2 Keyport Catholic Churches to Merge; Middletown Churches May be Next

KEYPORT, NJ - In the face of declining enrollment in the Catholic Church, the Diocese of Trenton announced on Jan. 25 that two Catholic churches in Keyport will merge.

Saint Joseph and Jesus the Lord will merge in Keyport and the merge will take place no later than July 1, 2018, Rev. David O’Connell, the Bishop of the Trenton Diocese, announced. A potential linkage model for St. Ann's in Keansburg and St. Catherine in Middletown will be determined no later than July 1, 2018 as well, he wrote.

The Bishop announced the news in this letter to parishioners.

The Trenton Diocese is made up of four counties, Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean. Today, there are between 673,500 and 774,000 Catholics living in those counties. Compare that to the past, when the Catholic population was estimated at 830,000. And even fewer go to Mass every Sunday: Annual parish reports reveal a weekend Mass attendance of between 17 and 18 percent of Catholics in the Diocese.

Participation in baptism, holy first communion, confirmation and marriage in the church has also declined. Surprisingly, even the number of funeral masses has gone down, according to Rev. O'Connell.

"Sadly, the numbers have steadily declined within our lifetime," Rev. O'Connell wrote. "So what do we do? Giving up is not an option ... I believe that it is not so much a case of growing smaller or 'becoming less' as a Church, a Diocese or a parish; I believe it is a case of 'doing more WITH less.' The challenge before us all is to figure out how."

Eight other churches in Ocean and Monmouth counties will merge as well, and they are:

• Saint Jerome, West Long Branch will merge with Saint Mary, Deal
• Ascension, Bradley Beach will merge with Saint Elizabeth, Avon
• Saint Catharine of Siena, Seaside Park will merge with Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Seaside Heights
• Saint Mary of the Lake, Lakewood will merge with Saint Anthony, Lakewood

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