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Dear Mr. Wilson, this Congregation has received your letter of 25 September 2009, with regard to your recourse against the dispositions of the Most Reverend Joseph Galante, Bishop of Camden, regarding the merger of St. Vincent Pallotti Parish, Haddon Township.

As you are aware, the Bishop of Camden has already modified his dispositions regarding your parish Church, deciding that at the time of the future merger, the Church of St. Vincent Pallotti would remain open for Sunday worship.

With regard to the possible merger of St. Vincent Pallotti with St. Aloysius Parish, your recent letter appears to indicate that you are not contrary to the possibility of a merger, but would prefer that the merged parish be located at St. Vincent Pallotti, with your current pastor assigned as pastor to the merged parish.

Since your original letters to this Dicastery of 27 April, 2008 and 20 September, 2008, sought to take recourse against closure and merger, it would seem that the object of your recourse has been fulfilled. Decisions as to the location of the offices of the merged parish, and the appointment of the pastor for that parish, fall within the direct competence only of the local bishop, and therefore outside of the scope of a canonical recourse.

Hence, without prejudice to any future canonical action, the Congregation for the Clergy must notify you that no recourse is considered operative at this time. For any canonical explanations or advice the Dicastery would counsel the services of a canonist.

Mauro Piacenza, Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana, Secretary