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To the Editor:
Bishop Joseph Galante of the Camden Diocese has
decided to merge St. Nicholas Parish of Egg
Harbor City with Assumption Parish of Galloway
Township, one of many similar acts that will
reduce the Catholic Parishes in this diocese by
approximately 50 percent.
First, the bishop closed our parochial grammar
school, requiring our students to travel long
distances by bus if parents wanted to continue
enrollment in other parochial schools. Next, he
merges our church with an Assumption Parish that
will shortly open a new church in the easterly
section of Galloway Township, a move that again
will require our parishioners to travel a much
longer distance to attend Mass, a particular
burden to our senior citizens. St. Nicholas
Parish was built by our fathers and forefathers.
How dare a total stranger give away assets that
he himself admits belong to St. Nicholas Parish.
Bishop Galante says this parish merger is
necessary because of a shortage of priests. If
this is true, why is he letting our pastor
re-enlist in the United States Army and go to a
military assignment in Germany, thereby further
reducing the number of diocesan priests
available to minister to the needs of our
parishioners? Is it because he wants to get our
pastor out of the way so additional hardships
can be inflicted on St. Nicholas Parish?
Bishop Galante says he is concerned because
attendance at Sunday Mass has fallen to a low of
24 percent. Does he actually think attendance
will increase by reducing the number of
churches?
We must let Bishop Galante know that the laity
of this diocese do not approve of his
desecration of our Catholic faith. Say “no” to
the House of Charity Campaign. The withholding
of funds is the best way to let our feelings be
known.
Thomas J. McGeary Sr.
Egg Harbor City
To the Editor:
In his column [from April 9,
2008], Gabe Donio expressed outrage at the
consolidation of Catholic parishes in Hammonton,
and urges us to fight and “make” Bishop Galante
listen to us. I’m a little puzzled by this
strident battle cry - as has been widely
reported (including by The Gazette), the
bishop’s decision is the culmination of a
two-year process of soliciting every
parishioner’s opinion.
Gabe, we Catholics have had scores of
opportunities to have our say. The Bishop’s
decision was informed by dozens of parish
meetings, as well as by delegations from all the
parishes, in consultation with committees of
financial and other experts. Anyone who bothered
to go to the meetings would know that. In fact,
the decision to consolidate was precisely the
plan that many of us recommended. On a freezing,
rainy night early this year, hundreds of us from
all three parishes gathered in a beautiful Mass
to pray before sending our recommendations to
the diocese.
Older people, wiser than me, have pointed out
that 50 years ago, when the new parishes of St.
Anthony and St. Martin were first proposed,
people fought tooth and nail against it. Now
some are fighting just as hard not to go back to
the way it was originally.
But think about this: Jesus never had a
building. Two thousand years ago, he made it all
happen on hillsides, lakeshores, and in the
street. He held the first Mass in a rented
second-story room. The apostles preached in
people’s houses.
The truth is, Gabe, the Church is you. It’s you,
and me, and all the people who come together in
community to pray and work together in the name
of Jesus. We could have Mass in the parking lot
of Wal-Mart and still be every bit a vibrant
faith community. So I’m not worried about all
this – we’ll keep our traditions, but most of
all, we’ll keep what’s truly important – our
faith, our sense of community. The rest is just
logistics.
I and many other Catholics are looking forward
to this exciting time. Gabe, you say you haven’t
been to church much.
I invite you – and everyone – to come be part of
this. Don’t sit on the sidelines complaining.
Let’s get together to build and strengthen our
community. See you Sunday.
Anne Pushkal
Hammonton
To the Editor:
On behalf of the HERO campaign
and all of us at Good For Life Wellness Center,
I would like to thank everyone who helped make
our second annual HERO campaign a fun,
educational and successful event. Many thanks to
the Elliotts, Bill and Muriel, who created the
HERO campaign in memory of their son John, who
was killed by a drunk driver. Their presence
here was an inspiration to all involved.
We also thank the family of Sgt. John Cruz, who
perished right outside our doors after being hit
by a drunk driver.
Many Hammonton merchants allowed us to collect
donations outside their businesses or provided
refreshments. We thank all of them including
Trina’s, ShopRite, Bagliani’s, Wawa, Hammonton
Bagel, Brothers Pizza, and Philly Pretzel
Factory.
Members of National Honor Society from Hammonton
High School collected donations.
The Camden RiverSharks donated a pair of tickets
to an upcoming baseball game to each of the
students who assisted us.
We also thank Mimi Massara and Rosemarie Jacobs
of the Hammonton Anti-Drug and Alcohol Alliance
for coming out and providing our visitors and
participants with information and materials.
Many thanks to Sandy Tzaferos for her help in
organizing this event.
Officer Jay Pinto and Sergeant Kevin Friel of
the Hammonton Police Department provided an
entertaining and very informative demonstration
which was very well received. We thank them, as
well as Chief Frank Ingemi for allowing them and
the D.A.R.E. car to be a special part of our
day.
Finally, we thank all of our participants for
coming out and learning with us the importance
of always having a designated driver.
We look forward to seeing everyone next year.
Evelyn Tomasello
Good For Life Wellness Center
Hammonton
Perspective/
Green Committee
The Green Committee of Hammonton
would like to thank Mayor John DiDonato for an
amazing opportunity. We are an advisory
committee that was appointed because our mayor
was asked to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate
Protection Agreement. Once signed, the mayor
will pledge to take steps toward reducing the
carbon footprint of our town. 825 mayors have
signed this agreement across the United States
representing over 79 million Americans in 50
states (as of December 2007). Hammonton would
not be the first town in New Jersey to work
toward this goal. Eighty-eight mayors across our
state have signed this agreement (including our
neighbors, Galloway, Buena, Ocean City, Atlantic
City, Linwood, Margate and Longport). The Green
Committee’s job is to come up with innovative
energy solutions that cut our dependence on oil,
conserve resources, benefit public health, and
save taxpayers dollars. Our team is very excited
to be sharing this opportunity with you.
The Green Committee of Hammonton is dedicated to
the sustainability of the environment in our
town. This advisory committee is committed to
creating programs to help our town reduce its
environmental footprint. We will do this by
examining renewable energy sources and ways to
increase energy efficiency, reduce energy
consumption, minimize waste generation, increase
recycling efforts, conserve water and fuel and
garden responsibly. We intend to educate the
public on sustainable business practices and
individual responsibility. The Green Committee
of Hammonton envisions a beautiful eco-conscious
place to live that future generations will thank
the Town of Hammonton.
We are planning a fun-filled outdoor event in
honor of Earth Day at the Hammonton Lake Park in
June. Our team has come up with many educational
and fun ideas that will make this day a hit.
There will be fun with water, nature, demos,
hybrid cars, music, a movie under the stars and
even fun with trash (come and see our mayor sort
someone’s trash)! For more details, come to our
Green Committee meetings the first Monday of
every month, 7 p.m. at town hall.
If you are interested in helping in any way,
volunteering to help with the event, sponsoring
the event, or if you have information you feel
could help, please attend this meeting or e-mail
me at sgietka@comcast.net.
Susan Gietka, Member
Green Committee
Hammonton
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