300 parishioners sue diocese about merger

by Tom Gallagher on Jan. 28, 2010

Almost 300 members of St. Vincent Pallotti parish in Haddon Township, N.J., have sued the Camden diocese, seeking the return of more than $1 million in donations made before the diocese announced a controversial merger plan for their parish.

The donations funded capital improvements that were dedicated in November 2007 -- four months before Bishop Joseph Galante revealed plans to merge St. Vincent Pallotti with St. Aloysius Parish in Oaklyn.

Under the plan, St. Aloysius would be the seat of the combined parish -- and Haddon Township parishioners contend that puts St. Vincent Pallotti's facilities at risk of closing.

The suit asserts Galante approved the multi-year capital campaign at St. Vincent Pallotti, then did not tell parishioners that he intended to restructure the diocese, said John Wilson, a Collingswood attorney representing the parishioners."

Classic.

Catholics have had enough and

Submitted by Dr. Dale (not verified) on Jan. 28, 2010.

Catholics have had enough and are madder than hell. From the sex abuse scandal and coverup in the US to the same thing in Ireland, church closures, priest shortages, out of touch clerics wearing magna cappas and red prada slippers. Laity have had enough and we are seeing the beginning of a lot of angst that typically occurs before upheavals whether it's church or society (parishoners suing bishops, politicians considering to have the UN declare that the pope and the church have created unsafe environments for children, etc).
The result of the next conclave will determine if the laity stay and the church survives or slips into the abyss and becomes a reactionary, defensive and irrelevant institution. I would not want to be one of these bishops, Rome included, who will have to account to the Lord for what they have done to the Church.

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