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	Camden Diocese to Announce Parish Closings By Kristen A. Graham Philadelphia Inquirer April 3, 2008 http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080403_Camden_Diocese_to_announce_parish_closings.html Bishop Joseph Galante, head of the Diocese of Camden, will today announce a reconfiguration likely to cause mergers and closures among 124 South Jersey Roman Catholic parishes. The 1:30 p.m. announcement will be available via Web cast at http://www.camdendiocese.org and comes after more than a year of discussions with church members. Galante has said that by 2015 there will be half as many priests as there were in 2005, when the diocese had 171. There are now 162 priests. Some churches could remain with the one priest-one parish model, while others could be merged or clustered, or put in other possible arrangements. The changes come in response to "changing demographics and shifts in the Catholic population, a decline in Mass attendance and the number of priests available for ministry, and the need to advance key pastoral priorities," according to a release. The diocese serves about 500,000 Catholics in Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cape May, Salem and Cumberland Counties. Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 856-779-3970 or kgraham@phillynews.com.
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