This article includes additional content and information beyond that which was included in our Dec. 10 print edition.

The Southern Burlington Cluster Study officially concluded with a Mass Dec. 3 in Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Hainesport, when Bishop John M. Smith was presented with a repot on possible development and restructuring options for the future ministry of five southern Burlington County parishes.

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The parishes involved in the study are: Christ the Redeemer, Mount Holly; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown; Our Lady Queen of Peace, Hainesport; Sacred Heart Parish, Mount Holly, and St. John Neumann, Mount Laurel.

Addressed in the recommendations was the need for formal collaboration and cooperation between the parishes, support for the idea of exploring expansion projects for Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady Queen of Peace Parishes and the importance of maintaining and fostering the cultural diversity that exists within the cluster.

The Southern Burlington Cluster Study was initiated by Bishop Smith and conducted by the diocesan Office of Pastoral Planning and the diocesan Expansion and Restructuring Commission with the ultimate goal of examining the area’s pastoral challenges and to address the needs of all Catholics in the area through the development and enhancement of new modes of ministry in the five parishes.

The impetus for conducting the cluster study developed as a result of how parishes had been affected by various factors including shifts in demographics, an influx of immigrants in different areas, a shortage of vocations to the priesthood and religious life and an increase in the senior citizen population.

Along with those factors, this cluster study presented several unique challenges that needed to be considered: namely that it was an area that has experienced a tremendous Catholic population increase and the need for Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady Queen of Peace to expand their facilities in order to accommodate their growing memberships. The parishes currently must schedule as many as seven and eight weekend Masses in order to serve their people, which places a heavy burden on the priest who serve there.

Another reality the study addressed is the increasing senior citizen population and how parishes could continue to provide ministry services to them in the future, such as hospital and nursing home visitations and other pastoral needs.

Bishop Smith, in his homily, spoke on the Gospel that was proclaimed – the Ascension of Jesus into the heaven and how the apostles were commissioned by Jesus to carry on his work in spreading the Good News to all nations. He then spoke on the life of St. Francis Xavier, whose feast the universal Church observed that day.

Before encountering Ignatius of Loyola and entering the Jesuit community, Francis Xavier was educated in Paris and was well known as a “great philosopher, a great teacher.” But then he “began to feel the call not to be the famous Parisian professor,” but to become an “evangelist, a spreader of the Gospel.” He preached the message of Jesus in foreign lands, Lisbon, the East Indies, and places where there were no Christians – India – the center of the Hindu faith – and Japan. He died before achieving his dream of going to China.

Like Francis Xavier, who gave up his dreams to follow Jesus, Bishop Smith thanked the pastors and parish representatives for their generous sacrifice of time to be part of the cluster study.

“The greatest gift we have to give is time, and that is what Francis Xavier gave – his time for the mission of the Gospel. Time can never be recouped and all of us only have so much time,” said Bishop Smith.

“Each one of us through our Baptism is called to be a missionary and you, through your work in the cluster study, have been missionaries – touching, influencing, moving each other like that first group of Christians to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in new, vibrant and sacrificial ways,” said Bishop Smith.

“This is our time to be the Francis Xaviers and Ignatius of Loyolas of the world. It is our time to be the apostles, the preachers of the Gospel. This is our time to do Christ’s work in the world,” said Bishop Smith. “You have planned, thought and prayed about how parishes in this cluster can become more dynamic, focused, more missionary. May we, through the work you have done, now go forth and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in new, vibrant and exciting ways.”

Background of Cluster Study

The Southern Burlington Cluster Study process began in the summer of 2008 when parishioners were asked to complete an in-pew survey which focused on aspects of parish life. The survey results provided the groundwork for each parish’s self-study and was designed to measure each of the local communities specifically on the 11 Elements of a Vibrant Parish, first introduced by Bishop Smith in 1999.

Parishes were then asked to form core teams of 10 to 20 including clergy and lay leaders and it was their responsibility to review the survey results and to serve as liaisons between the parish communities and the parish study teams – those designated parish representatives, the pastor and two lay persons, who were part of the formal study.

Once the study officially began in January, the parish study team members were immersed in an in-depth process in which they met monthly for 10 months to develop recommendations for parish restructuring and other measures to address the challenges indentified in the cluster.

Critical to the study process were the town meetings which provided an opportunity for pastors to thoroughly explain the study and allow parishioners to voice their concerns, ask questions and offer input on the findings of the study research and learn about the various directions that could be taken to reach the pastoral goals established for the parishes.

Through their discussion, the parish representatives reached consensus on a number of points which served as the basis for developing the recommendations.

Such points included plans to increase collaboration in the region in areas of youth ministry and adult faith formation, hospital and homebound visitation and a variety of parish ministries and through an equitable distribution of deacons and support for the idea of exploring expansion projects for the two burgeoning parishes – Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady Queen of Peace.

