BOWMANSVILLE, NY (WKBW) — Six months from now the Buffalo Catholic Diocese will look much different with dozens of churches set to close or merge by June.
This is part of what the bankrupt diocese calls its Road to Renewal plan, but parishioners across our region continue to ask us to elevate their voices against these changes.
I met with two parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Bowmansville, giving a voice to their concerns for the future of their church.
“We didn't make this mess. We can't fix it,” said Julie Monheim who is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church.
Many parishioners across the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo remain uncertain about the future of their churches and Monheim is one of them.
Monheim told me she doesn't want to "criticize the diocese" but recently learned her church is now on a “watch list."
“And this watch list gives us a criteria for us to fulfill, in order to remain, what? I’m not sure, to remain open or to continue having Masses. I don't really know what the answer to that is,” Monheim explained.
The diocese plans to make the church a secondary worship site where it would no longer serve as a parish. It was also moved from its family of parishes in Lancaster Depew to parishes in Clarence.
"They have a certain amount of money that they want us to get, a certain amount of baptisms per year, a certain amount of weddings, and a certain amount of confirmations,” said Monheim.
"I think that's a temporary thing to perhaps find an excuse to close it because some of the goals set forth are probably not that realistic,” Ron Huefner said.
Huefner has attended this church for 75 years.
"This is basically the only parish I’ve ever known,” Huefner said.
Huefner is the parish historian and wrote a book tracing 100 years of the church. But after 75 years at this parish, where would he go if his church were to close?
"That's a hard question. I don't think I’ve resolved that. We're being merged into Nativity in Clarence, as I said, most of our orientation is toward Lancaster. I do have some connection with St. Mary’s, which is the only surviving parish in Lancaster,” responded Huefner.
This church also features these two outdoor shrines, but the diocese tells me there will be no changes to the shrines' status.
I did ask the diocese about the future of this church and a spokesman told me that much "consultation and review" went into making this church a secondary worship site. It also explained the parish was added to a watch list because the diocese “assesses sites based on a number of criteria.”
