DOVER Bishop Serratelli has issued a decree that brings together and strengthens two distinct and dynamic parishes in Dover by canonically merging Sacred Heart Parish, an Anglo population, and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, a Spanish-speaking faith community, into one parish, which took effect yesterday, Aug. 15, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The new unified parish is now called “Sacred Heart and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church,” although each individual church building will retain its original respective name.
Father Brendan Murray, who has served as pastor of the separate Sacred Heart on Richards Avenue and Holy Rosary on Myrtle Avenue, will lead the new combined parish, which has two churches located about five blocks from each other in the Morris County municipality. Established to serve the local Hispanic community in 1959, Holy Rosary ministers to and holds a broad array of religious devotions to a multicultural population of Spanish-speakers from several Latin countries, the pastor said.
Founded as a mission of St. Mary Parish, Dover, in 1904 to serve the local mining community, Sacred Heart today serves an older English-speaking community which includes many faithful, whose families have worshipped here for several generations. They generously give of their time, participating in ministries, such as those to the grieving and sick and serving as ushers and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. In addition, Sacred Heart supports a dynamic children’s choir and large Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program, said Father Murray who served as pastor of both separate parishes for 11 years.
“Following an extensive and intense period of study and reflection and after hearing the clergy of Sacred Heart Parish, who also presently provide the pastoral care for Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish, and after hearing the Christian faithful of both Sacred Heart Parish and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Parish, I have concluded that both the spiritual welfare of the Christian faithful and the temporal good of both parishes will be best served by the consolidation of the parishes through the canonical merging of the aforementioned parishes into one unified parish community which shall be called Sacred Heart and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church,” Bishop Serratelli declared in his decree, which was promulgated on Aug. 1, the Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
The Diocese decided to initiate the merger for the following reasons: to better provide for the pastoral needs of faithful in the two parishes; to provide wise stewardship of resources in the two parishes; to provide more effective use of clergy and the pastoral staffs, and to provide the continuing vital presence of the Roman Catholic Church in Dover. Also, the merger will provide for the needs of the Catholic faithful in Dover, which has grown and requires more space to hear the Word of God and celebrate the sacraments; and to provide for the appropriate use of both churches, so they are “used for the glory of God and the sanctification of the Christian faithful,” according to the decree, which Bishop Serratelli promulgated in accordance with the Code of Canon Law.
“This is a welcome merger by both Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary. This will bring more life into both parishes, which will continue sharing with each other, and enable them to use their resources more effectively,” Father Murray said.
The decree makes the following provisions for the new combined parish:
• That the territory of Sacred Heart will include the faithful of Holy Rosary, so that Holy Rosary and Sacred Heart are joined together;
• That all the currently registered parishioners of Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary will belong to one territorial parish;
• That the intention of the donors of the parishes, as well as any acquired rights, have been examined and taken into consideration, especially regarding the allocation of goods and obligations of debts;
• The members of the combined parish “will participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrate the sacraments, hear the Gospel proclaimed and participate in devotions” at the present two churches;
• That the pastor of the merged parish will oversee the celebration “of the Sacred Liturgy and sacraments in general, along with devotions, according to what best serves the needs of Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary”;
• That the “goods that belong to or are assigned to Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary, including its patrimony, property, funds, gifts, grants, prior legacies, pious foundations and any debts and obligations, should be assigned to the combined parish”;
• That the sacramental registers, death registers and matrimonial records of Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary shall be held in the archives of Sacred Heart; and
• That the “voluntary offerings of the faithful, as well other gifts, grants, pious wills and pious foundations, which have been made to each parish shall become part of the financial patrimony and serve the temporal good” of the merged parish.
On the weekend of Aug. 4 and 5, the decree was read or spoken about at all Masses at both Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary. Signing the document with Bishop Serratelli were Msgr. James Mahoney, diocesan vicar general, moderator of the Curia, and pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, Chatham Township, and Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious. The decree will be posted on the diocesan website and the websites of each parish.
The merger will combine the finance boards and pastoral councils of both parishes, bring together the finances of both faith communities and combine the parish staffs, which already have been working together. There will be some adjustment of Mass schedules in the future, but there is no intension to eliminate any Mass, Father Murray said.
For several years now, Holy Rosary has been using the building of the former Sacred Heart School, which closed in 2006, for meetings and retreats and its gym for certain Masses. Because of a lack of space, Holy Rosary holds religious education classes, which now can only educate a limited number of grades, in two wooden houses nearby. It’s anticipated that this merger will kick start a re-configuration of the two parishes’ facilities, which would provide the Holy Rosary religious formation program room to expand, Father Murray said.
The two faith communities have been known to come together for one bilingual Mass on Holy Thursday and one on Christmas and for special Masses, such as the first liturgy of a new priest or an anniversary liturgy for a priest, the pastor said.
“There is something so alive about both parishes. They are good, steadfast and loving,” Father Murray said. “Holy Rosary has been using the facilities of Sacred Heart for a while. With the merger, they should no longer feel like guests there, because they are part of the combined parish — their own church,” he said.