Free Republic

CAMDEN Citing a declining number of priests available for ministry, Bishop Joseph A. Galante said a reduction in the number of parishes that serve more than 500,000 people in the six-county Camden Diocese is inevitable. In 10 years, half of the 172 priests in the area could be retired, Galante said. This coupled with population shifts has created a financial burden and "compromised" the ability of certain perishes to meet the demands of the future, Galante said. "We, like most Northeast dioceses, have churches and facilities that were established decades ago in areas where the Catholic population is substantially diminished,"...

PHILADELPHIA - A former Philadelphia-area priest accused of abusing more than a dozen girls and taking an 11-year-old he had raped for an abortion performed a baptism this summer weeks after he was defrocked. Nicholas V. Cudemo performed the baptism at Christ the King Church in Haddonfield, N.J., on July 10, Camden diocese officials confirmed. A recent Philadelphia grand jury report found that Cudemo had sexual relationships with girls from Catholic schools where he taught from the 1960s to the 1980s, molesting one girl in the confessional and invoking God to seduce the youngsters. The report focused on abusive priests...

Some white students at a South Jersey Catholic school walked out of classes Tuesday in protest over a speech by the New Jersey Secretary of State Regina Thomas. Tensions have been building up at Paul VI High School since Thomas' speech on racial justice last week.

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — The incoming leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden has decided that Gov. James E. McGreevey cannot receive communion. The Most Rev. Joseph Galante said Thursday that he was taking the stance primarily because the divorced governor, who is Catholic, remarried without receiving a church annulment. He also cited McGreevey's support of abortion rights, stem-cell research and other positions which contradict church views. Galante, who was to be installed Friday during a Mass at St. Agnes Church in Blackwood, said he felt duty bound to take a hard line stance on the issue. He said...