Diocese of Buffalo to merge or close a third of parishes in new restructuring | Cattaraugus County

The Diocese of Buffalo announced Tuesday that it may merge about 34 percent of the diocese’s 160 parishes following what the diocese called a comprehensive, collaborative planning process led by its Road to Renewal division.

The actual number of parishes to close and/or merge — and which ones — will not be determined until clergy and parish leaders have an opportunity to review the recommendations, officials said in a statement.

“The Diocese of Buffalo faces multiple challenges, including a significant shortage of priests, declining Mass attendance, aging congregations and continued financial pressures caused by our Chapter 11 filing,” said Bishop Michael W. Fisher. “This plan is the result of lessons learned when we brought parishes together in the parish family model and determined fairly quickly that reducing the number of parishes would best allow us to use our limited resources to help reinvigorate a spiritual renewal in the diocese.

Parishes can either accept the diocese’s recommendations or present an option for one or more alternative parishes within their family for merger, officials said. These determinations will be made between August 15 and September 1.

The Path of Renewal in the diocese uses a collaborative model that grouped the current 160 parishes into 36 families of parishes, announced in December 2021. When the Path of Renewal process began, Renewal staff contacted dioceses throughout the country and 67% of responding dioceses were implementing, or had implemented, a collaborative model in their diocese.

In the Olean neighborhood, the city’s Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and St. John’s Church as well as St. Bonaventure Church in Allegany make up Family No. 24 and were part of the second phase of Families of Parishes from October 2023. .

Last winter, the Rev. Chris Emminger was named the new pastor to lead the three churches, which still operate as individual parishes that work together like a family. Emminger replaced the Rev. John Adams at Olean churches and the Rev. Michael Reyes at St. Bonaventure.

Meanwhile, a pilot parish family consisting of Our Lady of Peace in Salamanca, Holy Name of Mary in Ellicottville, and St. Philomena in Franklinville began their process of working more closely together in January 2022. Today, they operate as Three Catholic Sisters of the Foothills with an administrative team and website covering all three churches.

Pastors in the diocese will soon receive detailed materials for conducting consultations within their family of parishes. Once the parishes to be merged have been identified and approved, the process of merging these identified parishes is expected to begin this fall.

“These difficult changes coupled with our renewal allow us to direct limited resources toward the greatest needs of our community,” the bishop said. “The work of the Holy Spirit within our diocese and the support of the Western New York community has been an incredible blessing.”

According to data provided by the diocese when reviewing all 160 parishes, about half are reporting a decline in the number of registered households and three out of five parishes are operating with a negative net balance.

The aging of the parish population also has an impact on parishes. About 60% of parishioners are over 60, with half of parishes reporting just one baptism per month and 59% reporting a steady decline. About one in four parishes reported a decrease in marriages between 2020 and 2023.

At the same time, the shortage of priests results in a sharp drop in the number of priests available in the diocese. The average age of priests is 76 years old, and it is estimated that 63% of priests in dioceses will be between 65 and 70 years old by 2030. The diocese also reported that it had 173 priests in 2012, compared to 115 today ‘today, with only 70 expected in 2012. the diocese by 2030.

As the diocese continues this consultation process with parish families, officials said parishes with existing elementary schools will be evaluated just as parishes without schools will be evaluated. There is also a Catholic Schools Strategic Planning Group that helps guide Catholic schools and education into the future, working very closely with Road to Renewal.

“To make the recommendations that will be presented to pastors, we looked at parish demographics, participation in the sacraments and financial support,” explained the Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development, who leads the effort on the Road to renewal. “We also looked at variations in our urban, suburban and rural parishes, as factors such as poverty rates, transportation availability, proximity and limited resources impact the overall long-term vitality of the parish .