Devout Parishioners: Save Assumption

By LAUREN SUIT
WILDWOOD CREST — Parishioners of the Church of the Assumption filled the pews in the sanctuary June 11 in an effort to show Bishop Joseph A. Galante that their parish is fighting to keep their spiritual identity as many churches in the Diocese of Camden are looking toward restructuring.
The Church of the Assumption would merge with St. Ann’s Church in Wildwood and would remain open only part of the year, under the diocese’s restructuring plan.
A parish merger is one fate that some churches in this diocese face during a process called “gathering God’s gifts.” The restructuring is a response by the Catholic Church that has more parishes than there are worshipers, priests or money to sustain them.
Outside, hundreds of parishioners walked past members of other churches in the diocese protesting against a similar fate. Shouts of “God bless” and “Save our churches,” were heard as the crowd moved inside the sanctuary.
Parishioners inside – some standing with spouses at the pulpit – gave impassioned speeches urging Bishop Galante to allow the church to continue under the one priest one parish model. Many argued that their be harmful repercussions of a merger with the neighboring church.
Corinne Robinson, a parish trustee, told Galante that his plan “sorely overlooked” Assumption’s strength, both spiritually and financially. She also pointed out the unique setting in a shore community with four separate municipalities that have “very different ways of doing things.”
She said that while there is no doubt some churches are on financially shaky ground and lacking in worshipers, the Church of the Assumption is not in that category.
“I resent the fact that after 50 years, this parish is being forced into an unpopular and unnecessary merger,” she said and introduced a select group of parishioners that attested to the vibrant and dynamic church community.
“Are we becoming more like the corporate world, facing downsizing and handing out pink slip?” asked a member of the church choir. “Or are we the body of Christ?”
“This is God’s house. Let us live here with God as we’ve done all these years,” said parishioner Fred Spiewak.
Former Wildwood Crest Mayor Joe Pantalone, who is also a member of the church, said the proposed merger was a product of church politics and business decision.
Pantalone also offered the Bishop some advice from his tenure in government.
“Always listen to the will of the people,” he said. “Sometimes you have to learn this the hard way.”
Nancy Pietropaoli, a resident and member of the church for 20 years, told the Bishop that many parishioners’ lives are “schizophrenic enough without having to worry about changing their spiritual identity.”
She noted how many seniors in the borough walk to daily mass at Assumption, something that won’t be possible if they have to go 42 blocks into Wildwood.
Driving, Pietropaoli said, would be their only option. She called the parking at St. Ann’s “impossible.”
Nicholas Nastasi, a parishioner who sat for seven years as a trustee at the Church of the Assumption, said that if the parish was made to merge with St. Ann’s he would “feel like a child of divorce, going nine months in one home to three months in another, trying to fit in.”
“It is inconceivable to think that we would be as welcome in that church as we are in our own,” he said and recognized many parishioners that spoke of the numerous traditions at Assumption that may not be possible at St. Ann’s.
“Instead of gathering God’s gifts, you are scattering them to the wind,” he said to a round of loud applause.
After the parishioners spoke, Galante told the crowd that he respected the parishioners’ comments about the issue at hand and asked them to understand that the diocese’s decisions were not made on a whim.
Galante said that he knows the Wildwoods, this parish, and the island from 30 years he spent as a property owner here.
His motivation, he was, was not made from a business standpoint. Rather a need to strengthen the Catholic Church in the six counties that the diocese encompasses.
Galante said the church needed to better serve youths and disaffected Catholics.
“We are Catholic. To be Catholic means to reach out, not to be closed in,” he said.
As for the diminishing number of priests, Galante said the diocese needed to be prepared. Relying on international priests, who only serve for a limited time, is not the answer, he said.
“A merger means that we are creating something new. Assumption is not getting absorbed by St. Ann’s,” Galante said. “I want to bring the strength of both communities, both traditions and both desires so that the faith in the community can be stronger and more alive.”
Galante told parishioners that he would pray and think about what he had been told.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com