A
New Jersey bishop on Friday called for a breakaway Catholic church at
the shore to return to the fold, saying its leaders are playing a game
"with dangerous spiritual consequences."
A dissident Catholic faction claims to have formed an independent parish in Long Branch called Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
The group took the action earlier this year out of dissatisfaction with the merger of three Catholic churches.
Trenton Bishop David O'Connell said Our Lady of Guadalupe is not part of the Roman Catholic Church and issued a statement urging its members to end their "schism" with the Vatican.
"No
Catholic church is independent," the bishop said. "This group and the
individuals leading or promoting it are schismatics who refuse to
acknowledge — or worse, reject — the unity of the Roman Catholic Church
and its leadership and laws.
"My
greatest fear is that they will take other well-intentioned Catholics
down with them, leading them away from the true practice of their faith
under the pretense of legitimacy,"
O'Connell said.
"History has shown,
time and time again, that is a dangerous path to walk, for both the
leaders and the followers, with dangerous spiritual consequences."
The group, which meets in a social club, is led by the Rev. Anthony Testa,
who is married.
It says it is affiliated with a group called the
American National Catholic Church, which is not affiliated with
the Vatican.
Testa
said he will present the bishop's letter to the congregation at its
next meeting this weekend, and said he did not want to speak for its
board.
But speaking for himself, Testa said the bishop's letter did not
appear to offer anything new.
"He's
just asking Guadalupe to reconsider what they're doing; he's not
offering any changes in any way," Testa said.
"Nothing has
really changed."
The
diocese formed a consolidated parish, Christ the King, from three
parishes that it decided it could no longer operate independently: Holy
Trinity, Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. John the Baptist.
Such
consolidations have been common in the Catholic Church in recent
decades, and unhappy parishioners have sporadically formed offshoot
groups that reject church authority.
Testa said parishioners wanted their own churches to continue operating, particularly those that had large Hispanic membership.
"They
wanted their ethnicity there and to keep their own parish family,"
Testa said.
"They didn't see a need to merge. They just want things back
the way they were."