Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, North Wildwood, New Jersey:
The Wildwoods and Diamond Beach have had a very strong Roman Catholic presence on the island for many generations. For the last couple generations, there have been two parishes serving the island; Saint Ann’s and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In April 2004, Bishop Joseph Galante was appointed by the Pope as the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Camden. After a year of visiting parishes, the bishop outlined six priorities that parishes need to commit for vibrant faith communities. The bishop asked the local communities to begin meeting to discuss how the diocese would meet the needs of the local communities with a shrinking priesthood.
Parishes throughout the diocese began meeting to determine how the parish structures would be realigned to meet the pastoral needs of the faithful. Needless to say, it was a painful process for many around the diocese. Each deanery was asked to make recommendations to the diocese and the bishop would announce how the diocese and parishes would be restructured.
Several names were submitted to the bishop after an evening of voting. Bishop Galante determined that Notre Dame de la Mer Parish – Our Lady of the Sea – would be the name.
