Buffalorising has been redesigned.

About ten years ago, Cleveland had a remarkable bishop, Father Pilla, who inaugurated the Church in the City program to combat suburban sprawl, because he saw how it was tearing his diocese apart. Pilla eventually resigned after some financial irregularities came to light.

But if you compare the Buffalo diocese now with the Cleveland diocese then, I'd say that THEY were the ones actually taking a journey in faith and grace.

For more about Cleveland's ground-breaking program, see:

http://www.citc.org/resource.htm

Perhaps one reason for the decline in enrollment at Catholic schools could be the fact that so many people now view the Catholic Church as a joke (myself included), and have disassociated themselves from it long ago. Therefore, we now have people coming from a long line of Catholics, having been raised Catholic, who would have done the same for their children but are now raising the kids Lutheran. or Buddhist, or Atheist, or anything else.

Also, it's likely that the increase of Asian immigrants has led to a decline in ALL Christian faiths, with an increase in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so forth.

The church in the city was an interesting read.

But when everyone is self-serving and not really team players the only place we will go is down.

You'd figure at least a religion that preaches service to the poor would actually be willing, if not desiring, to go worship with them.

Catholicism dead....you say!
Christianity dead...you say!

No doubt because of the war of ACLU and jewish lawyers and store owners who sue anytime christianity is mentioned

No doubt because of the war by feminists and the porn industry so they can continue to debase the value of the human body

No doubt the muslims have joined the jews in their victimization and discrimination

Oh Im sure those in the sin-industries are dancing with every closing and celebrating with every school closing but these schools anchored a community and after these schools close people will move from the neighborhood and then the churches will close and the blight of un-maintained property, flipping, abandoned homes and demolitions will follow into the 14 neighborhoods these schools served.

the jews & muslims & feminists must be dancing in the streets and throwing parties, the wont have to see a manger or a christmas greeting in these parts of town.

Blaming the Jews and Muslims for Catholicism's problems is very 12th century.

Tim - If you are looking to assign blame, then focus on former city residents who decided to leave the city for the suburbs or the area for warmer climates. Blame the steel and automotive unions and company management for not responding to the changing tide in the American marketplace. Blame the government for making WNY an unfriendly place to do business. Blame the people of WNY for re-electing the same people into office every couple of years. All of these factors, and many more, have resulted in a lower population in the city and surrounding area.

The positive side to all of this is that the Buffalo Public Schools may see a return of some of the best and brightest students who were attending catholic schools to avoid the ills of public education. Unfortunately, the teachers union in Buffalo won't hire the best and brightest teachers to keep up. The positive side for students is that there is always room in Williamsville and Amherst.

The muslim community is a cornerstone of the East Side. I hope that they continue to build their community and expand their schools. We need that in the neighborhoods.

This is truly a sad and unfortunate event. It also seems that it is a regretable mistake. It seems to me that at this junction in time to embark on the largest closing of diocesen schools is a mistake. Buffalo is certainly hitting a turning point in its population and employment exodus. It also seems to me that by closing half as many schools their would be some crossover of students from the closed schools to the schools that remain open. Don't you think?

I find this very unfortunate. I was educated at catholic schools from first grade through high school. My grammar school was a wonderful experience and a good education. When I went there in the 80's there was no tuition. the school was supported by the attached church. Today there is tuition and these schools still can't make it. Its a sad commentary on our society that the costs of operating has risen so dramatically, at the same time that Church attendance and therefore support has gone down. I think that there should be some plan to have the wealthier parishes support their poorer community members. I don't think that the Catholic church is much to blame for the present state of our society, but they have a golden opportunity to practice their mission, by having the wealthier parishes supporting their poorer city neighbors.

