March 11, 2007

Diocese of Buffalo Announces First Phase of Parish Restructuring

10 parishes and one mission in Western New York to be merged into five parishes

as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace strategic planning

and spiritual revitalization process

The Diocese of Buffalo said today that 10 parishes and one mission will merge into five parishes, and one oratory will close as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, a parish-based strategic planning and spiritual revitalization process launched in June 2005 by Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec, bishop of Buffalo. These changes represent the first in a series of recommendations to reimagine parish life throughout the eight-counties of Western New York in response to changing times and emerging needs.

Announcement of the mergers and closing were delivered to affected parishioners at weekend Masses yesterday and today.

“This weekend we began communicating phase one of our parish restructuring,” Bishop Kmiec said. “The Journey in Faith and Grace is an effort to create parish communities that are much more than a place where Sunday liturgy is celebrated. Our goal is to establish faith communities that provide formation programs for the sacraments, religious formation for both children and adults, and outreach to those in need. This restructuring will provide for even more lay involvement, good pastoral leadership, and financial stability.

“Pastors, men and women religious, and lay leaders representing all parishes in the diocese are arriving at the best solutions possible to meet the challenges we face so that we will have full and vibrant parish life for years to come,” said Bishop Kmiec. “I have great empathy for the people of the diocese who will be impacted by this.

“I know for many of our parishioners, this process has not been easy and has resulted in great emotion, but we would be remiss if we did not take these difficult but necessary steps. As with our Catholic elementary schools, this has been a very difficult decision for me. These parishes have a lot of history and a lot of memories that are very deeply personal to people who worshipped and received their sacraments there.

“The hard work of everyone involved, despite the pain and heartache, is coming to fruition, and we continue to pray that we will be open to God's spirit working among us in an effort to accomplish what God is calling us to do and to become.”

Sister Regina Murphy, SSMN, diocesan director of research and planning, said the first round of changes are part of a detailed, inclusive and transparent process. She said today’s announcements were approved by the Diocesan Strategic Planning Commission and the Diocesan Council of Priests prior to being forwarded to Bishop Kmiec for his final approval.

“All parish recommendations are carefully evaluated in terms of demographic information, Catholic population analysis, sacramental and fiscal data, and pastoral planning,” said Sister Regina. “In some cases, reconfiguration decisions included research and planning that predates the Journey.”

The 10 parishes and one mission to merge are:

· St. John the Evangelist (Sinclairville) will merge into Immaculate Conception (Cassadaga)

· The Mission of St. Patrick (Crittenden) will merge into St. Francis of Assisi Parish (Corfu)

· St. Mary (East Arcade) and Blessed Sacrament (Delevan) will merge into SS. Peter & Paul (Arcade), to be known henceforth as St. Mary

· St. Elizabeth (Buffalo) will merge into Assumption (Buffalo)

· St. Edmund (Tonawanda) will merge with St. Christopher (Tonawanda)

Designated to close:

· St. Isidore Oratory (East Otto)

Pastors of parishes scheduled to merge said they have been through a difficult struggle over the past several years, dealing with declining membership and attendance at weekend Mass, building and maintenance costs, and a shortage of diocesan priests.

Sister Regina said the pastors have been provided with written implementation guidelines to assist them and their parishioners in completing the mergers and oratory closing, including establishing a timeframe and coordinating other transition-related details. “Entitled, ‘The Rites of Transition,’ these guidelines will help parishes effect change in a prayerful and peaceful way,” said Sister Regina.

Each new parish faith community will decide on the future use of all church buildings, properties and artifacts, she added.

Both Bishop Kmiec and Sister Regina said the process was moving forward according to plan, with other restructuring recommendations now being reviewed at the diocesan level.

“We are responding to proposals from the regional clusters and vicariates to hopefully right-size for 2015 and beyond when we project there will be 150 active diocesan priests available for parish service,” said Sister Regina. The number of active priests in the diocese has declined from 478 in 1984 to 202 today, she said.

According to Sister Regina, there are currently 273 parishes, missions and oratories in Western New York.

Bishop Kmiec said the previously announced timetable for communicating future restructuring decisions – tentatively June and October of 2007 – has been scrapped in favor of a series of ongoing announcements. “We will no longer be bound by self-mandated timeframes and self-imposed deadlines. When work is done and decisions are ready to be made, we will announce them in due time to avoid unnecessary angst or further delays in the process,” Bishop Kmiec said.

The Journey in Faith and Grace strategic planning process was designed to identify the religious, spiritual, and education needs of the Catholic faithful throughout the diocese, and determine how those needs can best be met. The goal is to ensure that parishes will have the membership, leadership, and resources to be vibrant centers of parish life.

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