ARCARD, NY (WKBW) — The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s Road to Renewal reaches far into the rural communities of Western New York, as parishioners are affected by potential church closings.
I continued my coverage of the Road to Renewal on Friday, taking you to Wyoming County.
RELATED: Here are the Buffalo Catholic Diocese parishes that have been recommended to merge/close
“It's something that we deal with every week when we come to Mass,” remarked Sue Salzler.
Salzler has attended St. Mary’s in East Arcade for 59 years, but that could soon change.
The Buffalo Diocese wants to close the worship site, tucked away, deep in this countryside community, with about 100 people attending weekly mass.
"There are a lot of people, today, who are suffering because a place where they have worshiped for years and years is now going to be closed,” replied Salzler.
For Salzler, St. Mary's is more than just a building.
“I have four children. They are all members of this parish. My grandchildren — all their sacraments have been received here. The weddings have been here, yeah — there’s a lot of memories. Most of them good memories,” reflected Salzler.
“This is so sad. This is so horrible,” declared Walter Becker.
Becker now lives in Fairport but he grew up in this Wyoming County region. He contacted me because he wanted you to know how important this church is to this community.
“I came out three or four weeks ago and I walked around and thought something's got to be done to try to save this parish,” commented Becker.
Becker created this map of more than a dozen parishes that once existed to show how this rural region has lost so many churches.
"And I know the diocese wants to evangelize — that's the big message now, but if they're closing all the churches. Where is this going to happen?" Becker questioned.
Options for these worshipers are to head back to the Village of Arcade with a drive of about 10 minutes. Or to head to Springville, which is more than 20 minutes to attend St. Aloysius.
“Where will you go?” I asked.
“That's a good question. We haven't made a firm decision. The closest place for use will be the church in Arcade,” Salzler responded.
“I think it's tragic we're in a position where we're having to close churches, but I think it seems to be the realistic position we're in,” Quincy Stewart noted.
Stewart attends daily mass at St. Mary in the Village of Arcade. That parish will stay open, but Stewart tells me it's time for the faithful to stop making it about church buildings.
“Because for over all these years, apparently we haven't kept the faith alive enough and enough people that we have the resources to preserve all the buildings,” explained Stewart.
The diocese will make its final decision the first week of September.
