St. Thomas More R.C. Church Site Map

Parish Vision
St. Thomas More Parish is a gathering place for God’s people and the source of hope and life for families, couples, and individuals living here in Camden County.

Purpose
Saint Thomas More Religious Education Program is committed to a strong partnership with the parents and guardians of our children. We support one another in the religious education of our children.

As we work our way leisurely through the Creed of the Church, we will not always take the phrases in order; we'll jump around, partly depending on the Church's liturgical calendar, partly on my own sense of the momentary pastoral need. However, in this first entry, we start with the opening verb of the Creed.

2012-2013 Registration
Download/Print the Registration Form for the Religious Education program 2012-2013

A Married Priest? - Part I
“I didn’t know a married man could be a priest? . . . Do you have children? . . . What do they think about your being a priest? . . . Will you and your wife live in the rectory? . . . What led you to leave the Lutheran ministry and become a Catholic? . . . Did your wife convert too? . . . Are your children now Catholics?” These are but a few of the questions I have been asked in my first few days as your new priest.

Pastoral Staff
Staff:
Father Phillip Johnson, Priest-in-charge
Deacon John Harrington
Click below for Staff Directory

I believe in one God, . . . maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. The first words of the Creed reflect the first words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the very first truth, the foundational truth, that whatever exists does so by the act of God.

Youth Group Registration
To register so we can keep you up-to-date on upcoming Youth Group events, please fill out the registration form and give it to the Parish Office.

A Married Priest?–Part II
Priestly celibacy is not a matter of the Church's unchanging faith. It is, however, a very ancient and holy tradition of the Church, especially cherished in the Roman Catholic Church. As Pope Paul VI stated: celibacy “is not, of course, required by the nature of the priesthood itself. This is clear from the practice of the early church and the traditions of the Eastern rite churches.” In this reflection I want to make clear why this holy tradition ought to command our deepest respect and why I do not join those who call for a whole sale abandoning of it (even if I am deeply grateful for the exception granted in certain cases).

Mass Schedule
Mass Schedule:
Saturday morning: 9:00 AM
Saturday Eve: 4:30 PM
Sunday: 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM.
Weekdays: 6:45 AM and 9:00 AM (Monday - Friday)

Holy Day Mass Schedule:
Holy Day - 6:45 AM, 9:00 AM and 7:30 PM
Holy Days falling on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays will have a slightly different schedule.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion(No. 3)
We enter the season of Advent – perhaps the most counter-cultural of the liturgical seasons. While the world around us somewhat frantically launches the “Christmas season” earlier and earlier, the Church observes a kind of pre-Christmas lent, a time of prayerful waiting and spiritual preparation. And the first announcement of Advent is not the coming of the Christ Child; it is Christ's final advent. “He will come to judge the living and the dead”.

A Married Priest? – Part III
As I began this series, I promised to answer at least some of the questions I have been asked about my entrance into full communion with the Catholic Church and about my life as a married priest. The long story of my journey to Catholicism will have to wait for a later article. Simpler questions I can answer briefly...

Curriculum
The St. Thomas More Religious Education Program is based on the teachings of the Catholic Church. Click the link below to view the Religious Education Curriculum at St. Thomas More.

Faith Formation
Grades 1, 2, 3, 4- Tues. 4:15 - 5:30;
Grades 5, 6, 7, 8 - Tues. 7:00 - 8:30

Children's Liturgy of the Word
For children age 3 through Grade 1, held every Sunday at the 10 AM Mass

Inquiries into the Catholic Faith:
Meetings are held from October through Easter for those who want to learn more about their own faith or are interested in becoming Catholic, as part of our RCIA Program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). Contact one of the Priests for details. This program is also available for Baptized Catholics who for some reason never instructed in the faith or received the Sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and Confirmation.

Parish School:
John Paul II Regional School
Warwick Road and Vassar Avenue
Stratford, NJ 08084
856-783-3088

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (No. 4)
The mystery of the Immaculate Conception is about how God prepared the way before hand for the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, preparing a human “vessel” as mother of the redeemer

A Married Priest? – Part IV
In the early summer of 2006, I communicated to my Lutheran Bishop my intentions to resign my pastorate and to enter the Roman Catholic Church. “If I thought I could talk you out of this, I would try,” he said. We prayed together for the unity of the Church. And he asked that I remain at my post for several weeks so that we might have time to gently prepare the people of my parish. On a Sunday in August, Janet and I bade farewell to the people of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Jersey City, where I had served as pastor for 19 years. It was a difficult and moving farewell. In a deeply ecumenical gesture, the parish presented us with a crucifix (now on the wall in my office) that had been brought from Rome several years before by a priest who had attended the Second Vatican Council.

General Policies
General guidelines and policies pertaining to our Religious Education Program

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (No. 5)
We cannot fully explain the Christmas mystery. But we can at least profess it knowingly; we can know what it is the Faith professes, even as our minds are forever startled at what we are professing. Here is a brief, blunt statement of the identity of the babe in the manger.

