Seven Niagara County parishes are on the final closing list issued by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo on Tuesday.
The impacted parishes are:
• All Saints, St. Patrick site, Lockport
• All Saints, St. Joseph site, Lockport
• St. Brendan on the Lake, Wilson site
• Holy Trinity (St. Stephen worship site), Middleport site
• St. Raphael, Niagara Falls
• St. John de LaSalle, Niagara Falls
• Divine Mercy, Niagara Falls
They are among the 78 properties across the diocese’s eight counties to be shuttered.
Impacted parishes have up to a year to finalize the closing process.
In all, the diocese will keep 79 parishes and 39 secondary worship sites open.
Following the release of the initial closure list, the diocese had received 52 family counter-proposals in the face of planned mergers and closures, which were reviewed over the past two weeks.
For Niagara and Orleans county parishes there were 11 parishes impacted by merger or closure.
A counter-proposal from the “family” of Catholic parishes in Lockport was presented to Fisher and his advisers. While accepting the merger of All Saints and St. John the Baptist parishes as suggested by the Diocese of Buffalo, for the purpose of sharing resources, trustees of the two parishes proposed keeping Church Street-based St. Patrick’s Church open alongside Chestnut Street-based St. John’s church.
Conversely, St. Raphael’s parish, at 3840 Macklem Ave. in Niagara Falls, did not send in any alternative proposals. Spokesperson Maria Gleason said they expect to be on the diocese’s list of final closures. That church is planned to merge with St. Peter’s in Lewison. The St. Raphael’s property, which includes its parish center and school building at 1018 College Ave., will be sold to cover diocese expenses and towards priest abuse settlements.
The other major change in that parish family, #34 covering the Lower Niagara River communities, is having Immaculate Conception church in Ransomville join that family rather than be in one focused on Lockport.
The three churches in that family, including St. Bernard in Youngstown, are expected to have only one priest serve them by 2030.
In Niagara Falls, in a letter to parishioners posted on the parish’s Facebook page in June, Father Jim Kirkpatrick, pastor of St. John de LaSalle Church, explained that the diocese has recommended merging the parish with St. Vincent de Paul. Under that scenario, Kirkpatrick indicated that the entire St. John’s property on Buffalo Avenue in the LaSalle section of Niagara Falls would be sold.
Despite efforts by parishioners of Our Lady of the Rosary, a pitch to keep the Wilson church open was not included in the church family’s counterproposal to the Diocese of Buffalo.
In Middleport, St. Stephen’s church site will close and its parish merged with Holy Trinity Church in Medina.
Currently, St. Stephen’s is housing the Middleport Food Pantry, whose organizers are now seeking a new space to base the operation.
Former St. Stephen’s parishioner and village mayor Dan Dodge said that while he has not heard of any efforts to reverse course on the diocese’s proposal, he’s “heartbroken” over the closing of the village’s sole Catholic church.
“It’s sad to see it close, that church had been a huge part of my life,” Dodge said.
In addition to the Niagara County sites, St. Mark in Kendall the former Lyndonville property and rectory will also be closed.