Protesters Greet Bishop at Vineland Tent Revival, by Juliet Fletcher, Press of Atlantic City, June 18, 2008

Protesters Greet Bishop at Vineland Tent Revival

By Juliet Fletcher
Press of Atlantic City
June 18, 2008

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/182/story/185504.html

VINELAND - As Anthony Mecca watched the head of the Camden Diocese begin his slow walk across the field next to Our Lady of Pompeii Church, he held aloft his hand-drawn sign, written in Latin.

"Pater, dimitte Galante," it began. Underneath, the translation read, "Father, forgive Galante."

Mecca, a 40-year parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Pitman, Gloucester County, had driven in to catch Bishop Joseph Galante before a special outdoor Mass in St. Padre Pio parish.

"It's the parish mergers," he said, when asked what had brought him cross-county. The church was slated to be merged with Our Lady of Lourdes in neighboring Glassboro, under diocese plans that reduce 124 parishes to 66. Most rankling to Mecca and his fellow protesters, they said, was that the bishop had been invited to come to address the parish following that announcement and had declined.

So on Tuesday night, the group, numbering about 30, lined the streets around the church to make their feelings known.

"My faith has not been changed," said Leah Vassallo, who had helped found the Council of Parishes of Southern New Jersey following news of the mergers in April. "But you start to see the bishop as the enemy. It's as if Judas was still within the church."

Galante had waited for 10 minutes out on the field while the previous speaker had finished his performance with a joke about mean couples who attend church. The event, featuring four days of religious presenters, musicians and outreach, was billed as a way to open the Catholic Church up to curious outsiders.

Vassallo, from St. Mary's in Malaga, was one of many outside the big outdoor tent who said the choice of event, more typical to large evangelical congregations, was significant. "Honestly," she asked, "have you ever seen a Catholic tent revival?"

She dismissed the diocese's reasons for the parish reorganization - including diocese statistics that only 24 percent of Catholics regularly attend Mass, with numbers of priests falling. "This is about creating larger parishes that can support paid ministries," she said. "But I don't think the way to get more people to come to church is to create mega-churches."

Once Galante filed past the protesters into the tent, he used his sermon to address the news head-on.

"That's what gospel means, 'good news,'" he began. "So why, as Catholic Christians, do we create the impression that what we've received is bad news?

"We sometimes look like we bit into a bad piece of fish, a bad oyster."

"When I come in, seeing people outside, expressing their opinions," he continued, the Christian response was "to love them and to pray for them."

At the same time, he spoke vehemently of the need for more vibrant parishes.

"People say, 'Is it strange to have a Catholic tent revival?' What's strange is that we're not doing enough Catholic revival," he finished, to clapping from the congregation.

Outside, Andy Walton, spokesman for the diocese, disputed Vassallo's description of the new parishes as "mega-churches."

St. Mary's, which will merge with four other parishes in Newfield, Landisville, Minotola and Collings Lakes, has about 250 families, he said. As for the protesters waiting for Galante, Walton said, "He knows they'll be there; he doesn't let them stop him going around."

"They're sincere and well-intentioned," he said. "But we hope with time they'll see the need for the reorganization."

Vassallo said that if appeals to the bishop fail, her group would likely follow opponents of the merger in Wildwood Crest by appealing to the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome.

"We will do everything in our power, because we feel we're fighting for the Catholic Church in South Jersey," she said.

By the time the evening Mass was unde rway, Anthony Mecca had chosen not to stay and receive communion from the bishop. He had taken his sign and gone home.

To e-mail Juliet Fletcher at The Press:

Contact: JFletcher@pressofac.com