BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Up to 14 churches in the City of Buffalo that have been recommended to be closed by the Buffalo Diocese in recent days could be put up for local landmark status.
Preservation Buffalo Niagara announced Tuesday the launch of the “Save Our Sacred Sites” project, which is aimed at securing funding and submitting landmark status applications for churches deemed at risk.
In recent days, the diocese has announced over 30 churches across Western New York will be closed or merged as the organization trims from 160 to 106 parishes amidst a financial crisis due to declining numbers, as well as payouts to settle child sexual abuse cases. 15 of the 33 announced so far are within city limits.
“As you can tell, the diocese, we can see logically that they made a real estate decision and not a decision based on actual people and participation in churches,” Fillmore District Buffalo Common Council member Mitch Nowakowski said at a news conference at Our Lady of Perpetual Help on O’Connell Street on Tuesday. “We have enough folks behind me that live around here that walk to church every single week … Church is meant for actual people. A church has social responsibility to the neighborhood around it.”
Around 50 people who go to mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help were in attendance on Tuesday. The church has been a part of the community for decades. In 2014, parishioners raised over $200,000 for renovations to be put into the church. More recently, $30,000 was raised to replace a window.
“It’s not just a church,” said Kathleen Byrns, who has attended mass there for decades. “This is what’s keeping the community together. If this church goes, this community, which is up-and-coming, a lot of good things are happening around here the last 10, 15 years that you never saw coming. You have all this newness, all this freshness. You have this up-and-coming, and you want to pull the heart out of it. Doesn’t make sense.”
Multiple parishioners pointed out that the church is not in debt to the diocese and has money in the bank.
“It’s almost like a death in the family,” parishioner Erin Davison said. “This is a church where a lot of us grew up, our grandparents belonged, relatives. My children are the sixth or seventh generation.”
“My great-grandparents came from Ireland. They settled here,” Patricia Campbell said. “I’m in my 70s, I was baptized here, I’ve lived down here my entire life.”
Preservation Buffalo Niagara Executive Director Bernice Radle said that the hope is to turn the buildings, if closed by the diocese, into community centers or apartments. They would not be allowed to be turned into restaurants or bars. If approved for local landmark status, any significant changes to the buildings would have to be approved by a local preservation board.
The application can put churches in a position for future owners to use historic tax incentives for redevelopment projects, which has been done for several buildings with historic status in Buffalo.
Still, churchgoers are hopeful that Our Lady of Perpetual Help will be able to remain a church.
“There’s roots all in this community, especially when you meet the people who are part of the roots of this church,” Michelle Barrett, who has been going to Our Lady of Perpetual Help since 2022, said. “You can’t help but want to fight with them and for them.”
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Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.