Tim, I hear that the Muslims, Jews and Feminists are throwing a victory party at the now vacant Korean United Methodist Church on Colvin(previously the Scottish Rite Temple, prior to being a Temple but originally built as a Catholic church) My point being: religion is always in a constant state of flux. What has happened to the Catholic diocese is sad. Buffalo neighboorhoods were once identified by the parishes that served them.(and taverns) I would much rather see these small parishes thrive rather than the Mega Churches/Wal-Mart s that are popping up in the burbs.

The Catholic Church in America today is as much a mega-fraud as the U.S. society at large-- including and especially all the Beltway "I Feel Good about Myself and God wants me to be Prosperous" churches that have sucked up the "religious" refugees and ex-urbanites in an orgy of selfishness and smug self-satisfaction. It's a spin-based; all-that-matters-is-the-bottom-line; bankrupt; morally-debased; soul-less institution that needs to look back to St. Francis and the historical continuum of the glorious devoted religious community that so many of us knew until a few decades ago.

Going to Mass today is like attending a creepy Hootenanny. Or, as Joseph Campbell said, a Julia Child cooking show.

Tim has conveniently forgotten that the whole anti-porn movement was launched by feminists, who took a lot of heat from the civil liberty folks and were accused of being in bed, so to speak, with the religious right. But, hey, who cares about historical fact when you're on a good rant?

My last question is this: is suburban sprawl God's will? Is it part of the divine plan that middle class white folks should live in prosperous enclaves and poor people of color should live in squalid, abandoned city neighborhoods? If so, then certainly the Bishop is helping carry out God's plan.

But if suburban sprawl and segregation by class and color are NOT ordained by God and are human-created conditions, then it would seem that the Bishop (and the more prosperous of his flock) should look at our poor and downtrodden urban parishes and ask one simple question: What would Jesus do?

is suburban sprawl God's will? Is it part of the divine plan that middle class white folks should live in prosperous enclaves and poor people of color should live in squalid, abandoned city neighborhoods? If so, then certainly the Bishop is helping carry out God's plan

Regina, I'm confused by your point.

Of the 14 schools being closed, is it not true that only 3 are in the city and 11 are outside the city?

Your remarks make it sound as if you're implying the church selected closures to be disproportionately within the city whereas it seems to me the opposite is true.

Would you please clarify?
Thank you.

Also, another point to make is that all of the city students whose Catholic school is closing certainly will have much opportunity to continue at another Catholic school not much further away if they so desire. For the closures in the more rural "sprawled" areas, that might not be anywhere near as feasible.

The bottom line is it seems to me they are trying to allocate their school budget resources in as fair a way as they can, but the money just is not there to continue having as many schools as they currently have.

I wrote that with churches rather than schools in mind, so if it is not applicable to the closing list of parish schools, I apologize.

This weekend I went to one of the churches likely to be closed, one of the many beautiful churches on the east side. It broke my heart, and I am not Catholic or religious.

WIth churches in mind, my question is still valid: Are suburban sprawl and segregation by class and race God's will? If not, what would Jesus do about parish churches in poor, abandoned city neighborhoods?

What would Jesus do?

I can only think that Jesus would be saying that there must be school choice and there must be school vouchers. Warehousing children according to the income of their surrounding neighborhood in public schools controlled by unions, stifled by buracracy, insulated from parents and obstructed from teaching morals, ethics and social skills necessary for life (life skills) is not the recipe for helping kids or parents.

of course we could say that the rich parishes should support schools in poorer neighborhoods to keep these schools open and I would support that...however...the real reason why catholic and parochial schools are failing are because parents cannot afford to pay both school taxes for public schools and tuition for a private/parochial school. In effect school taxes have priced out the competition.

and Im not looking to assign blame...but there are definitely anti-catholic and anti-christian movements that love to see the deminishment of every religion except theirs! Of course when their atheism triumphs and the world sees another hitler or stalin...there will be no moral power to fight them.

