Last chance for parishes to tell Buffalo diocese if they will fight to stay open

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Diocese of Buffalo announced in May that it would close 34% of its parishes and 38% of its houses of worship as it seeks to “rightsize and reorganize.”

Following the announcement, the diocese met with its seven regional vicariates in Western New York to recommend which parishes should merge/close.

RELATED: Here are the parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo that have been recommended for merger

Churches that could be excluded from the list have until Monday to make their plans known to the Diocese of Buffalo. They can either accept the diocese’s recommendations or consider submitting a counterproposal.

“We are not the generation of our parents who just take the word of the diocese and comply with it, we ask questions, we fight back,” said Nandor Forgach, a parishioner at St. Benedict Roman Catholic Church.

He has already experienced the closure of a church, having grown up in the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

“It’s completely understandable, it made sense. The Hungarian community was no longer living in Riverside, in the Black Rock area,” Forgach said.

But he says people live, learn and pray together at St. Benedict’s.

“Based on A, the health of our parish and the fact that we have such success with the school as well,” Forgach said.

Nandor Forgach

Forgach believes there is a lack of transparency on the part of the diocese.

“You know, I think sometimes the diocese forgets that without the parishioners, they are nothing. It’s our Sunday collections, it’s us who go to Mass, it’s us who keep the faith that keeps them where they are today,” Forgach said.

Church leaders must now put a proposal in writing and submit it by August 5.

The North Buffalo Catholic community also plans to submit a proposal.

Buffalo Catholic Community, North

“Families will have a specific time to come with the parishes that are going to present their counterproposals and to meet with the committee that has been established to help us evaluate those counterproposals,” said Father Bryan Zielenieski, vicar of Road to Renewal.

From July 15 to August 23, diocesan leaders will review the proposals and a formal list of recommendations will be released by September 1.