Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Catholic Diocese is moving forward with its "Road to Renewal" plan after Tuesday's announcement regarding the decisions made on parishes and worship sites across the eight counties the Diocese represents in Western New York.
Under the framework of the plan that was laid out Tuesday, the Diocese will trim its total parishes from 160 to 79, while seeing a slight increase in secondary worship sites from 36 to 39. That's a little more than a 40% of the plashes of worship that will either close or merge under this plan.
A number of local parishioners continue to voice their disgruntlement with the Buffalo Diocese and their plans to close or merge a number of parishes across the region.
"I don't think it is necessary. I think the Diocese has moved very swiftly, in this case, whether it's to sell properties for paying off the lawsuit or what the reasoning is, but it has ripped the hearts out of many parishioners in the Buffalo Diocese, because they are really, really upset," said Tom Puchalski with the Save Our Buffalo Churches initiative. "I don't think they realize how much damage they've done."
Some parishioners were lucky during the counter proposal process with the Diocese to see their parishes remain open, including those at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Old First Ward. Others like Puchalski, though, were upset to see their parish remain on the list of upcoming closures/mergers.
Puchalski's parish, Blessed Sacrament Church in Tonawanda, was among the several parishes in the Buffalo Diocese to present a counter proposal to Bishop Michael Fisher.
"For every justification they gave us to close, we found their data was wrong, and we presented it to them with the correct data. We finished one and two out of our Family of Parishes. The data definitely shows we are a very vibrant parish. We are the only parish in our family group that has a youth program and a young adult program. We also have adoration, the only one in the entire Diocese, for 37 hours straight. It's just hard to believe that the Diocese has moved to close us," Puchalski noted. "We were in the black also, which the other parishes in our group were not. In fact, one of them is definitely in the negative, big time, and they're under a watch list now."
Over the last several weeks, Puchalski has been around a number of parishes to meet with members of the laity, and wishes the Diocese would re-think their strategy.
"They need to go out to these parishes that they decided to close and listen to the people," he said. "It's sad to see that these older people who have gone to the church, supported the church, and you just see this in their eyes. They're just so upset about it. It's not just another building, and the Diocese has treated this as just another franchise. 'We're going to close this franchise down because we just feel it's necessary.' They didn't take the weakest ones, they took the stronger ones."
Puchalski and the Save Our Buffalo Churches group has recently been working with St. Joseph's Canon Law and lawyer Phil Gray, putting together their own plan to appeal the Buffalo Diocese's plan by heading straight to the Vatican.
"When they close parishes like this, you even lose more Catholics. You lose between 22% and 60% when you do this process, because that's how much it upsets the people," Puchalski noted. "Unless you're a parish that is in a grave situation financially and the buildings are in deplorable condition, the Canon Law says you cannot close a parish. That is why our group, SaveOurBuffaloChurches@gmail.com, we're asking those parishes that are slated to close to reach out to us so that we can give them the necessary information they need to put this forward."
The first step in the appeal process is to acquire a parish packet, and then choose a procurator for the parish you wish to appeal under. The procurator is a person that acts like a power of attorney, who gathers the information and then submits it.
"What you do is you have the parishioner sign the mandate, approving your selection to handle all of your paperwork and stuff for the submission of this. And then as it goes through the process, you have to also do a proposal, showing the Vatican and the bishop why you shouldn't close. Under Canon Law, there's a number of items that will come up in there, and questions that you have to answer to put your entire packet together."
According to Puchalski, once the appeal is formally put together, it will first go to the bishop, and then it'll go to the Vatican. If the appeal reaches the Vatican, Puchalski believes Blessed Sacrament has a very good, strong case to overturn the Diocese's decision, allowing them to remain open.
Local parishioner Michael Taheri believes it's wonderful that members of the laity are contesting the Diocese's plans in an effort to keep their parish open. However, from past experience, he knows those types of challenges may take several years before they reach the Vatican.
"We finished one case, it was over four years before we heard from the Vatican. So I think the question, regrettably, is going to be timing," Taheri said in an interview with WBEN. "What do you do between now and a ruling from the Vatican? Are they going to keep that church open in good faith, or are they going to close it? The bishop likes to close churches, so now are you're going to re-open the church if that appeal is successful?"
In recent years, Taheri has been quite critical of Bishop Fisher and the Buffalo Diocese. This includes a recent letter penned to Pope Francis at the Vatican, calling for the removal of Bishop Fisher due to actions resulting in "adverse long-term and irreparable harm to the Catholic laity who reside in this community."
He calls this "Road to Renewal" plan concocted by the Diocese the "Road to Ruin" for the Catholic faith.
"There's been virtually no participation by the laity. I've received texts already today expressing just disappointment and outrage," Taheri said. "The bishop's never around. He's never out publicly to field the tough questions. I just think it's a continuation of the 'Road to Ruin', a shrinking of the Diocese, and there's an absence of the faith down at the Chancery."
What Taheri believes is missing in this Diocese right now is, what he calls, a lot of mercy from Bishop Fisher, and an understanding of the harm he has caused this parish community.
"The Catholic Church in this community and the laity are really strong in ministry. Feeding the poor, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick. We don't do that anymore," Taheri said. "We're more focused on the legal battles, and 'I'm spending money for lawyers,' and 'I'm closing churches and I'm closing schools.' This bishop and his crew have crippled ministry in the Diocese of Buffalo."
Going forward, Taheri, once again, suggests the idea of revisiting whether the Buffalo Diocese needs a new bishop in charge.
"I had made a request to Pope Francis with several others, saying that some type of inquiry should be started to see if this is the right bishop for Western New York. I don't think it is," he said. "You've got to get back, and the role for the laity has to be deeper, richer, and we have to be a more humble church, a service driven church. Right now, we're just a legal entity that the bishop has his lawyers spend money on. There's no ministry. So you have to empower the laity to bring back ministry."
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