St. Mary Parish in Vineland and Our Lady of Pompeii Parish, as well as St. Joseph Mission in the Richland section of Buena Vista Township, will be combined to form St. Padre Pio Parish, according to a statement released Wednesday by Camden Catholic Diocese.
The Rev. Peter M. Saporito, pastor for the last two years at Our Lady of Pompeii, now assumes the responsibility of pastor of St. Padre Pio Parish, according to Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Camden.
St. Mary Church and Our Lady of Pompeii Church are located 1.8 miles apart in the eastern Cumberland County community and will remain open for daily and weekend Mass celebrations.
St. Joseph Mission is located on Main Avenue in Richland, Atlantic County.
The Rev. Paul Onufer, pastor at St. Mary on Union Road, retired Wednesday. However, he will continue to celebrate one Mass during the weekday, Saporito said.
Saporito said both churches will retain their names, in part, as they become St. Padre Pio Parish, St. Mary Campus, at the Union Avenue Church and St. Padre Pio Parish, Our Lady of Pompeii Campus, at the Dante Avenue Church.
A redesign of the Our Lady of Pompeii Web site shows interactive icons of Our Lady of Pompeii merging with an icon of Our Lady of the Rosary. As they merge, the icons are drawn into a picture of St. Padre Pio, who is holding a baby, with the Blessed Mother standing behind them.
"That is what will be on our stationery as well as our bulletins," Saporito said.
The Web site was designed by a parishioner, Saporito said.
There are currently more than 1,100 parishioners from the two combined churches, with 570 of them belonging to Our Lady of Pompeii. Saporito said the new parish has been in the works for two years.
"The two churches were unified because of growth in the area," he said, noting the parish of Our Lady of Pompeii has grown by more than 100 families in the last two years.
Under an agreement, the new parish of St. Padre Pio will maintain a new single financial account. However, Saporito said the parish councils will be joined together immediately.
Parishioners of Our Lady of Pompeii Church broke ground for a church in 1908 and celebrated the first Mass in 1909. A new church was built in 1968 and the old one demolished in 1969.
The first St. Mary Church was built in 1887 but was destroyed by fire in 1922. It was rebuilt the same year and St. Mary Regional School was built in 1958 and opened in 1960. It regionalized in 1971.
The school, which has more than 300 students, is also part of the merger but the name of the school won't change, Saporito said.
Saporito said DiMarzio is expected to celebrate a special "Mass of Union" for the two churches sometime in February.
For more information, visit www.saintpadrepioparish.org.