Bishop Galante to Tell Parish Reconfigurations April 3

CAMDEN — Bishop Joseph Galante plans to announce his intentions for the reconfiguration of parishes in the six counties of the diocese 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 Galante’s remarks, will be archived on the Web site for viewing at any time after that.
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, 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 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.