Buffalo Diocese parishioners provide update on counterproposal process

Update : The Diocese responded to this story on Friday. A statement from Fr. Ray Corbin, the pastor of the Downtown Family of Parishes that includes Our Lady of Perpetual Help, can be found at the bottom of this page.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Over the next two weeks, 30 parish families of the Buffalo Diocese will make their cases for why they should remain open.

Mergers and closures of parishes were originally proposed due to financial troubles from payouts to settle child sexual abuse cases, declining Mass attendance, and a priest shortage.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Buffalo’s Old First Ward neighborhood has already made theirs, but their trustees who sat in the meeting were unwilling to talk with WIVB News 4.

“They seem to be afraid to talk to you guys that, you know, that maybe they have that what they say may actually hurt their proposal,” said Patrick Gorman, a parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. “I wish that more parish council members from all the churches would step up.”

Only the church’s priest, deacon and trustees can show up to these meetings. Parishioners said they have complete faith that the trustees will put their best foot forward.

“They did feel that the bishop and Father Bryan were open to what we had to say about the neighborhood and the importance of this and the significance of this church and the history of the church,” Gorman said. “They did ask a lot of questions about it, and they seemed to be very receptive and open to what our parish council had to say.”

These meetings between parish families and the diocese began Monday at the Catholic Center on Main Street downtown and run through Aug. 22.

Vicar for Renewal Father Bryan Zielenieski said so far, 10 families have already presented their counterproposals.

“This is a dialogue. We’re coming together to make decisions,” Zielenieski said. “The people who have come, have come with their best, they’ve come with the most information that they can — all of the details we need to hear, and then we’ve come with the questions.”

Parishioners said the diocese initially used wrong data to recommend Our Lady of Perpetual Help to close. They provided the right numbers before Monday’s meeting, but are still on the chopping block.

“Still, after the fight, it’s going to be tough for me to go in there with a spiritual heart with the same people involved because they broke my trust,” said Roxanne Casey, parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. “We still proved them that the numbers were wrong and we still had to come up with the counterproposal. They made a mistake. It should have never been recommended, so it doesn’t make sense to me. So that’s why I’m worried that the plan is set in stone.”

After the end of next week, the counterproposal review team will take their final recommendations to Bishop Michael Fisher by Aug. 26 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Statement from Fr. Ray Corbin

The Diocese responded to this story on Friday. A statement from Fr. Ray Corbin, the pastor of the Downtown Family of Parishes that includes Our Lady of Perpetual Help, is below.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, one of the smallest parishes in the diocese, has just over 100 registered families. All the facts and data reported to the diocese have been checked and are absolutely correct. The clergy and the trustees of the parish are trying everything they can to keep some presence of the church in the First Ward.

The woman who is quoted in your Tuesday story is a disgruntled past employee and past parishioner who unfortunately doesn’t have all her details correct. Thankfully, the majority of the parishioners at Pets do not share her views and understand the reality of the situation that we face.

To clarify, the accusation that the parish council is working against the pastor is false. Both the parish council and the pastor’s counter proposals were presented and well received by the Road to Renewal review committee.

Fr. Ray Corbin

To see all of News 4’s coverage on the Buffalo Diocese restructuring, click here.

Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.