Montclair church takes legal aim Newark archbishop | Di Ionno

By Mark Di Ionno
Star-Ledger
July 17, 2016

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/montclair_church_takes_legal_aim_newark_archbishop.html

Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church protest the closing of their Montclair church at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark on Sunday morning. 07/10/2016 Photo by Steve Hockstein

Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church are protesting the closing of their beloved Montclair church. 07/10/2016 Photo by Steve Hockstein

Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church protest the closing of their Montclair church at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark on Sunday morning. 07/10/2016 Photo by Steve Hockstein

The small band of protesters was dwarfed by the soaring twin bell towers of the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

They didn't take up much space on the grand and expansive entrance way, graced by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

And they didn't have much of an audience, either. Sunday Masses at one of North America's most ornate and imposing cathedrals don't draw like they used to.

The irony wasn't lost on the people from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (OLMC) in Montclair, who came to the Archdiocese of Newark's cathedral last Sunday to protest the closing of their little neighborhood church.

"We get more people at Mass than they do," said Marguerite De Carlo. "Why don't they shut this down?"

She was being facetious, of course. But the anger is genuine and growing. So they decided to make their voices heard – and take their cause public – at the home parish of Archbishop John J. Myers, who made the decision. Today, they will take to the streets of Montclair, as part of their annual festival, beginning at noon. 

The archdiocese announced in May that OLMC would close and merge with Immaculate Conception in Montclair to form a new parish, to be named St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, after she is canonized in September.

It is part of a survival trend: Since 1999, the archdiocese has closed 35 churches, merging them with others to create 18 new parishes.

But OLMC was not a failing parish. It was financially and spiritually healthy, say its members.

"We are not going quietly,'' said De Carlo. "It's time for people to see this archdiocese is not about the good of the people or advancing our faith. It's about its own monetary advancement."

The parishioners have hired lawyers for both civil and canon law matters.

"We found something that's going to shake this whole thing up," said parishioner Raffaele Marzullo.

"The archdiocese hasn't filed the proper paperwork with the state to keep the church (OLMC) certified as a corporation," said Frank Cardell, who was the OLMC business manager until its finances were turned over to Immaculate Conception.

Still, he continues the fight.

"We're working on a decertification," he said. "They can't merge us if they don't control us as corporation."

Sr. Kate Kuenstler, an independent canon lawyer with a national group called FutureChurch and its "Save Our Parishes" initiative agrees.

"This is troublesome (for the archdiocese)," said Kuenstler, who has worked on hundreds of cases in 42 American dioceses and four countries. "In civilian law, they can't form a new corporation (of the merged churches) if they don't own the name of the existing corporations."

The OLMC parishioners also plan to file a lawsuit against the archdiocese over its "We are Living Stones" capital campaign, which began last September.

"We're saying it was fraudulent," said Cardell, credited by parishioners for leading its financial resurgence. "It was presented to us as a fundraiser to help save parishes when they knew all along they were going to shut us down.

"This doesn't just affect us," he said. "There are other parishes on the chopping block while they're out raising money."

James Goodness, the director of communications for the archdiocese declined to comment.

According to the archdiocese website, OLMC parishioners pledged $99,730 to the campaign, $55,076.94 of which has already been received. Of the $90 million the archdiocese was attempting to raise from its 219 parishes, $40 million was to be returned for local use.

De Carlo, who led the "We are Living Stones" initiative at OLMC said simply, "We should get our money back."

The church also had an $80,000 surplus, raised from feasts, festivals and collections. The archdiocese turned that money over to the pastor at Immaculate Conception.

"They took all our books and records and money and made new bank accounts," Cardell said. "In the meantime, they haven't even filed an official decree saying our church is being dissolved, and under Canon Law, we can't appeal until the decree is filed."

The archdiocese said the decision was made based on several variables, including church attendance and sacraments administered.

But the parishioners say it comes down to money and land value.

The church is two blocks from the Bay Street Station of Montclair. New condos, retail stores and parking decks have been built, older apartment buildings have been refurbished and a hotel with a rooftop restaurant is planned.

The church property is assessed at $962,000. Montclair property is typically assessed at 84 percent of market value, meaning that even if the church sold for $1.15 million, it would still be a bargain in the redevelopment-rich area.

"If a bishop is functioning merely as a CEO and sees a sellable church as a franchise, then it's all about making a profit," Kuenstler said. "But that shows a real lack of understanding of a church as a place of community of the faithful, and of heritage and culture. A bishop is supposed to function as a spiritual leader, not as the sole corporate stockholder."

Kuenstler, like the parishioners, is perplexed by the decision to close a profitable church that carries no debt to the archdiocese and has been recently upgraded.

"Usually, a bishop takes a church that has diminished assets and folds it into a financially healthier church," she said. "Not the other way around."

Not only did OLMC have an $80,000 surplus, the parishioners funded $250,000 in repairs and replaced the heating systems in all three buildings on the Pine Street property.

"For a little parish, that's pretty darn good," said Cardell. "We're making money. Does that sound like a church you'd want to shut down?"

Robert Russo, the former mayor, a current councilmember and Montclair's longest serving public official, thinks not.  

Though not a parishioner, he sponsored a unanimous resolution asking Myers to reconsider.

"This is an up-and-coming area," said Russo. "You'd think they'd want to keep the church open to attract more people. We offered our help, we asked for a one-year reprieve. We got no response. Not even a letter."