MANVILLE: Parishes split on merger, possibility of building new church

By Mary Ellen Day, Special Writer
    Parishioners of the borough’s two Catholic churches have split on the future of facilities in the borough.
    The study was begun in January to respond to the persistent flooding threat at Christ the King Church, built in 1946 off Louis Street, which was hit hard in the August 2011 flooding.
    Diocesan leaders have questioned the wisdom of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for renovations and repairs each time a major flood occurs.
    After a nine-month “renewing process,” two proposals came forward. They both recommended the immediate merger of the parishes, but one called for a feasibility study to determine the viability of building a new church and closing the existing churches.
    At the Nov. 13 meeting at Sacred Heart Church, 42 people attended, and 85 percent supported the parish merger and continuation of separate churches with the remaining attendees supporting merger and studying building a new church.
   At Christ the King on Nov. 15, a majority of the 75 attendees supported neither of two suggestions with 22 percent voting for merger and separate churches and 22 percent supporting the “merge and study building anew” approach. The remainder chose to write “no merger” on the input sheet.
    “While all the parishioners’ input will be discussed at the next renewal meeting,” said Pastor Stanislaw Slaby, “the committee will move forward to further deliberate the two finalists presented, and after continued reflection and prayer, they will likely select one of them as a final recommendation to the bishop.”
    Each meeting began with a prayer. The renewal process was explained, and the two proposals from a nine-month study and dialogue by a “discernment team” were presented. Parishioners wrote questions on index cards, and they were read and answered.
    In what was called Proposal 1, the two parishes would merge immediately to become a new parish with a new name and two worship sites with each church keeping its original name. If a flood closes Christ the King, Sacred Heart Church off South 2nd Avenue near South Main Street would become the only worship site.
    Proposal 2 similarly called for an immediate merger of the parishes with a new name and two worship sites. Again, if a flood forced the closure of Christ the King Church, Sacred Heart would become the only worship site.
    Before the merger, however, the new parish would commission a feasibility study on building a new church on a site to be determined. If it proved feasible, the parish would build a new church. A new church has been estimated to cost $7.5 million to $10 million.
    It would be likely both current churches would have to be sold to raise much of the money, a report said previously. The diocese said it cannot help pay for a new church.
    In November 2011, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski agreed to pay, for the last time, for boiler, elevator, bathroom and other repairs and renovations.
    At the meetings, the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal identified by the committee were presented.
    An immediate merger would allow the parishes “to build a more vibrant Catholic community in Manville, have improved utilization of human, financial and other resources, maximize cost efficiencies, provide more resources to support Catholic education in our community and allow parishioners to continue to worship in their own church.”
    A merger also would build “a more diverse parish to serve a changing diverse community, eliminate the unknown of when the parishes will merge . . . it will bring closure and allow people to heal and move forward as a united Catholic family, strengthen existing and build new ministries.”
Immediate merger disadvantages were the feelings of loss of things unique to Christ the King and Sacred Heart parishes.
    “There will be a period of sorrow and mourning among many parishioners at the loss of their parish, the potential loss of parishioners (uncomfortable with change) and the potential reduction of financial support,” said the report.
    An advantage of building anew is “a new worship site will create equal feeling of belonging and ownership with artifacts from both parishes more prominently displayed in a new church,” said the report.
    A previous report suggested converting or building on the property of Christ the King School.
    In February, the diocese communications manager said there were 738 registered families in the Christ the King parish and 1,159 member families at Sacred Heart.