The reduction of the Catholic Church's physical footprint in Western New York has been carried out in various actions over many years. There were 265 functioning parishes in 2011 before the "Journey in Faith & Grace" reduced the number to less than 200.
The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo last week announced its final decisions concerning the most recent plan for reducing the number of local parishes. It is part of the "Road to Renewal," which is the third wave of reductions over the past 13 years. It likely won't be the last.
The new plan calls for a total of 118 church facilities, down from the current 196. Only seventy-nine would be fully functioning parishes.
The Vicar of the Renewal plan, Father Bryan Zielenieski, recently said that the plans announced in 2022 which said parish closings would not be a part of the "road to Renewal" activities, was a mistake. "That was a statement we should not have said, because the process was all about the families of parishes identifying themselves properties that might not be able to be used in the future."
Churches affected by the original plan to reduce the number of parishes that was released in June were given the opportunity to contest the decisions. More than 50 did, leading Diocese administrators to make some changes. The plan required that if a parish wanted a closing reversed they needed to identify another parish within their "family" of parishes that was created in 2022. Pitting parish against parish during the diocesan appeal process did not nurture unity among the faithful.
A previous post on the blog (The problems of the Diocese of Buffalo | Politics and Other Stuff (politicsandstuff.com) discussed and questioned some of the issues involved in the Diocese's plans, particularly concerning which and why some parishes will be closed. Three weeks after that article was posted the clicks are continuing every day.
The post questioned the data being used by diocesan administrators to justify their actions. That criticism was echoed in comments published last week by the Buffalo News. The News reported that "Blessed Sacrament Church in Tonawanda submitted a 21-page counterproposal that disputed much of the financial data the diocese had used in scoring five parishes within family 17." Tom Puchalski, a member of the parish, said "It's just amazing, because every justification they gave us (to close Blessed Sacrament), we proved their data wrong."
The revised plans of the Diocese provide that in addition to the seventy-nine parishes that will remain open another 39 would be "secondary worship sites." You might think of the secondary worship sites as sort of drive-by locations. There may be a limited number of masses and official functions at those sites, but it will not be a full and completely functioning parish.
The News story included comments about the secondary worship sites from Bob O'Connor of St. Bernadette's Church in Orchard Park. He told the Diocese in a letter that the secondary worship sites were "a devious and duplicitous way to temporarily placate thousands of devout Catholics who are losing the churches they built and maintained," converting a strong parish "into a glorified meeting hall. Without our organizations, committees, food pantry, social activities, religious education, etc., you have gutted our church, and it will fade away."
Ways of ministering to the faithful at secondary worship sites will be limited, but the diminished use of such sites will not eliminate the need to operate and maintain the facilities. Grass needs to be cut; snow needs to be plowed; minimal utility services must be continued to prevent damage to buildings; insurance requirements will remain in place. At the same time limited or occasional use of secondary sites will greatly reduce the sites' revenues, which will then in turn demonstrate the lack of viability of a site. That could facilitate more closings.
No one is disputing the facts about the continued decline in the number of priests, forcing a day of reckoning. It cannot be overlooked, however, that the dark cloud hanging over everything is the Diocese's need to finance what might be collective judgments of $100 million or more to settle valid claims against diocesan priests who allegedly sexually harassed or assaulted children and adults. Selling church property is one way to raise money. Flooding the market with dozens of churches, rectories, and schools all at once, however, is not likely to produce a financial windfall for the Diocese.
Some parishes scheduled to be closed will appeal to the Vatican for reconsideration. An organization, Save Our Buffalo Churches (Save Our Buffalo Churches) has been set up to rally members of the various churches to work together to appeal the Diocese's actions. Talk on the street is that parish schools might be coming to an off-ramp on the Road to Renewal. This story is not complete.
The money problem in Buffalo
Concern about the City of Buffalo's financial problems are ramping up. A story in Saturday's Buffalo News included interesting comments among some members of the Common Council who are considering a run for mayor in 2025.
Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope said "We're in a financial crisis right now. I would say that's one of the biggest issues we have. And everything comes back to the resources. Without resources, services get cut. And so that's the biggest issue that we have in the city of Buffalo."
University District Councilmember Rasheed Wyatt has over the years frequently commented about the financial problems facing the city. In the most recent News article he indicated his view of the issues: "We have to overcome that hurdle, a $50 to $60 million deficit. We have to deal with that, and you need someone with expertise to do so."
Previous News reporting indicated Council President and soon to be mayor Chris Scanlon's concerns. "If we do not realize new or increased revenues in the immediate future, we will be in some sort of financial crisis."
Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera, referring to a property tax increase and some minor budget cuts in the new city budget said, "This tax increase is nothing compared to what is going to happen in the future. We should have been making these cuts years ago. We kicked the can down the road."
Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski, who chairs the Finance Committee, has said "The City of Buffalo will be hitting rock bottom if we do not have catastrophic change in revenues."
For reference purposes, the law that created the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority says "a control period … may be reimposed during an advisory period if the authority determines at any time that a fiscal crisis is imminent…"
Members of the Council are saying that a fiscal crisis is imminent.
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