Soon after Bishop Galante’s installation in 2004, he held listening sessions (“Speak Ups”) at each parish and with various groups within the diocese to hear firsthand from the people about their concerns and hopes for the Catholic Church in South Jersey.   More than 8,000 men and women—lay, religious and clergy—participated in the more than 140 sessions held in 2005 and 2006.  From these sessions, six key pastoral priorities were identified:  lifelong faith formation, youth and young adults, compassionate outreach, liturgy, lay ministry and priestly vocations.   

Hearing directly from the people over a 15-month period, Bishop Galante saw how great the needs were in the diocese.  Yet, it was also equally clear that many parishes lacked the means to address these needs given the challenges that they now face.

With this in mind, Bishop Galante announced a comprehensive, multi-phased parish planning process in fall 2006 in order to strengthen and revitalize parish life, to address the decline in the number of diocesan priests available for ministry, the long-term decline in religious practice, population and demographic changes, and to bring financial health and stability to parishes in the diocese.