I tell every parent, dont let your kids join the military if they are christian...they will just be used to fight a war for the jews

PS feminists may have sided with the religious against pornography but it was at best a truce....because as long as feminists refuse to recognize the rights of the father and the rights of the unborn...they are committing an immoral act. If it takes two people to create life then it should atleast take two to end life.

Tim, kill yourself

Tim-

Your anti-semetic rants and fear mongering are childish at best and flat out ignorant at worst. You really have to be an ignoramus to blame other religions for the demise of the Catholic church.

You clearly are also not very well educated, and while it may pain you to admit it, the City of Buffalo is not a wing of the Catholic church. School vouchers because you don't like Jews. That's rich.

You're a putz, and a sad excuse for a human being. And although your rants suggest a severly increasing degree of senility, if you are still young enough to have a job, I hope that your two direct bosses are named Mohammed and Goldstein.

This is the first wave of closings. Brace yourself because the "Journey Through Faith and Grace" is about ready to bring additional bad news to residents of Buffalo, NY in another wave of church closings that will make the wave - that Anna refers to in my blogging - that we still haven't recovered from in the 90's, look like child's play.

Living where I do in a neighborhood that is almost gutted, I experience our shrinking city on an hourly basis. No one should be surprised by this announcement. Everything is changed and nothing is sacred anymore. Personal relationships are even treated like things that can be returned to the store and traded on a whim. It's all rather sad as people are taken for granted and what people "say" and "do" is based on something other than integrity.

I remember a few years ago when Turner/Carroll HS closed. As former chair of the Social Studies Dept. I was also the lead negotiator for a new teacher's contract - got 6K across the board - and school closed a few months later when Bishop Mansell pulled the plug. Rod Watson from the Buffalo News chronicled part of the story here - Dead School Walking a few years ago.

For an interesting look at the height of Catholic Buffalo check out this recent post:

http://tinyurl.com/24s4ph

60 years ago, during the Centennial Eucharistic Celebration for local Catholics - 40, 000 catholic school students gathered down the street from my house at the former "rock pile" to celebrate mass. In contrast today there are fewer than 39,000 public school students in Buffalo...

When people become so disposable any wonder why buildings close, too? It's only going to get worse...

C'est la vie.

I was wondering when L was going to resurface. Looks like L's back.

Breaking news, Tim: Jesus was a Jew.

I would like to make a proposal. If comments such as Tim's are not, for whatever reason, removed from this site prior to being posted publicly, then I think we should just boycott them ourselves. There's nothing worse than posting an irrational, inflammatory rant and getting absolutely no response at all to it.

I'm not sure why these comments are allowed to surface in the first place. Those of us who regularly use blogs know that comments are routinely screened. Why Buffalo Rising chooses to have lower standards of conduct than myspace is beyond me. But anyway, maybe we should just ignore these folks completely. They get us off topic and their comments are so below the level of discourse we should be having here.

Just as a side note, I wonder how the advertisers feel about having their ads running alongside anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim diatribes such as this. I know I'd be ashamed and would pull them immediately. I realize that the ad is not an endorsement of the comments, but I wouldn't want the name of my company anywhere near the remarks made above.

Hi Gretchen, This has happened in the past and the offending posts were removed from the site. This is the liability of free speech in America.

I am so torn. First of all, I am offended by Tim because he says that atheists have no morals. Well, I'm atheist and I think I've got great morals. Secondly, What are we going to do with these church buildings? I cannot chastise the Catholic church for closing parishes. I do not go to any Catholic church, and I dont contribute money in the basket every sunday, so how can I sit here and blame them for abandoning buildings they cannot afford to upkeep? St. Ann's on Broadway is gorgeous, but its going to close... everyone knows it. Shouldnt someone, somebody form some sort of coalition to purchase this building and use it for something? We should be more proactive than reactive.

To: Confused by Regina's Point

You are correct that the current closings only included 3 in the city. The others are in the inner ring suburbs and for the most part are not in affluent areas. The poorest neighborhoods in the city lost their Catholic Schools (and some their churches) years, and decades ago. So yes, Regina has a point, affluent churches and schools are not targeted. The city has been targeted for decades.....

