'There was anger, sadness, tears': Two Buffalo Catholic churches set to close
Final masses will be held on Saturday at two popular Buffalo churches. St. Thomas Aquinas in the heart of south Buffalo and St. Bernard’s in Kaisertown are closing and will merge with nearby parishes.
“There was anger, sadness, tears,” reflected Marty Brownsey, parishioner, St. Thomas Aquinas.
The church is among the 78 churches the Buffalo Diocese plans to close and merge from now until next June as part of Road to Renewal to right size and reshape the shirking Catholic community in Western New York and as the bankrupt diocese deals with debt and a priest shortage.
“When I announced the closing, I cried on the altar,” declared Father Bill Quinlivan, pastor, Catholic Family of South Buffalo.
The parish was established 104 years ago, and the priest noted it will be the “end of an era” for this South Buffalo parish.
Father Quinlivan said a decline in attendance and collections is driving these changes.
"There's no questioning the beauty of the church. There's no questioning the faithfulness – the goodness of the people, but the ability to sustain it,” Father Quinlivan remarked.
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/the...t-to-close
Final masses will be held on Saturday at two popular Buffalo churches. St. Thomas Aquinas in the heart of south Buffalo and St. Bernard’s in Kaisertown are closing and will merge with nearby parishes.
“There was anger, sadness, tears,” reflected Marty Brownsey, parishioner, St. Thomas Aquinas.
The church is among the 78 churches the Buffalo Diocese plans to close and merge from now until next June as part of Road to Renewal to right size and reshape the shirking Catholic community in Western New York and as the bankrupt diocese deals with debt and a priest shortage.
“When I announced the closing, I cried on the altar,” declared Father Bill Quinlivan, pastor, Catholic Family of South Buffalo.
The parish was established 104 years ago, and the priest noted it will be the “end of an era” for this South Buffalo parish.
Father Quinlivan said a decline in attendance and collections is driving these changes.
"There's no questioning the beauty of the church. There's no questioning the faithfulness – the goodness of the people, but the ability to sustain it,” Father Quinlivan remarked.
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/the...t-to-close
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