Different scenarios were also presented for parish restructuring that could include twinning or merging as a response to the future possibility of having only three or four pastors for the five parishes in the study. There was agreement on the need to preserve the integrity of the Hispanic community at Christ the Redeemer in any restructuring or expansion recommendation, ensuring not only the placement of a bi-lingual pastor or parochial vicar, but the integration of culture and tradition as well. The study group also agreed that an inter-parochial advisory committee should be formed to help develop ongoing pastoral plans for the area.

It is expected that Bishop Smith will consider the recommendations separately and act on each at the appropriate time in accordance with his decisions.

The initiative to build more vibrant parishes in the diocese began in the Greater Trenton are in 2004. Subsequent studies were held in Northern Burlington County, Central Monmouth County and in the Monmouth Bayshore area.

Similar to the Southern Burlington Cluster Study, the Monmouth Bayshore Cluster Study was not conducted as a deanery-wide study that involved more than a dozen parishes. The diocese instead, concentrated on those communities whose logistical relationship to one another, size and other relevant factors made them likely candidates to work together in new models of ministry and leadership.

A Bird’s Eye View

Reflecting on the Southern Burlington Study process, Father Jeffrey E. Lee, chairman of the diocesan Expansion and Restructuring Committee, found the meetings to be “truly an opportunity in which the Lord dwelt with us.”

While the focus of previous parish studies that were conducted in other areas of the diocese were due to shifting demographics, Father Lee said the study “was launched with a very different perspective.”

The study has been more about “receiving people” and determining ways to prepare for their arrival, he said. “It was launched with hopes and dreams of people for building Church, for becoming Church in a fuller way and living out the Gospel message in this part of God’s creation.”

Father Lee noted that many of the parishioners in the cluster parishes are not native to the area and that they had come with their own traditions, languages, cultures and expectations.

“We know in our Church we have a great tradition of receiving immigrants and that we make room for people wherever there is a need,” he said. “We’ve also learned a very important lesson together – that we need to share the gifts and talents regionally and recognize that the parish is the cornerstone of the Eucharistic community; that we don’t pray and build community in isolation from one another.”

“This consultation strengthened those beliefs and together as Church, we must break down barriers and place Christ at the center. It is the Eucharist that will be our point of reference in all that we do, in all that we say and in all that we hope to become,” said Father Lee.

With meetings and discussions behind them and the recommendations in Bishop Smith’s hands, pastors and parish representatives from the five cluster parishes expressed appreciation for the reasons the diocese had initiated the study and for the opportunity to represent their respective parishes.

At first, concern was expressed among the five parish communities about “what was going to happen” because “no one wanted to lose what they had,” said Nayda Ramos, parish representative for Christ the Redeemer, Mount Holly.

Additionally, Ramos said that parishioners at Christ the Redeemer at first were also concerned about the impact the study could have on the Hispanic community if the parish was to merge or twin with another parish.

“We don’t want to lose our identity,” she said.

As the study evolved, Ramos said fears were allayed once parishioners realized the amount of support and regard the other parishes and the diocese had for preserving the parish’s Hispanic culture.

“They were very conscientious,” she said.

Ceil O’Callaghan, parish representative for Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, was positive about the study and the recommendations.

“It was good to get the parishes together,” said O’Callaghan. “We have a tendency to see ourselves as very, very different, but as the study went on, we came to realize that we were not so different after all. Each parish has a unique style and we came to appreciate our differences, but also recognized that our cores are so common that it was a real blessing.”

O’Callaghan observed that the parish study teams seem to view the recommendations “with an open spirit.”

“It is difficult when all of us are so entrenched in our own parishes to conceive of the idea of something different,” she said. “We acknowledged that there was going to be change regardless of what we did. The people were open to the idea of getting ready for change and we tried to embrace that with an open spirit.”

Referring to the study as “unique” and “future thinking,” in that it was conducted primarily to promote collaboration and was not about re-organization, Deacon James Cattanea of St. John Neumann Parish, Mount Laurel, cited how the parishes are looking at ways “to help each other out” through parish personnel, collaboration of ministries and sharing of resources and facilities.

He then spoke about the Cistercian monks who staff St. John Neumann Parish and their long history in helping out in other surrounding parishes. The monks came to Burlington County in 1961 and had served in other parishes prior to the establishment of St. John Neumann in 1978.

“The monks who were here helped out in other parishes” and they continued to do so today, said Deacon Cattanea. “We know each other very well and we freely help each other out.”

The recommendations are not about solving a “short-term problem” but finding a “long-term solution,” said Deacon Cattanea. “This was really an excellent chance for the five parishes who are neighbors to come and get to know each other a little better.”