BUFFALO, N.Y. — Parishioners will soon start seeing changes with how the Buffalo Diocese is organized, if they haven't already.
The pilot phase of a diocese-wide reorganization is well underway. It is part of the Road to Renewal process, and it has parishes forming families of parishes. Each family has three to six parishes that will share priests. This will address the issue of not having enough priests to cover the 161 parishes in the diocese.
"We're looking at the resources, and the vibrancy, and vitality of the parishes within the Diocese of Buffalo. And we currently have 161 parishes, and knowing with everything that's happened in our diocese and our economy, and with COVID over the past number of years, we want to make sure that we have healthy parishes in the diocese moving forward," according to The Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development.
The first phase of families starts this fall.
"The priests will then also be ministering to families working collaboratively because we also have a diminishing number of priests as well, so trying to plan for the future, believe it or not, looking at projections in 2030, starting to work on that planning today," Father Zielenieski said.
The Buffalo Diocese is following the lead of others in the country by grouping parishes into families that share resources.
"We're going with the flow, so we're trying to make sure we respond to the needs of parishes, people, priests, and the diocese," Father Zielenieski.
The parishes were grouped based on geography, needs, and community feedback.
"It's doing exactly what we wanted to do. We learned, within the first two months, that there were some things that weren't working well, and so we've made some adaptations and changes so that when we begin Phase 1, which is in October, we've got the process down," Father Zielenieski said.
There will be 36 families across Western New York.
"Down the road, as priest numbers continue to dwindle, we're not going to be able to have as many masses. So how do we continue to work together? We might have to cut more masses, we might have to, you know, look at how do we share more resources, things like that," Father Zielenieski.
There is no plan to close parishes as of right now.
"If that family comes together and says, you know, this community, we're going to be able to help them, but we don't need that facility anymore, then that might be an opportunity to look at, do we consolidate parishes? But we really want this to be a grounds up thing. It's not focused on closing places," Father Zielenieski.
Instead, Father Zielenieski says it's about collaborating as a community.
"For the families to be successful, it's going to mean a lot more lay people need to be involved in their parishes. They're going to have much more responsibility because we've got to work together. It can't all fall to the priests. We've got to work together. It's a new day, a new way of looking at it, and so it gives us a new sense of hope," Father Zielenieski said.