Buffalo Catholics stunned, distressed by plan to close 14 churches (2024)

St. Mark parish in North Buffalo for years has hosted one of the most successful Catholic schools in the Buffalo Diocese, with full enrollments, balanced budgets and high academic rankings.

So, many parishioners were shocked when the Rev. Bryan Zielenieski announced that St. Mark’s was among 15 Buffalo parishes recommended to be merged into other parishes as part of a diocese-wide restructuring.

Braden J. Pritchard said the recommendation doesn’t make sense, especially because St. Mark parish is much more active with events and providing sacraments than all the other parishes in North Buffalo.

“I don’t really understand the diocese’s logic there,” said Pritchard, a University at Buffalo law student and board member of the parish’s Holy Name Society.

Zielenieski met Thursday evening with about 100 priests, deacons and lay leaders of 32 city parishes to unveil plans that called for the closure of St. Mark’s, 12 other churches citywide and one church in Cheektowaga, on the city line.

The other churches recommended for closure were:

Parish communities using those churches will be merged into nearby parishes, according to the recommendations. In addition, the plan would set aside St. Anthony of Padua Church at 160 Court St., behind City Hall, as an oratory of St. Louis Church, used only for special occasions.

Church closings in suburbs

Zielenieski, vicar for renewal for the diocese, announced the recommendations at a meeting inside Mother Cabrini Social Center at St. Anthony of Padua.

A week ago, diocese officials said more than 50 parishes will need to be merged, and 75 churches and worship sites closed across eight counties, as part of efforts to better align properties with a shrinking population of Catholics and a diminishing number of priests.

Recommendations for 25 parishes in northern Erie County, including the towns of Tonawanda, Amherst and Clarence, were scheduled to be revealed to clergy and lay leaders Friday evening. And four more meetings are set next week with representatives of parishes in southern Erie County, Niagara County, Genesee and Wyoming counties and parts of the Southern Tier.

Bishop Michael W. Fisher has cited the diocese’s growing priest shortage, declining Mass attendance, aging congregations and ongoing financial pressures in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case as reasons for the massive restructuring effort.

“No decision will be easy, and every decision will be painful. We do not take this lightly,” Fisher said in a video recording about the restructuring process that is posted on the diocese’s website.

Fisher said the downsizings were necessary to keep the diocese “viable and vibrant for the future.”

Families of parishes will have an opportunity to review the diocese’s recommendations and either agree with them, or propose other possibilities for consideration by July 15. Final plans will be announced by Sept. 1.

‘No justification for that’

The recommendations for city parishes were frustrating for many Catholics, including Craig E. Speers, who has been actively involved for years with two of the churches on the closure list, St. Rose of Lima in North Buffalo and St. Michael Church downtown.

“You’re breaking up these parish communities, which are basically the heart of the diocese,” he said. “That’s totally counterproductive. There’s no justification for that. Zero.”

Speers said many parishioners may give up going to church, withhold donations or simply worship with some other faith group.

The diocese previously merged about 100 parishes and closed more than 70 worship sites in a massive yearslong restructuring that concluded in 2011, causing tremendous pain and weakening the faith in the region, Speers said.

Two dozen Catholic parishes in the city were merged between 2007 and 2011 as part of a plan known as “Journey in Faith & Grace.”

“I think the diocese is in a lesser place than it was in 2007, and I think it’s going to be in a much lesser place if this round of closings is completed,” Speers said.

The Rev. Joseph W. Tokasz, administrator of St. Mark parish and five other parishes that make up the family of parishes known as Catholic Community of Buffalo North, said in a letter to parishioners Friday that diocese officials relied on metrics in making their recommendations and concluded that merging St. Mark parish would be a “strategic move” to strengthen Catholic education in North Buffalo.

The recommendation said St. Mark School will remain and needs additional room. Adaptive reuse of the church and rectory spaces would allow the school to grow, the letter said.

The letter also said the recommendation calls for the campuses of St. Rose of Lima, All Saints and Holy Spirit to be sold.

Matthew Scandale said he attended St. Mark Church as a child growing up in the neighborhood and rejoined the parish a few years ago when he moved back to Buffalo.

Scandale said he would have no issue with going to Masses instead at St. Margaret Church, which is less than a mile away.

“I know everyone’s going to be upset, but a church is not a building. It’s the people,” he said. “To me, it’s real estate shuffling. The church is still there. It’s not like they’re packing up and leaving town.”

What’s driving the church closings

The diocese has 115 diocesan priests available to staff 160 parishes parishes. That number will decline to 70 by 2030 and to 38 by 2040, according to diocese projections.

At the same time, nearly three out of every five parishes in the diocese reported a negative net operating balance, with many parishes spending significant portions of their funds on building maintenance.

Diocese officials also said that nearly half of parishes are reporting fewer registered households; baptisms declined steadily at 59% of parishes; and marriages in Catholic churches were down by a quarter between 2020 and 2023.

Also looming for the diocese and its parishes is a massive bankruptcy court settlement with 900 claimants who say they were sexually abused as children by priests and other diocese officials. The diocese has said it is prepared to offer $100 million toward settling the claims.

The restructuring discussed last week followed a small flurry of church closures announced earlier this year, when three parishes were deemed financially insolvent and lacking enough relevant sacramental ministry to continue. An elementary school run by one of the insolvent parishes, St. Andrew Church in the Town of Tonawanda, also is closing. St. Andrew parish will celebrate a closing Mass on June 30. A final Mass also has been set for Aug. 10 at St. Lawrence Church. The closure of All Saints in Buffalo’s Riverside section also was made public a few months ago.

The diocese has put its headquarters on Main Street on the market for $9.8 million, along with Christ the King Seminary in the Town of Aurora and the Buffalo State Newman Center on Elmwood Avenue.

As part of a process known as “Road to Renewal,” the diocese in 2022 began grouping 160 parishes into 36 families as a way to better distribute a limited number of clergy.

Zielenieski said a diocese renewal team analyzed a variety of data in developing merger recommendations, while factoring in other elements, such as geography, travel distances and bussing routes.

“It’s not a perfect model, but we tried to make sure that access to the sacraments and the spiritual well being of people is considered in all of these recommendations,” he said.