Indeed the area nearby Rowan is a complete mess. We certainly hope that the new school is everything it should be, and that the money indeed goes where it is supposed to. We've requested that any follow-up information be sent to us, along with photos and updates. We welcome information from throughout the diocese on any school or parish changes, closures, "reconfigurations," etc.


A Total Aside...
In somewhat related news, I was listening to an NPR piece today about Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. who have given up altogether and decided to "go public" as "charter schools." It was sad to hear how, in the piece, they were taking down crucifixes, images of saints, and an altar at St. Cyprian's School. I will see if I can find that piece for you online, perhaps tomorrow, since it's very late right now. It was on All Things Considered this afternoon, if you'd like to look for yourself and listen online.

The diocesan argument was, of course, a financial one for all the schools making the switch, but being in the midst of a similar situation that involves nothing but one lie after the next, it's hard to know what's really going on down there in D.C. and what was really in their books. Sadly, you just can't take anything at face value. If it really was that financially dire, how'd it get that way?

Anyway, the archdiocese reported that it costs them something like $7500 per student and that the diocese can only realistically charge parents, on average, around $4500, therefore subsidizing $3000 per pupil. However, I personally find it appalling that other alternatives were not explored before closing these schools altogether. I find it really difficult to believe that parents in one of the most financially strained states in the country, Michigan, can successfully open and maintain their own Catholic Catholic school that is reasonably priced and cooperatively run, and yet diocese with all the bureaucratic advantages--bequests, staff, consultants, grants, etc.--cannot figure it out.

On the other hand, I am well aware that many Catholic schools are Catholic in name only. My own high school I did not find to be overly "Catholic" even at the time, and I was coming right out of nine years of public school so you'd think there would've been some amount of culture shock. The only real culture shock I recall was lack of resources. That was 18 years ago, too. I wonder, though, if diocese shouldn't be looking to different types of radical change, like how to get back to the roots of the true essentials in Catholic education, and perhaps shifting to a cooperative model, if possible? I'm sure that there are all kinds of options out there if one prays enough and thinks creatively. But who knows.

In any case, I took the long way around to say that the closing of any Catholic school for any reason is pretty sad news since we know that the alternative for most kids is public school, which is not to say there isn't something to be said about that. I happened to love public school when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago and things have changed over the past 20+ years, and not all for the better. Ideally, as Catholics, we ought to want our kids' educations to be utterly penetrated with the things of God and the teachings of Holy Mother Church. Sometimes we homeschoolers are able to do this, but it costs quite a lot for a parent to forsake career in order to school her children in an age when two incomes is practically a necessity. At one time in America's not-so-distant past, Catholic schools did this and were affordable for normal families. How sad that our Catholic school standards have shifted to such a degree that even Catholic school education is all too often, well, far from it, and ridiculously priced too.

Our thanks is due to all the good teachers who ever taught at St. Bridget's Glassboro and at all schools everywhere. We owe them a lot, don't we? Lord knows, they don't do it for the money or the fame. (Now my sis and I are both teachers. So was our mom and our mom's mom, both of whom went to Glassboro State College/Glassboro Normal School.)


Another Total Aside, But That Never Stopped Me Before...
A long overdue thanks to some of my teachers, the people responsible for feeding my love of learning and perhaps partly responsible for my insanity (just kidding). I encourage you to look up your former teachers and thank them, if possible.

• Fr. Lyons, who I saw last week, English, Journalism, Mythology, 10th & 11th
  
• Mr. Galliger, English, 9th
  
• Mr. Day, History, 7th
  
• Mr. Phillips, 3rd Grade
• Mr. Rogers, Gym, Cross Country, Track, Gymnastics, & How to be a Good & Decent Human, 4th-8th and beyond
  
• Mrs. Benevento, Sprint, 4th-8th & summer
  
• Mr. Harrison, 5th Grade
• Mrs. Foster, Sprint, 3rd Grade
  
• Mrs. McGarrity, 2nd Grade
• Miss Hansen, 4th Grade, may she rest in peace
• Wacky Mr. Finnerty, Science (and of course, county politics...), the only person I've ever known to drink Drano regularly and also don an ugly green tux just to keep us interested, 6th & 8th
  
• Mrs. Schaffer, Home Ec, simply the best, 6th-8th
  
• Sr. Regina, Religion, "Stay close to Jesus," may she rest in peace, 10th
  
• Mrs. West & Mrs. Gilchrist, Art (K-3, 4-8 & summer)
  
• Miss Berrell/Mrs. Stein, Music (K-3 & 4-8)
  
• Mr. Lewis, my gymnastics coach
• Sr. Rita Francis, CCD & Bible School (VBS), K-8
  
• Mr. Leek, Shop, 6th-8th
  
• The famous "Deborah J," English, who definitely kept me entertained, 12th
• Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Kingsley, & Mrs. Bingham, Nursery School
• My grandmother, Laura P. DeMarchi, and grandfather, Jacob DeMarchi, may they rest in peace
  
• And of course my mommy, Doris, my #1 teacher, may she rest in peace. I owe you everything.
  

