BUFFALO, N.Y. (LifeSiteNews) — Save Our Buffalo Churches (SOBC) announced that two additional parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo have won canonical recourse appeals, bringing the total to four since November.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy revoked the merger/closure decrees of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Clarence, New York, and Holy Apostles Parish in Jamestown, New York.
The Dicastery also agreed to examine both parishes’ appeals against the assessments contributions levied against them. This asset appropriation has been suspended pending case examination due to “grave concerns,” according to SOBC.
St. Bernadette’s in Orchard Park, New York received its revoked decree in November.
Additionally, Our Lady of Bistrica Parish in Lackawanna also received a letter from Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher this past week stating the revocation of his extinctive merger decree for their parish.
“These announcements follow immediately on the heels of the revocation of Bp. Fisher’s ’22 October 2024′ Policy, which rigidly restricted canonical recourse by prohibiting trustees to be procurators, or parish groups from meeting on parish grounds,” SOBC explained. “This letter resulted in the removal of trustees and finance council members in recourse parishes across the diocese. Bp. Fisher acknowledged this matter was discussed during his recent meeting with the Dicastery for Clergy, admitting the policy was too restrictive of the rights of the faithful.”
“We will be reviewing the decree by the Dicastery for the Clergy, which revokes the bishop’s decree concerning the merger of Holy Apostles parish,” Fr. Bryan Zielenieski, Buffalo’s Vicar for the diocese’s Renewal Initiative, told local news outlet WGRZ. “The Diocese will, of course, abide by this ruling which allows for Holy Apostles to remain an independent parish within the Family of Parishes Number Four, along with St. James (Jamestown), St. Patrick (Randolph), and Sacred Heart (Lakewood).”
“The Diocese fully supports the right of parishes to appeal its decisions pertaining to closures and mergers, which has been part of the process from the beginning of the Road to Renewal implementation,” Zielenieski continued. “We are continuing our collaboration with the pastors and parish leaders of the Diocese as we implement the Family of Parishes model and together work to define the future of Catholic faith and impact across Western New York.”
In September 2024, the Diocese of Buffalo announced its intention to close nearly 80 churches and “worship sites” as part of a broader restructuring plan called “Road to Renewal.” The move aimed to eliminate fully half of the parishes in the western New York diocese.
Bishop Fisher blamed a lack of attendance, a drop in vocations, the growth of secularism and past priestly sexual abuse for the decision, which some faithful say “blindsided” them.
The Diocese of Buffalo, which comprises eight counties in western New York, has not been without controversy in recent years. In 2022, a historic, 164-year-old church in the diocese was sold to a Muslim group for use as a mosque for $250,000 after refusing proposals to reuse it as a church. The sale was criticized by laity for allegedly being in violation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church was similarly sold in 2017 and converted to a mosque.
Bishop Fisher took over the diocese in 2021 after Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned in disgrace two years earlier amid allegations of covering up sexual abuse of seminarians and for having put a priest who was caught consuming homosexual pornography twice back into ministry.
Siobhan O’Connor, Malone’s former secretary, helped take him down after she blew the whistle on his corrupt behavior on CBS’s “60 Minutes” program in 2019.
The diocese is reportedly still paying out a $100 million settlement for nearly 900 cases of past child sex abuse.
