By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Hundreds of blue lawn signs and banners proclaiming “Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church” represented the first salvo in a bitter feud that has divided the Catholic congregation in Sea Isle City.
Now, church parishioners who hope to prevent the 135-year-old chapel from being demolished are intensifying their battle with St. Joseph’s leadership, including the pastor.
Trustees of the Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church preservation group said they have filed a formal complaint asking the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether the church violated the state’s consumer fraud laws.
They claim there may have been a “bait and switch” when the church allegedly promised that the old chapel would stay as a key part of the fundraising efforts to build the new St. Joseph Catholic Church, which opened in 2011.
They also said they have hired attorneys and are considering their legal options, including the possibility of filing a lawsuit to block any demolition permits that might be issued in the future to tear down the old chapel at the corner of 44th Street and Landis Avenue.
They have also appealed to the church’s senior hierarchy, including a representative of the Vatican as well as the bishop of the Camden Diocese who oversees St. Joseph’s Church.
Ultimately, they believe they will succeed, they predicted during a nearly two-hour community meeting Saturday attended by about 70 church parishioners.
“Our lawyers have notified the city that any attempt to file a demolition permit will be fought,” said Tom Henry, president of the preservation group.
For more than a year, trustees of the nonprofit group have been locked in an intense dispute with the church’s leadership, headed by Father Joseph Perreault, pastor of St. Joseph’s, over the fate of the old chapel.
The pastor and a group of church leaders believe the old chapel is a financial burden and should be considered for redevelopment into a new “spiritual life center.” Preservationists want the building saved and put back into use for events such as weddings, funerals and baptisms.
“When we heard in August of last year that the church was going to be torn down, we had to fight. The church meant so much to the community,” Henry said.
Preservationists say the old chapel, built in 1884, is a sacred sanctuary that has been a religious and historic landmark in Sea Isle dating back nearly as long as the shore town’s formal founding in 1882 by visionary real estate developer Charles K. Landis.
“Let’s come together as a parish so we can enjoy that sacred spot that has been there for 135 years,” said Mike McHale, one of the trustees of the preservation group and a former mayor of Sea Isle.
McHale and other trustees said Father Perreault has locked up the old chapel and refuses to allow their group in the building to assess its physical condition, including mold infestation.
Perreault did not return a message Monday seeking comment. In March, he sent a two-page letter to parishioners urging both sides to reach “middle ground” in the controversy.
“The issue of the original, old Church has become the focal point of the current tension. This is, indeed, regrettable,” he wrote in his letter.
Hoping to end the conflict, Perreault, along with members of the church’s Parish Council and Finance Council, offered to compromise with parishioners who are adamantly opposed to any thought of demolishing the old chapel.
His proposal had a series of conditions attached to it, but essentially called for the creation of a “restricted account” to repair and maintain the chapel instead of the church continuing to assume the financial responsibility for its upkeep.
In his letter, Perreault stated that if the proposed compromise was accepted, the “Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church” lawn signs would have to be taken down. The signs are a common sight at homes and businesses around town.
McHale said during the meeting Saturday that the preservationists last sat down with Perreault in July and he had no interest in compromising then to save the old chapel. McHale said Perreault’s response was, “It’s too costly to maintain. We don’t need two churches.”
Discussions about the fate of the old chapel are part of a broader church strategy, known as the “Catholic Strong” fundraising campaign, to find ways to reinvigorate St. Joseph’s parish in the future.
The Catholic Strong Committee wrote in a letter included in the Sept. 9, 2018, church bulletin that a study will assess the cost of rehabilitating the chapel into a spiritual life center versus building new. A spiritual life center is envisioned as meeting space, a venue for special events and possibly new classrooms.
The historic chapel stands side-by-side with the modern $7 million St. Joseph Catholic Church that opened in December 2011. The new church includes a 1,300-seat sanctuary serving as the main worship hall for the congregation.
Bishop Dennis Sullivan, who heads the Camden Diocese overseeing St. Joseph Catholic Church, wrote in an Oct. 29, 2018, letter that following the opening of the new church, the old chapel “does not play a key role in the modern life of the parish.”
“I can certainly understand the sentimental attachment that some have to the old church at St. Joseph, but its use has been superseded by the new church that was long desired by the local community and which has been readily accepted,” the bishop wrote.
The old 225-seat chapel is no longer used these days, the preservationists said. It is in need of a series of improvements, including new heating and air-conditioning, as well as plumbing and electrical repairs. A recent engineering report found that the building has mold damage that must be cleaned up.
The building is an example of the Gothic-revival architectural style. It has stained-glass windows 100 years old, mahogany front doors and soaring exposed arched beams inside the sanctuary, McHale said.
Members of Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church believe that the basement of the old chapel should be renovated into a spiritual life center. They said local contractors have volunteered their services for free to renovate and refurbish the chapel.
As part of their campaign to save the chapel, the preservationists circulated a petition that collected about 2,000 signatures supporting their efforts. They also started a Facebook page as a fundraising tool to help pay for the attorneys and other expenses.
“We’re unabashedly asking for financial assistance and will continue to do that,” said Andy Bednarek, a researcher for the group.
During their remarks at Saturday’s meeting, Bednarek and McHale focused on the group’s legal strategy. They said attorneys will see investigate whether St. Joseph’s has violated the terms of a Sea Isle City zoning permit granted in 2009 for construction of the new church.
They said church leaders promised at that time, as a condition of the zoning board’s approval, that the old chapel would be saved after the new building was completed.
In the meantime, some of the St. Joseph parishioners who support saving the old chapel expressed their dismay with the church.
“I am so upset,” said Sharon Brady, a Sea Isle summer resident whose family has longtime ties to the city.
Brady, 67, said her family has been attending St. Joseph Catholic Church for more than 70 years. She said she was baptized and married in the old chapel and two of her children were also married in the historic church.
Donna Gibson, a member of Sea Isle’s prominent Braca family, said her family has had baptisms, weddings and funerals in the old St. Joseph’s chapel going back to 1903.
“These are treasured memories in a treasured place,” she said.
Gibson, though, said she no longer attends services at St. Joseph’s or gives donations to the church because of her opposition to demolishing the old chapel. Instead, she now attends a Catholic church in a neighboring community.
