Anger and sadness at Sunday Mass as news of church mergers and closings sinks in (2024)

At Blessed Sacrament Church in the Town of Tonawanda, Father Martin Gallagher made official the news many parishioners had already heard.

The church is among 25 churches in the Diocese of Buffalo and the Northtowns slated for closure by 2025, according to an announcement made by the diocese last week. More closing recommendations are scheduled this week. Blessed Sacrament will merge with St. Paul’s in Kenmore for about a year before that church could also close, according to Gallagher.

“I know there is hurt and I am sorry for that, I wish I could take that away,” Gallagher said during his homily. “And I know there is anger and I wish I could take that away.

“We just have to try to lift our hearts toward God as best we can,” he added.

Gallagher's words were met by “Amens” and tears shed throughout the congregation, many of whom had attended church there for several decades.

As many as 75 churches in the Western New York diocese could shutter due to financial difficulties, declining attendance and a priest shortage. Blessed Sacrament’s expected closure is part of a nationwide trend of merging and closing Catholic churches that was accelerated when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

The Buffalo Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 after 900 people filed sexual abuse claims against it. In lawsuits, the claimants allege priests, nuns and other clergy staff sexually abused them.

Staffing woes are also hitting the diocese hard. There are 115 priests available to staff 160 parishes in the Buffalo Diocese. By 2030, it’s expected that only 70 priests will be available, declining to 38 priests available in 2040, according to diocese projections.

Additionally, nearly 60% of parishes in the diocese saw negative net operating balances in recent years with many parishes spending much of their funds on building maintenance, according to the diocese.

Those statistics come as the Catholic diocese reports that fewer baptisms and marriages are occurring.

Losing beloved Catholic institutions has become familiar in Western New York, and Tonawanda has not been immune. Blessed Sacrament was one of two Catholic schools in the town to close in 2007 − the other was St. Edmund − and two years later, St. Paul’s School closed its doors. Earlier this year, parishioners at St. Andrew’s learned their church and school would be shuttered.

At Blessed Sacrament on Sunday, some churchgoers said a baptism happened after Mass, leading them to wonder where such sacraments will take place if the church is closed.

“It’s OK to get angry as long as it’s justified, and I think this is justified,” said one of the church’s trustees. “We’ve done everything we possibly can to keep this parish going.”

The trustee declined to be named in the story after being told not to speak to the media.

Gallagher told The Buffalo News that the church may try to fight the recommendation from the diocese to close Blessed Sacrament. He said the process isn’t quite clear yet, but it may involve submitting a counter-recommendation with information about whether the church is financially stable and if it has steady or rising attendance.

That’s something parishioner Jennie Silverman said she could support.

“I don’t like the recommendation from the diocese,” she said. “I think we’re in a better situation financially than other parishes. So why close us down?”