As his Facebook page relates the story, Will Keenan had a life-changing experience in 2016 following the early death of his mother. Driving by a long-vacant Methodist Church on Route 47 in Goshen, Keenan reacted to the “For Sale” on the 100-year-old church that had lost its congregation in 2011.
He bought the church and the adjacent cemetery, opening it in the spring of 2017 as the Church of St. Babs, named for his mother, Barbara A. Sees-Keenan.
The sign before the main entrance dubs it alternately the Church of Recovery and the Church of Rock and Roll. A larger sign by the parking area promises an eclectic mix of activities including a store, a spiritual retreat, games, history tours and more.
Billed as a church of all religions, it is run by a non-profit entity Keenan organized and named in memory of his mother.
Welcomed by many in the community who posted comments, the new owner was seen by some as someone who reinvigorated an aging, abandoned structure in the heart of the Goshen area of Middle Township.
Trouble began when Keenan started advertising his plans for Halloween. Notices for Tremeo’s Halloween Scare, a Halloween extravaganza that offered ghost tours of the cemetery, a zombie crawl, a medium who would reach out to a Civil War veteran interred in the cemetery, and a chance to be lowered into a simulated open grave for a brief experience of being “buried alive.”
That brought objections from those who felt he was using the cemetery as a prop for a money-raising activity, failing to show the proper respect owed to those buried there and their families.
Will Keenan
Any understanding of what is happening at St. Babs starts with Keenan himself. Keenan did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment on this article.
Keenan, 43, is an actor, producer and digital entertainment executive who has been involved in over 20 movies dating to 1996, most of which would not be known to the general movie-going audience in Cape May County. He is a graduate of New York University’s theater program.
A web page for the non-profit foundation Keenan started states his intentions for St. Babs. “The St. Babs mission helps people in need, especially women and children and those seeking recovery, self-development, arts education and/or a house of spiritual refuge.”
In social media posts, Keenan credits his mother’s concern for those with addictions for his interest in an addiction/recovery center at St. Babs.
His planned Halloween events were presented as a fundraiser for the property’s restoration.
The title for his planned Halloween Scare, Tremeo, is borrowed directly from one his early movies, “Tremeo and Juliet,” a film based loosely on Shakespeare’s play with a plot line that has Keenan, who played Tremeo, a modern-day filmmaker, falling in love with Juliet, the daughter of a business rival. Spoiler alert, they end up married in a New Jersey suburb called Tromaville.
Reconciling his avowed concerns for social causes and the Goshen community with the planned use, or what some would call misuse, of the cemetery for Halloween, was difficult for some. They have sought the intervention of the Middle Township Committee.
The Purchase
When the small congregation of the Goshen Methodist Church could no longer support the facility, individuals moved to join other area congregations. The church sat vacant for years until the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church sold it to Keenan.
The sale apparently included the land that is the cemetery with no deed restrictions.
Carolyn Conover, director of communications for the conference, said the cemetery was included in the sale with “the requirement” that the cemetery “remain in good repair and satisfactory condition.” She added that Keenan was “provided the plot maps and grave receipts…so that he could continue to comply with all applicable laws regarding cemetery and cemetery management.”
This statement leaves unaddressed some issues.
The complaints regarding the Halloween events were not directed at the cemetery’s upkeep but rather what some saw as its irreverent use.
The issue of applicable laws is also a problem since Middle Township Solicitor Frank Corrado, who stated that he is researching the issue, has thus far noted that religious cemeteries, which this was when sold, are not governed by many of the state’s laws regarding cemetery management.
Even the requirements identified by Conover might have no standing if they were never part of any restrictions on the deed. Any sales agreement may have limited if any, impact.
The fact that plots were purchased from the Methodist Church with the expectation of their ownership by the plot holders seems to complicate the issue in ways that have yet to evince any clarity.
It does not help that some families with loved ones in the cemetery do not trust Keenan.
Donald Douglas, whose parents are buried there, said that in his early interactions with Keenan, the new owner of the cemetery was not truthful about plans for the Halloween event.
Distrust adds another layer of complexity to any resolution of the issue.
Middle Township Committee
Thus far the members of township committee have expressed moral support for the families who have attended meetings. Corrado said he continues to investigate the matter.
At the November township meeting, Corrado told members of two families in attendance that the sale of the cemetery “raises a lot of issues.” He added, “I am not sure how the church sells property that you have rights to.” No real path of action open to the township had been identified.
In response to a question posted to Facebook, Keenan replied he planned to honor the rights of plot owners and expressed his intention to beautify the old cemetery.
Douglas said he has papers that show that he has two plots for himself and his wife Eileen to be buried next to his parents. Now he says that he is being forced to contemplate removing his parents from the cemetery.
Halloween is past, but for some, the distrust lingers. What path any resolution of the impasse might take is still an open question.
For now, Eileen Douglas said that she and other families would be back at the township committee meeting in January.
