{"id":71465,"date":"2025-12-29T04:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=71465"},"modified":"2025-12-29T04:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:25:36","slug":"vatican-reverses-several-parish-closures-in-diocese-of-buffalo-advocates-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/fr\/learn\/vatican-reverses-several-parish-closures-in-diocese-of-buffalo-advocates-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Vatican annule plusieurs fermetures de paroisses dans le dioc\u00e8se de Buffalo, selon des d\u00e9fenseurs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n The exterior of St. Casimir church in Buffalo, New York \/ Michael Shriver\/buffalophotoblog.com<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 \/ 13:00 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n

The Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Clergy has declared that several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York can remain open after Bishop Michael Fisher ordered their closure amid a diocesan-wide renewal plan. <\/p>\n

Save Our Buffalo Churches, which has advocated against church closure proposals in the diocese\u2019s \u201cRoad to Renewal\u201d plan,<\/a> said in a Dec. 8 Facebook post<\/a> that the Vatican has revoked the closures of three parishes since November, with a fourth parish receiving a temporary reprieve from the diocese itself. <\/p>\n

The closures and mergers of Our Lady of Peace Parish and Holy Apostles Parish have been revoked by the dicastery, the group said. <\/p>\n

As well, the Vatican said it will also examine the \u201casset appropriation\u201d levied by the diocese against those parishes. The group confirmed to CNA on Dec. 9 that those appropriations, if collected, are meant to help fund the diocese\u2019s ongoing bankruptcy settlement for clergy abuse victims.  <\/p>\n

The bishop also revoked the merger of Our Lady of Bistrica Parish with other parishes. The diocese had discovered a \u201cprocedural error\u201d in the merger decree that invalidated the directive, leading the bishop to revoke the merger directly.\u00a0 The diocese has reportedly \u201cpromised to issue a new merger decree\u201d as a result, with the parish \u201cready for that challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n

The favorable rulings come from the Vatican after more than a year of effort from parish advocates to halt the closures and mergers. The dispute reached the New York Supreme Court earlier this year, which in July issued a halt<\/a> on the parish payments into the diocese\u2019s abuse settlement fund amid parishioner objections. <\/p>\n

The high court in September ultimately allowed the payments to proceed,<\/a> pointing to a long-standing prohibition against \u201ccourt involvement in the governance and administration of a hierarchical church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vatican\u2019s orders follow a similar order from the Holy See in November which allowed Saint Bernadette Church in Orchard Park to remain open. The diocese had planned to merge that parish with Saints Peter & Paul Church in Hamburg. <\/p>\n

The announcement follows Fisher\u2019s decision in November to revoke a 2024 decree<\/a> forbidding parishioners from using parishes as planning spaces to work against the proposed mergers. <\/p>\n

Fisher said he was ending that policy after meetings with Vatican officials in October. \u201cBased on our conversation, it is clear to me now that this policy is too restrictive of the rights of the faithful,\u201d the bishop said of those talks at the Holy See. <\/p>\n

In November, Save Our Buffalo Parishes joined several other groups<\/a> to petition the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to donate financial resources to their preservation efforts. <\/p>\n

Group leader Mary Pruski told CNA that the effort would \u201cbring much peace and healing across [New York state].\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates in dioceses around the country have petitioned, sometimes successfully, against church closures in recent years, including in Maryland<\/a>, Missouri<\/a> et Wisconsin<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bishops have instituted such closures amid sharply declining parish attendance and skyrocketing maintenance costs at aging buildings. <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/268353\/vatican-reverses-several-parish-closures-in-diocese-of-buffalo-advocates-say<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The exterior of St. Casimir church in Buffalo, New York \/ Michael Shriver\/buffalophotoblog.com CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 \/ 13:00 pm (CNA). The Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Clergy has declared that several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York can remain open after Bishop Michael Fisher ordered their closure amid a diocesan-wide renewal plan.  Save […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":73117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-71465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Vatican-reverses-several-parish-closures-in-Diocese-of-Buffalo-advocates-say.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56306,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/fr\/learn\/new-york-supreme-court-halts-payments-to-buffalo-abuse-fund-amid-parish-merger-dispute\/","url_meta":{"origin":71465,"position":0},"title":"New York Supreme Court halts payments to Buffalo abuse fund amid parish merger dispute","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"octobre 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo \/ CiEll\/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Jul 11, 2025 \/ 17:43 pm (CNA). 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