A Married Priest?–Part V
Why would a late-middle aged Lutheran Pastor give up his vocation and livelihood, estrange himself from many beloved colleagues, and willfully suffer a breach in communion within his own family in order to enter the Roman Catholic Church? What would so compel his conscience? When I began this series I promised that I would finally get around to that question. But it's hard to give a brief account of so long a struggle. After all, my “conversion” took 30 years!

Catechists
The catechists involved in the Saint Thomas More Religious Education Program are adult members of our faith community. Many of our catechists are parents of students. All catechists participate in ongoing catechist training and formation sessions.

Sacrament Information
Click the link below to view information regarding the celebration of Sacraments at St. Thomas More Church.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (No. 6)
The season of Lent draws near. Once again, we are offered the opportunity to intensify our prayer, to enter more deeply into the mystery of prayer – maybe even to receive the life of prayer as if for the first time, as a little child (Mark 10:14-16). “What will I give up for Lent?” the traditional question goes. Remember, the giving up is for the sake of receiving all that God wants to give us. During Lent, these weekly reflections will focus on Christ's gift of prayer to his disciples.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (No. 7)
“Our Father” is not a generic name for God used by all faiths and religions. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who reveals to us his Father in heaven, and brings us into relationship with him. And so, as the Liturgy teaches us, “At the Saviors command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say, “Our Father . . . . That was the gist of my first reflection on the Lord's Prayer (02-17-13).

A Married Priest?–Part VI
Here I will give a brief condensed account of the experiences and the struggles that first led me into the Catholic tradition. Next week, I will explain how it was finally determined that this catholic had to become a Catholic.

A Married Priest - Part VII
In the previous two articles in this series, I have explained my first “conversion” from a sectarian protestantism to a catholic-minded, sacramental Lutheranism. Here I begin the account of the way these catholic convictions and longings brought me to a crisis of conscience and led me into the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (No. 8)
The past is not to be simply forgotten, but it is, after all, the past. The future may be prudently anticipated, but it remains always uncertain and beyond our control. In the life of faith, it is today that claims our attention. “Today” is a recurring spiritual theme in Holy Scripture. “Oh, that today you would hear the voice of the Lord” (Ps 95:8). “Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for the day (Matt 6:34). “Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today” (Heb 3:13). So we are taught to pray: Give us today, bread enough for today.

A Married Priest - Part VIII
As a Lutheran pastor, for years I considered myself a Catholic Christian. Roman Catholic liturgists are aware that the liturgies of the Lutheran Book of Worship are Catholic in structure and content. I sought to lead parishioners toward a Catholic piety, including private confession according to Luther's own order. I had opportunities to advocate for a corporate reunion with the Catholic Church (see part VII in this series). This article gives an account of how Catholic hope and optimism among Lutherans proved illusory (at least to me), and how the question of entering the Catholic Church became yet more urgent to me personally.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion(No. 9)
What's the difference between a problem and a mystery? A famous Catholic philosopher once explained it this way. A problem is to be solved; a riddle is to be worked out. A mystery – not as in a “whodunit” plot, but in a spiritual sense, is never solved. A mystery is entered into, explored, lived. We can indeed understand something of a mystery; we can understand it more and more as we live in the mystery. But we never fully comprehend it. The mystery keeps showing us ever-new depths and dimensions. We never “get to the bottom of it.” As we “know” the mystery, we know that there is more to know.

A Married Priest - Part IX
My explanations of how I, a married man, was approved by the pope for ordination to the priesthood grew naturally into an account of how and why I came to seek full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It is time to bring the story to a close. I'm grateful to those of you who had the patience to follow the story.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion(no. 10)
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them: “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side (John 20:19-20).

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (no. 11)
I was fortunate in my seminary professors. I can recall some insight gained, some useful path of reflection laid out, in almost every course I took. But one seminar especially has followed me, or rather guided me, through the whole of my ministry. The course was entitled “Hospitality and Table Fellowship in the Bible”. We read together every text of Scripture in which a hospitality scene played an important role or in which hospitality was employed as a significant image for Christian faith and life.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (no. 12)
It is not unlikely that many Christians may still imagine the resurrection appearances of the risen Jesus as ghost-like, as purely “spiritual”. It may be a shock to our preconceptions to hear the risen Christ ask, “Have you anything to eat” or “Come and have breakfast”. But such is the humility of God our Savior.

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (no. 13)
He presented himself alive to the apostles by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. . . . When they had gathered together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. (Acts 1:3, 6-9)

The Catholic Faith in Slow Motion (no. 14)
When the life-threatening illness is diagnosed, when one enters hospice care, when a particularly dangerous surgery is required: in such moments we are free to request the final sacraments. Better early than late. In this way, the dying Christian makes of his or her death a witness of faith to loved ones and an act of worship to God, Creator and Redeemer, claiming the grace promised to us in the hour of death.