4 Atlantic City Catholic Churches Being Consolidated Into One
by David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden is consolidating four churches in Atlantic City into a single parish, with a backup worship site when needed.
The reasons: money and declining attendance at mass.
When Bishop Joseph Galante, who used to head the diocese, started the process in 2008, there were 124 parishes from Camden to Cape May. By the time the current bishop, Dennis Sullivan, is through, they'll be down to 65.
This is going on in every Catholic diocese in the northeast of our country, where there is a shift of Catholic population to the south and to the Sun Belt," Sullivan said today.
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Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Nicholas of Tolentine will operate under the name of St. Monica Parish, with the quaint Our Lady Star of the Sea serving as the main worship site.
The current St. Monica's Church and St. Michael's will close.
The city's lone Catholic school, at Our Lady Star of the Sea, is unaffected by the move.