South Buffalo was hit in the last several years with "school consolidations" which have forced families to consolidate several schools to one (that did not have room for all students).

As a practicing Catholic, I am saddened by the diocese and what I believe is a turning their back on their mission.

Your point that "all of the city students whose Catholic school is closing certainly will have much opportunity to continue at another Catholic school not much further away if they so desire" is laughable. For some families, this means higher tuitions and transportation costs. For families in South Buffalo, it could mean attending Catholic schools in the suburbs.

Speaking firsthand as someone who has lived the impact, this has an impact. Neighbors MOVED to the suburbs for educational purposes. Some left the church. Yes most of us stayed, some drifted to public schools, some to neighboring Catholic Schools, but we have lost neighbors that we would not loose otherwise.

This city needs both strong public and prive schools to attract families.

I fear the diocese has lost their mission, and has abandoned parishoners in favor of the benjamins.

I'm really concerned by the talk of consolidating the surviving Catholic churches, something that not only punishes the schools that are actually doing well but breaks up neighborhood communities that the schools are meant to foster in the first place.

In North Buffalo, St. Mark's School has full classrooms and an active community to support it. But the Diocese is talking about consolidating it with the other Catholic schools in the area, making one a grammer school, one a middle school and so forth.

This is such a terrible idea and in light of the Diocese's 14 closings I'm worried it might be the next step on their 'Journey' or whatever. The whole idea of going to a neighborhood Catholic school is to grow within the school with your classmates from K-8th grade. Not to get shifted from grammer school to middle school to high school like public schools do. Consolidation will only break up the few Catholic schools that are doing well to support ones that are not. And everyone will lose.

Here's an idea - if the money-hungry Catholic Church really needs to boost its bottom line, how about putting the completely unnecessary, slap-in-the-face-to-all-crumbling-parishes-in-the-area (not to mention their parishoners) bishop's mansion on Oakland up for sale? Talk about ridiculous...

There's at least $2 milion right there, which - invested properly - could yield an annual six-digit boost to their coffers. The property is an immense asset, morons... time to start treating it as such. Pride, tradition... it won't matter when there's NOTHING LEFT. Sell the bloddy thing.

Just a thought...

It doesn't feel like the Diocese has turned their back on us, just the opposite. We, as a society, have turned our backs to the church. We focus more on personal wealth and amassing possessions than we do on spiritual wealth and sunday mass. The Church has problems, it always has and always will, but it is there for the devout and the community minded. In my opinion, part of the lack of community in Buffalo comes from the lack of spirituality and fellowship. Many people care more about themselves and their own narrow view of the world from their perspective, than they do about the health and well being of the community (some present company excluded).

Some of you see the closing of churches and schools as a personal triumph and validation of your atheistic or deistic beliefs, but I believe that this is a myopic view. Churches, synagogues, mosques, assembly halls, etc, are the cornerstones of our communities. They were the focal point of many neighborhoods, and held these neighborhoods together in good and bad times. Churches are more than buildings, they are communities within a community.

I often read this site and agree that retail, casinos, fishing stores, and restaurants will bring people to the city, but the city will continue to flounder until we find a substitute for the churches to bind the community together. Will UB downtown build community, or just transient students and staff? Will retail build community, or just bring people downtown a few times a year to shop?

I have never read Jane Jacobs, but this website has inspired me to do so. I was just wondering what she says about the role of places of worship in the context of the community.

William Z...

Agree. It goes further than that. The Church still owns the Seminary out in East Aurora...lots of land, ripe for development as EA is ringed with larger estates that have acted as a control on growth.

Last time I checked - 79 Oakland Place was the residence in Buffalo with the highest assesment. May have changed, slightly...

Great point Mike. Its a point I have made on here a few times.

