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Copyright © 2014 Albuquerque Journal

Parishioners at Aquinas Newman Center said they were stunned Sunday when they arrived for Mass and found the altar relocated, their artwork removed, and books culled from the library.

At least for now, lay members who had served as ministers of Holy Communion and other roles during Mass are not permitted to serve, several parishioners said this week.

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Newman Center’s new pastor said the changes were intended to make the church more appealing to a broad spectrum of Catholics, including students, by making the church “more familiar or traditional,” both in its design and in the style of Mass.

The Rev. Michael DePalma, who started this month as pastor at Newman Center, acknowledged that many longtime parishioners have found the changes wrenching.

“Everybody that came on Sunday was kind of in shock,” said Gale Flack, 60, a longtime Newman Center parishioner. The altar, which for years had been located in the middle of the church with pews arranged in a U-shape around it, had been relocated to the east end of the church, she said.

“If you are in the middle or the back, you really can’t see up front,” she said. “The feeling of community was totally removed.”

The altar, chalices, hand-sewn altar linens and artwork were among items removed or replaced, she and others said.

The alterations, made last week, coincided with a change of pastoral leadership at Newman Center ordered earlier this year by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan in January told Dominican priests who had pastored the Newman Center since 1950 that by July 1 they would have to leave the parish, located on the University of New Mexico campus. The parish has an estimated 750 registered families.

Chuck Wellborn, a longtime parishioner, contends the archdiocese took the actions because the university-based parish under Dominican leadership did not project the traditional Catholic values that Sheehan favors.

Sheehan has said that he made the move to recruit more vocations, or aspiring priests, from UNM. Sheehan named DePalma, the archdiocese’s director of vocations, as pastor of the Newman Center.

De Palma said that many students he has spoken with since January wanted to attend Newman Center but “just didn’t feel very comfortable here.”

Newman Center had become a home for Catholics who felt disenchanted with the church, turning Newman Center into a place that mainstream Catholics, including many UNM students, found alienating, he said.

“The Newman Center over the years, but especially in recent years, was a place for people who were somewhat disgruntled or disenfranchised with the mainstream Catholic approach,” DePalma said.

Students DePalma has spoken with since January said they wanted to attend Newman Center but “they just didn’t feel very comfortable here,” he said.

As a campus-based church, Newman Center needs to be welcoming to students who come from across New Mexico, he said.

Diocesan personnel also removed some 75 books from the church library, parishioners said. Wellborn said he observed and photographed the books piled on a table July 3 before they were removed.

Some of the artwork removed from the church was returned to donors, but parishioners don’t know what was done with many of the items.

DePalma said artworks were returned to the artists and the books remain at the church.

Several parishioners said the change they found most disturbing involved restrictions on lay members and women serving in certain roles at Mass.

A church memo informing parishioners of the changes said that only men will be allowed to serve as altar assistants, with a possible exception for girls under the age of 12. Only seminarians will serve as altar servers at least through July, the memo said.

In the past, lay members of Newman Center, including men and women, served as altar servers and in other key roles during Mass, said parishioner Carol Jensen, 74.

Jensen, Wellborn and Flack all said they don’t plan to return to Newman Center in the future.

“We came back to Albuquerque to reunite with this community of faith that has meant so much to us over the years,” Jensen said of herself and her husband. “It is a huge and terribly painful loss that I don’t expect to ever get replaced for the rest of my life.”