Article link sent in by a contributor:

"Pope Benedict XVI condemned unbridled 'pagan' passion for power, 
possessions and money as a modern-day plague Saturday as he led more 
than a quarter of a million Catholics in an outdoor Mass in Paris."

Click here to read entire article.

Kathy says,

It is sad because Bishop Galante has totally missed the boat with our diocese. Instead of closing churches and parishes, he should have used the deanery meanings as opportunities to get to know each other and pull their resources together to provide beneficial services. For example, I think my parish, St. Francis de Sales, could benefit by having a youth minister. Two or three neighboring parishes could fund the salary of one youth minister and share his or her services. The parishes would still retain their identities and their assets.

Of course, the Bishop's actions prove that he is not interested in improving parishes; he just want to close them, sell them, and make money.

On my way to the rally the other day I popped on the radio. I admit I'm a religion nerd, and American denominational issues and religious trends are of a particular interest to me. I have no idea why. In any case, that is just to say that I put on the protestant radio station that is generally affiliated with Calvary Chapel, a denomination with whom my workplace shares a parking lot. In any case, this man David Jeremiah, the pastor of a megachurch in Southern California called Shadow Mountain Community Church, was on. The show was called, "Turning Point." Normally I would have changed the station right away because eight times out of ten, I'm not interested in what's on that station. But this time what he was talking about caught my ear.


Mr. (Dr.) Jeremiah posed the following question (I paraphrase): "Why do people in a stadium of 60,000 not feel lonely, but in a church (with far fewer people), they feel isolated and out-of-place?" The "profound" answer he came to (Mr. Jeremiah's sarcasm, not mine) was "tailgate parties." He said (paraphrasing again), "When do you ever see a single individual going into a game? Not too often. Usually you see people going in groups of 2, 3, 5 or more."

His point was twofold:
 
1. People often like to be among be crowds and large events because it makes them feel as if they're part of something important. In that big building, there's something important going on, and by virtue of my attendance and participation there, that makes me important too.

2. The "tailgate party" is just as important as the game. A tailgate party is made up of a smaller group of people and affords an opportunity to bond and have fun together. It's a place where "everybody knows your name." (As I recall, he used this phrase.)



So far as I can tell, this David Jeremiah is a pretty smart guy. A little too smart, actually. His reasoning is flawless...when it comes to a marketing rationale and apology for his self-described megachurch.** But there was really no religious content at all, other than that God designed us to be known and to have our voices recognized. Now doesn't that feel good?



Needless to say, everything about this approach to religion was "me-centered" and had more to do with social and personal psychology and emotionalism than with God and the nature of the Church. Big  events make me feel good because I feel as if I'm witnessing something important. Then, so I have an interpersonally sense of fulfilled I participate in a small group at my church. Certainly we do not have to go all the way to southern California to see examples of this model of church. It seems to me that our own bishop is promoting it, as a matter of fact. Gloucester County Community Church in Wahington Township,  St. John the Evangelist in Naples (FL), and St. Joseph in Richardson (TX) all have significant aspects of this model in common, and all have been recommended by Bishop Galante.*

I do not mean to be overly dismissive here. I'm not saying that one cannot actually have positive experiences in, well, in just about any Christian religious context. God can get to us even when there's the slightest crack in the door because He is God, He made us, He knows us, and He want us to love Him as much as He loves us. Certainly we can experience God's presence and learn about God outside of the Catholic Church--it's just that other Christian communities fall short of the whole Truth.

The problem with this particular church model is that religion is not about feelings and worship isn't about what "we" get out of it. Religion is, ultimately, about God and worship is about how we can best give glory to God in a manner befitting His Majesty. He is the King of the universe and should be the King of our hearts, and anything that falls short of what he deserves cheapens the gift. You don't come to a birthday party and hand somebody a gift still in the plastic bag. (Well, actually, that's happened to me before, and that's ok!) Yes, it's the thought that counts and just the act of showing up or bringing a gift is important and there is something to be said for that. But when it comes to the Creator and Sustainer of all things, I hope to bring him a gift that not only is nice underneath all the wrappings, but also looks nice, too. Why? Because He's God. He made us, and seeing even our tiniest little efforts to love and glorify Him, allows His love to grow in us. "You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love at which we do them." (St. Therese of the Child Jesus)

So after listening to the "Turning Point" broadcast I actually felt sorry for the protestant megachurchers because as a Catholic, I know that it really has nothing to do with how many people are in attendance, even though of course it would be nice if the whole world believed in Christ and the Truths contained in His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Christ himself said that "where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you."* We do not need to be among huge crowds of people in an immense structure with jumbotrons, a band, great lighting and sound systems, and all the other drama that accompanies christian "edutainment."