If all these people who run around whining that saying "happy holidays" will be the end of christianity would actually exhibit the virtues of christianity themselves, there would be a lot more believers out there. It ends up just drifting away like the hot air that it is.

I constantly question when members of a religion that preaches service to the poor, etc set up thier lives to not only live apart from the poor, but to also worship separately from them. If they can afford to drive to thier churches they could drive a little father and worship in the city. With the same people they pretend to care about the most.

Is just an offshoot of today's society and the values we exhibit. The article in the news today about the vacant housing in Cheek. and Amherst also hits on this point. After years and year of the burbs pointing at the city as how not to do things, we see the blight now creeping into the first ring burbs. Its not a locality problem. Its a citizen problem. Individuals will conitue to run, building overpriced vinyl and plywood houses while continually filling it with cheap crap. While complaining we are overtaxed and all the buisnesses are going away. All the while a short drive reveals the mess we have ALL left behind. The saddest of which I find to be the magnificent chruches that our ancestors with thier hard earned money, time, expertise and labor built.

WWJD today? Sell while he could, move further out to shelter himslef from the poor and maybe put a couple canned goods in the food bank every month. Oh...and write letters to the editor every month how the world will end when we start saying "Happy Holidays"

by the way, I know plenty of people myself included who drive into the city and attend masses in the city. Its worth the trip to worship in the old urban churches rather than the suburban cafeterias

The issue here is educational choice - and the loss of opportunity for the families in these neighborhoods.

Closing every catholic school in Cheektowaga, the neighboring St. Agnes in Lovejoy and St. Bernards is Kaisertown is a travesty.

Regardless of your personal religious views, children that are excelling academically - a fact supported by their high ranking on the NYS tests - in lower income neighborhoods are losing.

Not every child can achieve excellence in the public school system (which is not academically equal between districts - compare Buffalo and Cheektowaga to Williamsville) - and for others it is not feasible to send their children to catholic schools in Amherst or Hamburg.

While, some right-sizing needs to occur - in light of many regional factors - the diocese plan widens the divide between the have and the have nots.

This isn't all about enrollment and certainly is not what's best for our area or our children's futures. Schools with fewer students, and lower academic excellence remain open (St. Stan's).

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day .... Teach a man to fish and he will eat for life."

Ironically - the day before the school closing were announced - the Bishop set the goal to raise $11 million for the 2007 Catholic Charities appeal - citing the growing needs for assistance in our community.

Applying the parable - giving children the opportunity to excel academically at a young age - means they have the chance to graduate from high school - and ultimately give back to the community. We talk about the need to revitalize this area and keep young people here with good jobs and opportunity. But if the foundation of giving students the choice to get the best education for them is missing - the rest of the revitalization plan falls apart. What you land up with is the need for increasing charitable support to "give out fish".

Not to be corny - the children are out future ... teach them well and let them lead the way...

Catholicism is passe in Buffalo. It used to matter, but lots of Catholics moved away because they lost their job here, or they started going to The Chapel or Eastern Hills Wesleyan or other Protestant churches where they felt they "got something" out of church, or they gave up on organized religion, preferring to not go to church anymore. It's no wonder that Catholic churches and schools are closing in droves around the region; they have to.

The diocese is closing a lot of parishes and schools that are perfectly viable and self-supporting. People don't want their parishes and schools to close, and they won't go to mass if they have to drive miles out of their way to get there. That's something the diocese doesn't seem to understand, that bigger isn't always better. Many of these churches are architectural treasures, and once they're gone, they're gone forever. If you're Catholic and you don't want your parish or school to close, e-mail Bishop Kmiec and tell him how you feel. The e-mail address for the diocese of Buffalo is:

dob@buffalodiocese.org

Id rather they close public schools that private and parochial schools. Its obvious the public schools arent in the business of teaching kids by the amount of school violence, bad attitude, buracracy, dis-interest in education, truancy, drug use, gangs, ebonics, gold toothed, underwear showing kids that speak more like their still being educated to pick cotton on a plantation than assume a job at the mall much less a profession job.

