Is the Diocese of Buffalo transparent about church closures?

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Most of the parishes slated for closure by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo have decided they won’t go down without a fight.

This week’s deadline revealed that 30 of the diocese’s 36 parish families plan to submit counterproposals opposing the diocese’s recommendations to close or merge a total of 80 parishes in the region, church officials said Wednesday.

But the diocese would not say exactly which parishes objected until 2 On Your Side Investigates asked for answers. Diocesan spokesman Joe Martone said the diocese wanted to avoid confusion. He referred 2 On Your Side to the Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, the diocese’s vicar of renewal.

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Investigative journalist Charlie Specht asked Father Zielenieski: “Do you understand why people don’t find this very transparent, when you don’t give the names and the details?”

Father Zielenieski said: “We try to respect the fact that each family is responsible for how they disclose their information.”

Father Zielenieski said the process is complicated because some parishes worked together and submitted a counterproposal for their family or geographic area, while in other places each individual parish submitted its own competing plan.

“Some parish communities … need to be informed,” Father Zielenieski said. “They know something is happening, they know they’ve had meetings, they know the recommendations, but they don’t know yet what the counterproposals look like.”

Nandor Forgach, the father of two students at St. Benedict School in Eggertsville, said he is frustrated that the diocese has not publicly released all the data it is relying on to close churches. The diocese has published some attendance and sacrament data on the Road to Renewal website, but it has not released data on parish finances.

“To come to us and say, ‘Well, we’re shutting you down for X, Y and Z reasons overnight,’ is a real shock and almost a slap in the face, especially considering that the diocese’s communication has not been the best for some time now,” Forgach said.

Father Zielenieski said Catholics should know that no final decision has been made and detailed counter-proposals will not be presented until early August.

After being interviewed by 2 On Your Side investigative reporter Sean Mickey, Zielenieski agreed to provide the names of the six parish families who did not submit counterproposals. The diocese has not recommended church closures for some of these groups.

These families include: Family #5 (Chautauqua Catholic Church Family); Family #19 (Getzville, Pendleton, Williamsville); Family #27 (Eden, Gowanda, Cattaraugus, North Collins); Family #32 (Cheektowaga-Kaisertown-Sloan RC Community); Family #34 (Lower Niagara River Catholic Community); and Family #36 (St. Joseph’s University, UB North Newman Center, other campus ministries).