A little more than a month after it reopened for Mass, the St. Jude the Apostle parish’s existence is being threatened again.
Bishop Michael Fisher issued a new decree on Aug. 6, aiming to merge the North Tonawanda church with St. Christopher in Tonawanda. That continues the Diocese of Buffalo’s original plans for the parish before the Vatican ruled this past May that it should remain open.
The decree will be effective this Monday.
In his decree, which can be viewed on the Roman Catholic Community of the Tonawandas website, Fisher argues that during the period when St. Jude was closed from May 2025 through July 2026, a de facto merger had taken place as churchgoers had registered with other parishes. A statement about it in the Tonawanda Family of Parishes’ bulletin says that fewer than 40 parishoners had re-registered while the vast majority of its 550 had registered elsewhere.
It also reiterates the same information and reasoning for closing the church before the parishioners’ appeal to the Vatican.
“While the finances of St. Jude the Apostle Parish have been maintained as separate accounts, the integration of people from St. Jude the Apostle Parish into other parish communities has, for the most part, already taken place,” the decree reads. “This fact supports my decision to extinctivly merge the Apostle Parish into St. Christopher Parish for the good of the faithful and the health of the priests.”
The diocese originally issued a decree merging the two churches as part of its Road to Renewal initiative in January 2025, but after its closure the following May, parishioner Victoria Vanill appealed to the Vatican to keep the church open. This appeal was unusual because it happened after the deadline had passed, but the Holy See accepted it anyway the following August.
Vanill had previously told the Gazette she felt the church was being closed for its land value and that it had a larger congregation than St. Christopher.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy overturned the Bishop’s decree this past May, saying that a lack of priests in its area and using parish funds for the diocese’s $150 million sex abuse settlement were not just causes for closure. St. Jude officially reopened for Mass on July 5, at the time only open for Mass twice a month.
Father Michael LaMarca, the priest for St. Jude, said that the family’s ministerial needs are being met by the other parishes and a new merger decree was felt to be the best option. He mentioned that the church building could be used as a secondary worship site for the family’s churches, which was discussed during the original merger process.
“Right now we are continuing to be focused on praying for and serving the People of God,” LaMarca said. “We are focused on what the church needs to be moving forward.”
Vanill said that while people were attending Mass there, there was no music played, collections supporting the church were denied, new missalettes were not purchased, and any parishioners brought in from other churches were taken away. The sacred items that were moved to other churches in the family, like their crucifix, Stations of the Cross and other statues, have not been returned.
“They had the opportunity to appeal it to the Apostolic Signatura; they chose not to,” said Vanill.
Mary Pruski, spokesperson for Save Our Buffalo Churches, also argued that the reopened church did not have enough time to get its attendance back to previous levels, given it happened during the summer and the Catholics registered with other churches for sacramental services.
“This says to us it was their intention to close it,” Pruski said. Her organization had previously called for a Vatican investigation into the Diocese of Buffalo’s leadership for its handling of its sex abuse settlement among other actions perceived to go against canon law.
Vanill said they plan on going through the appeal process again, with a petition looking to overturn this newest decree was reportedly delivered to the Diocese this past Sunday. The bishop now has 30 days to either say yes to it, say no, or just let the 30 days run out. If they are denied, parishioners can appeal to the Vatican again with evidence showing why the church is still viable, with many other Western New York churches waiting for nine months to a year for a ruling.
The Vatican has issued at least 22 decrees preventing church mergers and closures in the Diocese of Buffalo since last year, among the latest being Our Lady of the Rosary in Wilson.
Diocese spokesman Greg Tucker said that this decree gives more precise reasons based on the parish that were lacking in the original.
“If it is challenged, the bishop will be able to support his claims with evidence collected as part of the research phase of the Road to Renewal,” Tucker said.