Bishop Joseph Galante announces the following appointments:
— Father James T. Dever, OSFS, from University Minister, LaSalle University, Philadelphia, to pastor, Christ the King, Haddonfield, for a six-year term, effective July 9;
— Father Phillip M. Johnson from the Ministry Team, St. Bridget, Glassboro, to Priest In Charge, St. Thomas More, Cherry Hill, for a six-year term, effective July 1;
— Father Edward J. Maher from parochial vicar, St. Mary, Cherry Hill, to pastor, St. Mary, Cherry Hill, for a six-year term, effective July 1.
Father James T. Dever, OSFS, was ordained an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales in 1973.
Christ the King Parish is not entrusted to the Institute of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, but simply a member of their community has been appointed pastor.
Educated at Villanova and DeSales University, Center Valley, Pa., Father Dever served as pastor of Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Wilmington, Del., from 1994-96; and pastor of Church of Our Mother of Consolation, Philadelphia, from 1999-2005.
In the Diocese of Camden, he was chaplain at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden from 1984-86.
Father Dever was on the faculty at Northeast Catholic High School, Philadelphia, 1974-77; was a youth minister at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Cinnaminson, N.J., 1977-84; and was parochial vicar at Holy Child Church, Philadelphia, 1986-87.
He served in provincial administration of the Oblates from 1987-90 as director of seminary recruitment, and from 1990-94 as director of personnel.
Father Phillip M. Johnson, who will hold the title Priest In Charge at St. Thomas More, has served at St. Bridget Parish, Glassboro, since June 2010.
He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Camden in 2010, after being received into the Catholic Church in 2006. A former Lutheran minister, he received a master’s degree in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Father Johnson was born in Talequah, Okla., and is married with four grown children.
Before his conversion, Father Johnson was pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1988-2006, and Grace Lutheran Church, 1986-88, both in Jersey City, N.J.
Father Edward J. Maher studied at LaSalle University, Philadelphia, and Immaculate Conception Seminary in Mahwah, N.J. before being ordained on May 30, 1981, in Sewell.
He was pastor of St. Francis de Sales in Barrington from 2004-10.
He also served as parochial vicar at St. John Parish, Collingswood, 1981-85; Sacred Heart, Vineland, 1985-88; St. James, Ventnor, 1988-92; Most Holy Redeemer, Westville Grove, 1992-96; St. Vincent de Paul, Mays Landing, 1996-2001; and Christ the King, Haddonfield, 2001-04.