The Diocese of Buffalo has announced that it is closing or merging 51% of its parishes, leaving only 118 churches open, according to OSV News.
Of the remaining churches, 79 will be parishes and 39 will be secondary worship sites. CatholicVote previously reported that the Diocese had only planned to close 78 churches, citing bankruptcy, declining Mass attendance, and a lack of priests.
According to OSV News, Bishop Michael W. Fisher was saddened by the church closures but called for the faithful to embrace an “opportunity” for reinvigoration.
“Three of my churches in Baltimore have closed, that I grew up in,” he said. “So I understand the loss when we lose a parish … but also it gives us an opportunity to now refocus who we are as Catholics. And, what an exciting time it is to be a Catholic.”
The list of closing churches was ultimately shorter than the Diocese originally planned, which was due to the efforts of numerous “parish families,” or groups of local parishes, according to a diocesan news release. CatholicVote previously reported that the parish families met with the Diocese in August to submit arguments for why their home parishes should remain open.
“We received many excellent, well-researched and well-presented counter proposals,” Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development, stated in the news release, adding:
Based on the information presented in those meetings last month, the diocesan review team changed the initial recommendations in 26 of the 36 Families of Parishes. This high level of change from the initial recommendations reveals the true openness and collaboration in our effort to craft a Diocesan roadmap for the foreseeable future.”
According to OSV News, 13 churches have been placed on a “watchlist” and have one year to meet specific goals to prove that they are “viable and strong.”
Buffalo resident Christopher Byrd told OSV News that the Buffalo Mass Mob, which he helped found, is one way to do that.
“Buffalo Mass Mob uses social media to gather crowds to attend Mass at the declining churches to fill the pews, create a surge in collections and generate interest among the churchgoers to attend Mass there again,” OSV reported. “Byrd said the mob would be looking into watchlist churches.”
“We’ll give them a boost, but ultimately these churches are going to have to start showing signs that they’re attracting more people,” Byrd told OSV News.