BUFFALO, N.Y. — Diocese of Buffalo Catholic Church leaders announced that 34% of parishes would be merged on Tuesday night.
Parishioners heard the news at the same time as the rest of us.
On Tuesday night, 2 On Your Side spoke with Nicole Wright, a wife and mother of nine from Clarence, who said the news was not a complete shock.
"We can lose buildings and we can lose money, but I don't want to lose people and put their eternal salvation in jeopardy," Wright said. "I care about their souls. I care more about seeing the fact that people are not raising their kids Catholic. They aren't receiving the sacraments. They're not going to church. That is disheartening because we need to evangelize and we need to Catechize people and we need to give them a reason to hope and a reason to stay Catholic. I feel like we failed in that."
"We really need to up our game, especially in light of the sex abuse crisis," she said. "So if that truly is the plan of the diocese, and they really want to make that a focus, I'm all for that."
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