BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The tolling bells from Our Lady of Perpetual Help — can be heard throughout the old first ward.
"It's everything. It's more than just a church. It's not a building, you know, it's a history for us," Paddy Gorman, a parishioner said.
Gorman family has deep roots in this part of Buffalo and deep roots with this church.
"The history for our family goes all the way back to 1908, the neighborhood is all. Irish Catholic back then, you know, my great grandfathers, they all worked with the at the grain elevators, being union workers there," Gorman said. "So it's more than just a place to go. On a Sunday, when I walk down here on a Sunday, I feel at home, that my heart is here and this church is inside my heart."
Over the summer, the diocese recommended this church in South Buffalo close putting parishioners on edge.
"You're uprooting an entire family, you're uprooting history," Gorman said.
But the leaders of the Catholic Diocese had a change of heart.
"This is not just about mergers and closers but the road to renewal is how do we look to the future," Father Bryan Zielenieski said at a press conference Tuesday.
Earlier this week they announced Our Lady of Perpetual Help will remain open and be designated as a secondary church.
"Therefore, there may be less masses at a secondary site than at the primary site," Father Zielenieski said.
"We're very happy that they're giving us a chance to show the diocese why we should maintain our church and maintain, you know, what we do here," Gorman said.
Gorman tells me there's some relief that diocese leaders listened and gave this tight-knit community a chance to continue the history of this 127-year-old church.
"Just to maintain our longevity and continue to grow as a family. What we've been doing since I came here 10 years ago," he said.
While the church was protected from closure — all eyes are now on protecting the church's structure. Preservation Buffalo Niagara and Council member Mitch Nowakowski pushed for landmark status. PBN's board recently approved that.
"It'll maintain its you know, it's, it's beautiful appearance when you walk down the street, as you see when you walk down, how beautiful this church is," Gorman said.
"Many neighborhoods and many ancestors built these buildings and these churches that cannot be replicated ever again," Nowakowski said.
Nowakowski said this status gives this structure protection but it needs the Common Council's approval to make it official, which he says is likely.
"Everybody knows your name in this church. It's like cheers. Everybody knows your name, and that's what it is. The families want to be families in the church, that their ancestors built brick by brick by brick," Gorman said.