We read in Matthew 26:26, John 6:51-72, and elsewhere He gave us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, so no matter how many are present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he is still there. Yes, we are a part of something very important when we assist at Mass, but the Mass is still the Mass and God is still God whether there are two or 2,000. We, like the Apostles, are to be fishers of men, and certainly we need to evangelize. But we must never lose sight of the fact that even if there were no one at all in the church during Mass, God still--literally--offers Himself to us. I've heard a particular priest say a couple of times that if on the holy altar of God Christ actually appeared to us in his full splendor and majesty, as He appears in Heaven among the throngs of angels and saints, we would fall down on our faces and drag ourselves up the aisle. I could not agree more. Truly something important is going on in a Catholic church no matter how many happen to be there.

So let them have their "tailgate parties" at the church called "Shadow Mountain" and others like it. The churches so many of us are blessed to attend here in South Jersey may be small, but in them the King of the Universe is enthroned. It is our privilege to be in His midst. (In fact, "level of energy" is like Christmas every day...only not in a mall. Like in a church.)

The biggest problem is that in our contemporary society, people place demands on their churches as if the church should conform to their lifestyle (book a Caribbean cruise with David Jeremiah here). But we know that this is not what Christ expects of us. He asks each of us to be willing to forsake our families and everything we have to follow Him. That's a tall order. He wants us to offer our sufferings in union with His on the cross. We are to conform ourselves to the cross of Christ. Carmelites have a cross with no corpus because they are expected to place themselves upon it in their daily sacrifices.

I thank You, O my God! For all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on the Last Day carrying the scepter of Your Cross. Since You deigned to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble You and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of Your Passion. (St. Therese of the Child Jesus, 19th century
Carmelite nun and saint)

Needless to say, we ought not to go to church expecting entertainment, expecting to be comfortable. It is so sad that some become impatient when the sermon runs a little long or the Mass goes over 45 minutes, and after holy communion make a mad dash for the exit before the priest--who represents Christ himself--processes. The traditional Mass--the dignified and holy worship of God--has been called the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven. So I for one would not feel comfortable attending a church in which one could expect the Rockettes to emerge, legs kicking wildly, from stage right.

Here's a link to the "Hammonton News" piece that describes how happy and relieved the St. Anthony's parishioners are (I'm sure my neighbors feel this way) that their church is now "safe." The bottom line here is that we all want to believe what is easiest to believe. Let's hope and pray that the church does survive, but let's also remember what Fr. Gregorio said in his letter to the editor of the Cape May Herald. He said that more painful consolidations will be necessary in 2015. This more than implies that Bishop Galante, Msgr. Joyce, Ms. Vollmer, and Msgr. McGrath have plans far into the future to completely disfigure the Diocese of Camden beyond our wildest nightmares. (One wonders if Gregorio "let one slip" he wasn't supposed to.)

Whoever believes that Bishop Galante and Company will in the long term allow one small, South Jersey town to keep three--count 'em--THREE churches when others will be left with none is fooling himself. (Besides, God only knows what's going on negotiation-wise with the town of Hammonton and the various properties. Judging from the mayor and police chief's attitude toward protesters alone, one wonders how much the town is involved in all this.)

If the idea was to keep St. Anthony's from filing an appeal, which we know they were prepared to do, then perhaps the bishop has succeeded. Think about it. Why would a church appeal if they believe they are safe? This is an easy way to break down resistance. It's a little like that Stockholm Syndrome you've probably heard of. It's that strange mental condition in which kidnapped, tortured, or abused people become loyal to their abusers. Ironically, many in these newly "safe" churches may now think well of the bishop and defend his actions, even though he put their church on the chopping block, a place it may in reality still be. If people believe their church will survive, they may stop fighting. Well guys, don't stop fighting. Don't be fooled. Our churches and our Faith is not safe until we are all assured the right to worship without threat, in peace, in the houses of God our ancestors built us.

(As usual, thanks to our faithful readers  for forwarding us the link.)