Parishioners prepare for North Buffalo churches to close

Rachel Virginia, a longtime parishioner of St. Margaret Catholic Church, hopes the Catholic diocese’s plan to close a third of its 160 parishes won’t trap the North Buffalo parish.

“I’ve been coming to this church for about 30 years, and it’s a very special, essential part of the community,” Virginia said Sunday morning, before entering for mass. “We understand that churches need to do something to strengthen themselves. But it would be extremely upsetting, I know, to many people in this area, including myself, if something happened to St. Margaret’s.”

The diocese announced plans Tuesday to close a total of 54 parishes and 75 places of worship and merge them with other churches. A final announcement on which institutions will be closed is expected by September 1. The church is seeking to restructure in light of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to settle hundreds of abuse claims, with some 900 plaintiffs claiming they were sexually abused as children by pedophiles. priests and other officials of the diocese. The diocese is prepared to offer $100 million to settle the claims.

The diocese also put its Main Street headquarters on the market for $9.8 million, as well as Christ the King Seminary in the city of Aurora and the SUNY Buffalo State Newman Center on Elmwood Avenue.

The diocese, in announcing its desire to reduce the number of parishes, said the current number of 115 diocesan priests is expected to fall to 70 by 2030 and to 38 by 2040. Meanwhile, three out of five parishes in the diocese spend more than they should. Baptisms declined in nearly 60% of parishes and marriages in Catholic churches declined by 25% between 2020 and 2023.

St. Margaret’s parishioners said Sunday they feared North Buffalo would be affected, given the proximity to Holy Spirit Church, 85 Dakota St.; Sainte-Rose de Lima Church, 500 Parker Avenue; St. Mark’s Church, 401 Woodward Avenue. St. Margaret Church is located at 1395 Hertel Avenue.

“I have four parishes that I could walk to in 15 minutes if I stood on Hertel and Parker,” Joe Cain said.

In today’s climate, that’s too much, he says.

“There has to be a lot of change if (the Church) is to survive,” Cain said. “It’s like any government.”

Norm Matuszewski said it was also inevitable that fewer people would attend church.

“It happens in all religions, but at the end of the day, without people being there and money going to churches, you can’t keep them open,” Matuszewski said.

The writing has been on the wall, he says, “for a long, long time.”

Elizabeth Musca said she has been walking to church for 50 years, but things are nothing like they were when there were two, sometimes three priests at services and the pews in the The church was full.

“It’s sad, but it happens,” Musca said. “Why do they need all these buildings?”

St. Margaret opened in 1917 as a church and school at Hertel and North Park avenues, and a new church was built in the 1950s. The school closed in 2012 due to declining listings and is now The Cornelius, a 21-apartment residence.

Lauren Poveromo said it would be a shame to close St. Margaret’s after recently redoing the rectory.

She is still reeling from the February announcement that All Saints Parish in Riverside was closing. This is the church in which she grew up and performed all her sacraments. St. Andrew Church in the town of Tonawanda and St. Lawrence Church on the east side were also expected to be closed, the diocese said.

“I’m very sad that so many parishes are closing,” Poveromo said. “I wish there were other ways to raise money.”

Closing St. Margaret, his church now, “would be devastating,” Poveromo said. She walks to church and doubts she would come as often if she had to drive.

While the faithful are being asked to accept drastic changes, perhaps the Church could make some as well, Poveromo said.

She suggested allowing priests to marry and deacons to say the entire Mass, which could help increase the number of Masses offered.

Time is now running out to determine which parishes will close.

The diocese is expected to share its recommendations for parish mergers and building closures at vicariate meetings Monday through June 14. Families will have until July 15 to reach an agreement or propose other possibilities. The counter-proposals will then be considered in meetings with the diocese team from July 15 to August 23, with a final announcement by September 1.

Matuszewski said he believes the diocese has already decided what it plans to do.

“I think at the end of the day, they already know which parishes are going to close or not close,” he said. “They are going to sell the parishes that bring them the most money.”

Virginia said she recognized that North Buffalo was “saturated” with Catholic churches and that things could not remain as they were, given the diocese’s financial woes and declining attendance. While she prays that St. Margaret, where her father attended before her, will be spared, she is also aware of the impact the closure of one of North Buffalo’s other parishes will have on her community.

“It would certainly be devastating to this North Buffalo community if something happened to St. Margaret’s, or Holy Spirit, or St. Mark, or Rose Lima,” she said.