Revised Recommendation -January 28, 2008

Central Deanery on Revised Recommendations to the Diocesan Planning Commission sent in on January 28

GATHERING GOD’S GIFTS
PARISH PLANNING UPDATE
(January 2008)

“We the Catholic Church of South Jersey
 envision growing ever more
 into a dynamic community of faith, hope and love
 wherein we reveal the mind and heart of Jesus
through our actions and worship.”
--Vision for the Future of Our Church

In 2005 and 2006, men and women from every parish in every part of the diocese met face to face with Bishop Joseph Galante at parish “Speak Up” sessions to share with him their concerns and hopes for the Church in South Jersey.  At these meetings, the people of the diocese identified key priorities that needed to be addressed by our Church:  lifelong faith formation, compassionate outreach, vocations, lay ministry, youth and young adults and liturgy.

Wisely our people identified the priorities that when addressed with renewed  understanding and active commitment can give new vibrancy  and energy to revitalize parish life.
 
In order to advance these key priorities and to address the challenges of demographic change, population shifts, Catholics drifting away from their faith, and a declining number of diocesan priests available for ministry, all parishes have been engaged in a process of planning to develop recommendations that will strengthen and revitalize parish life in all areas of the diocese. 

Last year representatives from our parish and other parishes in our deanery developed preliminary recommendations concerning how parishes might best be configured within our deanery.  These preliminary recommendations were evaluated by the Diocesan Planning Commission last summer.  Criteria used in the assessment included the following: distance to and accessability of Sunday Mass, adequacy of worship space; the pastor’s workload, consistency with the number of priests that will  be available for ministry; provision for upgrading ministry outreach through hiring professional staff in key ministerial positions;  demonstration of adequate parish income to support the proposed configuration; and whether the advantages of the proposed reconfigurations  outweighed the disadvantages. Last fall, Bishop Galante and members of the Diocesan Planning Commission met with representatives of our deanery to review the assessment of our plan, to pose questions and to obtain additional information.   At this meeting, the Diocesan Planning Commission indicated that our preliminary planning recommendation was not affirmed.

In order to address the Diocesan Planning Commission assessment of our preliminary proposal, our pastor and three planners from our parish gathered in deanery meetings.  Their goal was to address the assessment issues and develop revised recommendations for the entire deanery.  This was difficult and challenging as change is never easy even when it is necessary. 

The preliminary recommendations have now been revised 1) to address responsibility for the future common good of the Church 2) to strengthen the ability of parish communities to have the necessary human resources available to grow in vitality, 3) to build on a more realistic financial base in order to support the elements of dynamic parishes.  We now have forwarded our revised recommendations to Diocesan Planning Commission.      

These are recommendations developed by our  deanery planners.  Our recommendations are not final decisions. They are recommendations being forwarded for study, for potential endorsement or for further modification by the Diocesan Planning Commission.

 

 REVISED RECOMMENDATION

 

Merger Model:
We have recommended that our parish be merged with Assumption, Atco and St. Anthony, Waterford and have two  priests.

Blessed John XXIII asked to add a footnote to the agreed upon plan that the building fund it has collected through the years not be used for any other purpose other than to someday construct a church somewhere in Winslow Township to address its growing needs.

Blessed John XXIII Presents Planning Recommendations to the Diocese for Implementation

All of the parishes of the diocese, including BLESSED JOHN XXIII have been working to determine the best ways to serve our communities with our available material and human resources as demographics change, populations shift, and the number of diocesan priests available for ministry continues to decline. 

Representatives from our parish planning team met several times early in the year under the guidance of Fr. Jim Maggart and our parish chairperson, Carol Pleczynski, to review our parish data and to review data from other parishes within our deanery.    The members of the parish planning team were:  Fr. Hugh Bradley, Mary Christian, Kel MacKavanagh, Lois Mauro, Carol Pleczynski, Patricia Mauro, Tim Stac.