The only thing public schools are good for is spoon feeding kids in a spoon fed buracracy....which renders them incapable of dealing with private sector employment....no wonder they either want to work for the government or fail to the extent that they are on a government program like welfare....thats the mindset of the public schools. Why work hard when you can get pregnant or go on drugs.

Close the public schools and keep the parochial schools open. The world would be alot better off!

Unfortunitly facts are facts, if parishes keep losing members and school enrollment drops, eventually the economics do not work. Of course people don't want their school to close and say its viable, but the numbers speak volumes. While kids doing well is of utmost importance, unless the school can pay its bills the point is moot. Although no one likes to think of the church as a business, in the end it must function under the same principles, good intentions and community benefits eventually are forfitted for the bottom line.

Get over yourself, Mike. Atheists rejoicing over church closings exist only in your sick persecution fantasies. Being nonreligious is not synonymous with being anti-religion, anymore than being non-musical is synonymous with being anti-music.

I don't believe in the god of the bible but I sure do believe in great Ecclesiastical architecture and the anchoring power that a good church has in a neighborhood. I believe in stained glass, arches, Pietas, steeples, bells, pews, altarpieces, choirs, organs, charity, contemplation, the care of a community during life's most painful and joyous moments, and the amazing fact that once upon a time the Diocese thought that poor illiterate immigrants deserved these beautiful things, too. Well, no more. Silly me.

I don't want my neighborhood or yours ripped apart by a single church closing. I'm disgusted that the Diocese is abandoning poor urban neighborhoods just because everyone else did. It is as cowardly and faithless as saying, "Well, we can't hire [insert ethnic minority] because our parishioners dislike them."

Yes, Most Reverend Bishop, sell the gilded palace on Oakland Place and live like you actually took a vow of poverty. Start by spending a night in the ruin of Transfiguration. In January with no heat. Just like the homeless guys do. Just like Jesus would do.

Nick, your fact-based agenda is completely out of step.

Don't you understand, we feel that closing churches and schools is unfair. Mean. Cruel. Greedy.

The children and parishoners will have further distances to travel.

Beautiful buildings will sit empty and cold instead of continuing to be under-utilized and wastefully heated thus contributing to global warming. Opps wait, nevermind that last part - heat for religious buildings does not use energy - they are heated by the hope in our hearts.

Let's get back to the children please. And the parishoners.

What have children and parishoners ever done to you Nick?
Why are you saying we should be so heartless to them?

And that bishop's house - just think of how many schools and churches could keep open for a few more months as a one-shot revenue jolt if the house were sold.

Please Nick, throw away your reasoning and join in with the feelings!

Oh, and what are Benjamins??

Brains, it took me entirely too long to pick up on your satire! Though after spending three hours reading about real estate market analysis I had forgotten one can write with wit.

Thanks for that, Regina. Beautifully stated... if only we could all be grounded and understanding, instead of hateful toward anything we don't personally believe

Regina - You seriously missed the point of my last post, it sounds like you were trying to defend your lack of belief in God and your disdain for the Diocese. My point was that the church was a corner stone of the community, losing the churches (the people of the church) has hurt that community. I do not see anything stepping up to replace the local parishes and filling the void that is left.

I will get over myself now. I hope you take your own advice!

Well, gosh, Mike, when you slander people you should expect them to offer a defense.

How about recycling the closed catholic school buildings into neighborhood-specific charter schools?

The Catholic Church has been burying its undertakers for 2000 years. (Apologies to Etienne Gilson).

The Church has been dying of the same heart attack for 2000 years (Apologies to Michael Corleone).

Jim,

Clever, admirable, and armchair-orthodox, but you're "in denial."

I love the Roman Catholic Church as much as anyone could, but spare me this apology.