The list of local Catholic churches to be closed as part of a recommended consolidation plan grew on Monday as the Diocese of Buffalo announced the addition of eight more sites, including six in Niagara County and two in Orleans County.
The updated plan impacts four parishes in Niagara Falls, two in Lockport, one in Wilson. one in Middleport and one in Orleans County.
In the Falls, the diocese recommended:
• Closing Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Independence Avenue.
• Merging St. John de LaSalle on Buffalo Avenue with St. Vincent de Paul on Military Road.
• Merging Divine Mercy on Niagara Street with St. Mary of the Cataract on Fourth Street.
• Merging St. Raphael on Macklem Avenue with St. Peter’s church on Center Street in Lewiston.
In Lockport, the diocese recommended the closure of the St. Joseph campus on Market Street and the merger of All Saints on Church Street with St. John the Baptist on Chestnut Street.
The diocese also announced the closure of the Our Lady of the Rosary worship site in Wilson.
The recommended closure on the consolidation list calls for St. Stephen in Middleport to be merged with Holy Trinity in Medina and St. Mark in Kendall to merge with St. Mary’s in Holley.
Additions to the parish closure and consolidation list followed last week’s announcement that the dioceses intended to close nine suburban churches in Erie County. The earlier closure list included one Niagara County parish, St. Jude the Apostle in North Tonawanda.
All of the potential closures are part of what the diocese calls its “Road to Renewal,” a plan for consolidating parishes and closing churches that was announced in 2019 amid declining church attendance and support as well as a decline in the number of available priests. The diocese has also filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a financial restructuring effort in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal that led to the filing of hundreds of lawsuits under New York’s Child Victims Act.
“The Diocese of Buffalo is facing multiple challenges including a significant priest shortage, declining Mass attendance, aging congregations and ongoing financial pressures brought about by our Chapter 11 filing,” said Bishop Michael W. Fisher. in a statement issued by the diocese “This plan resulted from the lessons learned as we brought parishes together in the parish family model and determined rather quickly that scaling back the number of parishes would best allow us to use our limited resources to help reenergize a spiritual renewal in the diocese.”
Diocese officials have said that nearly half of parishes throughout the region have endured declines in registered households and more than half average just one baptism per month. Only 12% of local parishes initiated new Catholics this past Easter Vigil, the diocese reported.
On May 28, the diocese announced plans to merge or close about one-third of the 160 Catholic parishes in Western New York.
The Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development, said the proposed reshaping would leave the diocese with 106 parishes, a decline of 34%.
Fisher said the parish closures and mergers are expected to be finalized by Sept. 1 but only following a consulting process involving parish families.
Dioceses officials said the actual number of parishes merged will not be determined until clergy and parish leadership have an opportunity to review the recommendations that have been proposed. According to the diocese, clergy and parish leadership may either agree with the recommendations or present an option for an alternative parish (or parishes) within their family for a merger. Those determinations will be made between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1, the diocese has said.
As part of the Road to Renewal, diocese officials said their recommendations were made based on data, including the numbers of registered households per parish, how many of those registered households are actively contributing and the numbers of sacraments and new Catholics initiated through faith formation, to priests. In addition to financial factors, diocese officials said geographical considerations and strategy were considered as part of the recommendations.