Diocese of Buffalo announces southern tier closures and mergers

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Diocese of Buffalo announced additional parish closures and mergers affecting the Southwest Tier Vicariate Tuesday evening during a meeting at Blessed Mary Angela Parish in Dunkirk.

The decision comes after the diocese’s May 28 announcement to “right-size and reshape” its parishes by closing or merging about a third of Western New York’s 160 parishes.

The diocese faces the challenges of a shortage of priests, declining Mass attendance and financial problems related to payments to settle child sexual abuse cases.

Diocese of Buffalo to merge one-third of parishes in effort to ‘resize and reshape’

As of Tuesday evening, 40 churches were recommended to close or merge. The full list of affected parishes can be viewed here.

You can see below the list of parishes concerned within the Vicariate of South West Level:

Family #3

• Saint Anthony (Fredonia): merge with Holy Trinity and close

• Saint Joseph (Fredonia): merging with the Holy Trinity and closing

• Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Silver Creek): close the Sainte-Rose de Lima site, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Dunkirk): Merge with Holy Trinity and close. Northern Chautauqua Regional School will remain open and continue at this location with ministry provided by Holy Trinity.

• Blessed Marie-Angèle (Dunkirk) — merges with the Holy Trinity. Sale of the Sainte-Hedwige, Dunkerque and Saint-Hyacinthe campuses, Dunkerque.

Family #4

• Notre-Dame de Lorette (Falconnier): merge with Saint-Jacques

• St. James (Jamestown): close the Notre-Dame de la Victoire site

• Sacré-Cœur (Lakewood): close the Panama site

• Holy Apostles (Jamestown): close the St. John site

Family #5

Family #27

Rev. Bryan Zielenieski addresses parishioners’ concerns during diocese restructuring

Parish families and places of worship recommended for closure or merger have until July 15 to make a counter-proposal.

The full list of mergers and closures is expected to be finalized by September 1, with changes beginning in October.

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

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Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate of the University at Buffalo. You can see more of his work here.

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