The Western New York community and most particularly, members of the Catholic Church, have been witnessing an incredible amount of discussion about the Diocese of Buffalo and the parish churches that are the heart of the Diocese. This blog in the past has reported and commented on the management crisis that has now turned into a financial crisis – the scandals involving priests who had sexually abused children in the parishes has led to the problem of how to pay for eventual settlements for the victims.
I asked a long-time friend who has played multiple roles in the Diocesan parishes and is currently involved in the discussions about the future of the parishes to provide some insight into the situation. What follows are my friend’s observations about what is going on.
What has happened and what is happening is of course a result of the priests’ scandal, and unfortunately those being punished are in fact the faithful who are members of the individual parish faith communities.
The entire “Renewal” effort that has been underway for the last two years, headed by the Vicar for Renewal Father Bryan Zielenieski, is just a cover for the dissolution of various faith communities and the sale of their real estate assets (without any approval by the faithful parishioners themselves by the way), in order to satisfy the eventual bankruptcy final order.
The effort started with the establishment of “families” of parishes in various sections and regions of the Diocese. The professed reason was to establish a renewal of faith. In reality it was a method to set up mass closing of parishes.
Each parish “family” (“family” units were designated by the Vicar for Renewal) was to hold a series of meetings with the parishioners to hear of their concerns. In actuality these sessions were to set the stage for the closings. Parishioner input was deliberately ignored because basically the systematic closings had already been determined. Each “family” thus was in a Hunger Games type of competition to designate what parish in the “family” was to be closed. It pitted neighboring parishes against one another. A sad and sick engineered spectacle.
The Vicar took capital expenditures for major parish projects such as roof replacements, foundation repairs, parking lot reconstructions, church renovations – all multiyear projects, and misclassified them as current operating expenses. Thus false parish financial statements were created that indicated huge current operating deficit positions. Capital project revenues and expenditures needed to be segregated from operating revenues and expenditures. The Vicar used his data to justify parish closings.
The appeal process that can be accessed by the parish/faith communities in jeopardy of closing is no better. In fact the appealing parish/faith communities must designate another parish to sacrificed. Added to the debacle is that the appeal designee is not clear. Is it the Bishop or the Chancellor or the Diocesan Vicar?
The faithful parishioners who are being attacked here are not lapsed Catholics, who either infrequently or never attend mass and never support their parishes with donations or volunteer time. These are parishioners who attend mass on a regular basis, volunteer at church in countless ways, send their children and grandchildren to Catholic elementary and high schools, contribute in the collection basket and for parish and school fund raisers. These are the folks under attack, those who compose the faith communities that are the very foundation of this Diocese.
The mantra of the Vicar suggests that these actions are due to the shortage of priests. They are overworked and thus parishes must be closed (another cover for the true mission of using the sale of real estate properties for the bankruptcy settlement). In fact due to a shortage of priests, deacons and Eucharistic ministers may be employed to supplement mass schedules by holding Eucharistic prayers services. This course of action has and was mentioned in many “family” meetings and was completely ignored by the Vicar and by diocesan staff. This system is used in many dioceses where geography makes it very difficult for priests to visit parishes on a regular basis, and where deacons conduct prayer, funeral, and wedding services, just not the mass.
What the Vicar also did was to deliberately and radically shrink the number of masses by his own personal edict. No appeals allowed. The weekly mass schedules in some parishes went from five or six to one. In parishes not under his direct control, like the Jesuit Mission at St. Michael’s on Washington Street in Buffalo, he exerted undue influence to have the Jesuit Order withdrawn from the parish, reducing the weekly mass count from 22 to 6, and dictated that the Jesuits be removed from their residence at the St. Michael’s rectory. The Jesuits Mission had been in operation tending to the faithful in Buffalo for over 150 years. He accomplished a similar mission with the Franciscans who recently announced their involuntary withdrawal from diocesan parish work for the first time since 1856. In fact, the Vicar never consulted with the Jesuit mission in Buffalo but instead communicated directly with the Order’s provincial, by-passing the local mission.
What was the reason for this push? Fewer masses mean less weekly collections, which mean less overall parish revenues, making it easier to justify a parish closing (revenues are down 40 percent – how can we possibly leave this parish open?). St. Michael’s is a prime example; revenues are down because the number of masses are down by over 60 percent. You just can’t have the Jesuits offering 22 masses per week when the Vicar is reducing neighboring parishes to one mass per week now can we?
The end result of this fiasco will be that the parish faithful will either transfer to another parish to await the next round of closings, not attend mass at all, or enroll in an Orthodox faith community. The Diocese will become a hollowed-out shell of its former self both spiritually and morally.
Over the years thousands of parishioners have served in voluntary roles in this Diocese on parish councils, parish school boards, and as Catholic Charities workers. They painted parish buildings, cut parish grass, and served as ushers. Unfortunately diocesan bureaucrats like Vicar Zielenieski are the problem not the solution. They are insulated from all the tremendous, good efforts that are performed daily by parish volunteers and the faithful.
The bankruptcy solution can and should be solved by the sale of non-parish assets such as the Diocesan Center at 795 Main Street. All other non-parish non-school facilities should be sold. Proceeds from insurance carriers should also carry part of the financial burden. These major problems should not be placed on the backs of faithful parishioners who had absolutely nothing to do with outrageous criminal acts committed by a very few priests. Punish the offenders not the faithful.
Amen.
X/Twitter @kenkruly
Threads kenkruly