Under the leadership of Fr. Carmen Carlone, the Dean for our area of the diocese, and with  a trained facilitator, Annette Bakley, our pastor and chairperson, along with representatives from our parish planning teams, met several times with representatives from the other parishes in our region for Regional Meetings to begin to formulate planning recommendations for our region. Our planning partners are:   Blessed John XXIII, Cedarbrook & Blue Anchor,; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Berlin; Church of the Assumption, Atco; and St. Anthony, Waterford

At these Regional Meetings, the planning representatives considered various models for parish configuration that would strengthen parish life within our region.  Full descriptions of each of these models for configuration have been published in past issues of the Catholic Star Herald and can be found at  www.GatheringGodsGifts.org .

Meetings were held this spring at the Deanery level with representatives from the region.  At these meetings, planning recommendations were formulated for all the planning partners in the deanery.  These deanery recommendations, which were submitted to the diocese by May 15, will be reviewed and evaluated during the summer months by Bishop Galante with the Diocesan Planning Commission.  In the fall, Bishop Galante will visit each deanery representative group to give feedback and pose questions.

Following Bishop’s visit, the planning representatives in deaneries will have the opportunity to fine tune or adapt their planning recommendations.  During December and January, Bishop Galante with his advisors will review the final draft of recommendations submitted by each deanery.   It is expected that Bishop Galante will announce the diocesan plan in February 2008.

PARISH PLANNING RECOMMENDATION

The Pastoral Planning process of the Diocese of Camden, Gathering God’s Gifts, has as its major work the revitalization of parish life.  In order to move toward our diocesan pastoral goals for parish vibrancy, the following model of parish configuration is being recommended to Bishop Galante:

REMEMBER: THIS IS ONLY A RECOMMENDATION AND NOT FINAL!!!

One Priest, One Parish Model:
Blessed John XXIII builds new church complex parish and with one pastor and one part-time associate.

REMEMBER: THIS IS ONLY A RECOMMENDATION AND NOT FINAL!!! 

In addition to the recommended reconfiguration model noted above, the planning process has been addressing the number of priests available for ministry, the ministries needed for vibrant parish life, financial feasibility, and facilities.  These factors are contingent on the acceptance of the model of configuration being recommended.  For additional detail on our planning recommendations, see our parish website at  www.blessedjohn23.org .

As we complete Phase II of “Gathering God’s Gifts” and enter Phase III (see www.GatheringGodsGifts.org for a complete timeline), we thank all of the clergy, religious, and lay men and women who have collaborated so faithfully in this process and who have brought their gifts to the service of our Church.  We ask you to continue to pray daily for the success of this process that, with God’s grace, it will help us grow into the dynamic communities of faith, hope and love that we strive to be.

Recommendations from Regional Meetings to Deanery

There are three Regions in our Deanery. The first region consists of:
Blessed John XXIII: Sacred Heart-Cedarbrook and St. Lucy- Blue Anchor; Mt. Carmel, Berlin; Assumption, Atco; St. Anthony, Waterford.

The second rregion consists of: St. Rose of Lima, Newfield; Our Lady of the Lakes, Collings Lakes; and St. Mary, Malaga

The third region consists of: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Joseph and St. Martin dePorres all of Hammonton


PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE ONLY RECOMMENDATIONS AND NOT FINAL

Region one [Blessed John XXIII: Sacred Heart-Cedarbrook and St. Lucy- Blue Anchor; Mt. Carmel, Berlin; Assumption, Atco; St. Anthony, Waterford ] proposed three possible plans:

Mt. Carmel - one parish with one priest
Assumption - one parish with one priest
St. Anthony- merges into Assumption
Blessed John XXIII - merges into Assumption



Mt. Carmel - one parish with one priest
Assumption and St. Anthony- cluster and share one priest
Blessed John XXIII - builds new church complex as one parish with one priest



Mt. Carmel - one parish with one priest
Assumption and St. Anthony merge - one priest
Blessed John XXIII - builds parish complex - one priest





PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE ONLY RECOMMENDATIONS AND NOT FINAL
After discussion it was decided the Option 2 is the preferred plan and Option 1 would be a fall back position if Blessed John XXIII could not gain approval to build. Option 3 was deleted.