St. Benedict Parishioner Opposes Buffalo Diocese’s Closure Recommendation

EGGERTSVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) — This month, the Diocese of Buffalo outlined its recommendations to merge or close more than 70 houses of worship as it seeks to right-size and reshape itself.

All parish families in Western New York now have the list of recommended closures or mergers over the past two weeks.

The diocese confirmed to News 4 on Sunday that no family has yet requested a meeting to change these recommendations. However, parishioners oppose the diocese.

“We deserve a little more from a transparency standpoint,” said St. Benedict parishioner Nandor Forgach.

Parishioners at more than 70 houses of worship in Western New York, including churches like St. Benedict’s in Eggertsville, are trying to understand why they were recommended to close.

Forgach said the church is vibrant, pays its bills and has a miles-long waiting list to get into the attached school.

“We are seeing more and more parents and families coming to the school,” he said. “We have seen our sacrament attendance increase because the school is attached to the parish. »

With all these factors, he wonders why the diocese is closing St. Benedict.

“A strong school does not necessarily mean it is an indicator of a strong parish. They are two different things,” said Father Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development, who leads the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” effort.

St. Benedict School will remain open and expand on the church campus, but masses will be moved to St. Leo the Great on Sweet Home Road.

The diocese cites geography for other less aging establishments and the lack of mass attendance for this recommendation. Data obtained by News 4 shows that since 2014, mass attendance has declined by an average of more than 420 parishioners.

“In 2023, they reported that 331 people attended Mass there on weekends for three Masses. That’s 110 people per service in a church that can accommodate 900 people,” Zielenieski said.

“It’s a two-way street,” Forgach said. “It is not only up to parishes to improve their evangelism, but it is also up to the Church as a whole to begin to question itself and actually implement changes that would help bring people back to the faith and the Catholic community.

Parishioners said greater transparency from the diocese was needed regarding the reasons behind the proposed closures.

“That was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Forgach said. “We feel like we’re being taken for granted.”

Church officials say this is a reciprocal process, emphasizing that all data used was provided by the parishes involved, meaning everyone has access to the numbers.

“The diocese sends a statistical report to each parish that asks for sacrament numbers and then their financial report each year,” Zielenieski said. “On the back, they attest that they have made the numbers accurate to what is happening in their parish community.”

Parish families and churches that could potentially be closed or merged have until July 15 to make a counter-proposal, with the number of recommended closures expected to remain the same. The final list of closures is expected to be finalized by September 1, and mergers will begin in October.

“There are people here who are willing to do whatever it takes to keep this church and this community functioning and vibrant and alive,” Forgach said. “It would be a shame to lose that, especially when we’re trying to rebuild Catholicism.”

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