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Laura Campbell and Greg Schwartz smile after their kiss during their wedding ceremony at Immaculate Conception Church in Marcus Hook, on Saturday, June 29.
(Times Staff/JULIA WILKINSON)MARCUS HOOK ? Sue Curl busily took pictures inside the sanctuary of Immaculate Conception of Lourdes Church Saturday as any proud aunt would at the wedding of a very special niece.
But, it was a bittersweet day for Curl and the members of the Campbell family as they celebrated the joyous occasion for 30-year-old Laura Campbell and 28-year-old Greg Schwartz, two days before the doors were to be closed to regular services at the borough church.
?I got married here 40 years ago,? Curl said. ?Forty years in October.?
She recalled the Rev. John Mulhern, the former church pastor, as well as Campbell?s baptism, for which she served as a godmother.
?It was beautiful,? she said of the day her niece received her first sacrament. ?Couldn?t have asked for better weather.?
And, for all of Saturday?s sunshine, there was a sadness in the air.
As of July 1, regular services will not be held at Immaculate Conception of Lourdes Parish as parishioners here and at Holy Saviour Church in Lower Chichester are being redirected to merge with St. John Fisher Parish in Upper Chichester.
In 2010, then-Philadelphia Archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali proposed, and Archbishop Charles Chaput initiated a year later, an ongoing Parish Pastoral Planning Initiative to determine the sustainability of 266 churches in the archdiocese?s five-county area. In the last two years, 30 parishes have closed or merged as a result.
Schwartz, who met Campbell while working with her brother, Jack, at Lowes, said they did move the wedding up to celebrate it in Marcus Hook.
?It means a lot, mostly for her because this is the church she grew up in,? he said of his wife. ?It?s the one thing she?s always wanted, to be married there.? Continued...
He said her family has been attending Immaculate Conception for more than 50 years.
?I?ve been going there regularly,? he added. ?It?s a very nice church.?
Jack Campbell shared his excitement moments before the wedding started.
?I find it truly amazing,? he said, adding that he married his wife, Kristie, there four years ago. ?We?ve been going here all our lives. We received all our sacraments here. I?ve known Father (Joseph Amalfitano) since second grade.?
Sitting in a pew, Lee Hockenbury, Campbell?s aunt, recalled his days in the parish before he and his wife, Debbie, moved to Logan Township, N.J.
?I was an altar boy here,? he said. ?It?s a shame. It was nice. It?s a shame.?
Curl had mixed emotions Saturday as her pride for her niece punctuated her loss for the churches she loved.
?I?m really happy for her,? Curl said of the bride. ?She?s my second daughter.?
But, as a parishioner of Holy Saviour, where she cooked for four decades, the upcoming change was solemn.
?We?re not happy,? Curl said. ?Very depressing, it really is. It?s unreal. I was very depressed about it.? Continued...
Yet, she wouldn?t let that overshadow the day?s festivities.
?Can?t let this turn us down,? she said.
Source: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/06/30/news/doc51cf90f37d95c583487415.txt
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