Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A group of five local parishioners penned a letter to The Vatican for Pope Francis this past Monday requesting a formal inquiry into Bishop Michael Fisher's actions and decisions since his appointment to the Diocese of Buffalo December of 2021.
The letter also calls for the removal of Bishop Fisher from the Diocese, saying the Diocese is "not the best location for the use of his talents."
The group of parishioners sent the letter to the Pope and said to also copy Bishop Fisher on it, as they want to be open and transparent on the matter. However, in response to the letter with WBEN, Bishop Fisher says he did not receive a copy of the letter, saying he received it from the press.
Despite that, Bishop Fisher knows how passionate the people of the Diocese are about their parishes and the direction the Diocese is headed. With that said, he understands the deep concern about the challenges the Diocese faces.
"When I came here, I came here with no agenda. I came here to love our people, to bring healing the best way I can, and also to move the Diocese forward," said Bishop Fisher on Thursday. "Nobody told me until I got here, basically, what was happening and what the concerns were. I said yes to the Holy Father without any hesitation, I didn't ask any questions. He was asking me to come and care for the people here, and I said yes. I've always said yes to any job or position I've been asked of in the church.
"We're going through a lot of pain, and there's a lot of unknown in this too. This isn't easy. We've got wonderful people who work day-and-night for the Diocese here who I have to also rely on. With God's grace and God's blessing, we'll get through what we're experiencing."
Bishop Fisher sees a letter like this sent to The Vatican as one that comes from those with a deep love for their church, he has respect for.
However, one of the criticisms in the letter that Bishop Fisher takes personally, to an extent, is the claim of him being more of a business person or an accountant, and that he is more focused on finances than the spiritual aspects of the job. He assures everyone that premise is far from the truth.
"I was an accountant years-and-years ago, but I haven't worked in accounting since I was a young man. I have been a priest, and an active priest, all my adult life," Bishop Fisher said. "I've always prided myself in the fact that I have a heart for people. That's why I became a priest, and to serve them. I'm not some businessman, I'm the shepherd of this Diocese, and I take that very seriously.
"I want to see the Diocese flourish in its call to holiness, it's call to faith. I have visited every parish in the Diocese, I think just about every school, high school, our charitable organizations. I'm out there visiting these various places. Now, I realize sometimes I'm at places I wish I could be at, but I can't because of [prior] commitments, I might be at a first day of school. So the pastoral piece is important to me."
Part of the challenge for the Diocese of Buffalo is getting out of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy situation it is in. In the letter to The Vatican, it says the legal fees for the more than 900 clergy sexual abuse cases are close to $15 million, and not one claim by a victim has been settled.
Bishop Fisher knows it's essential to emerge from Chapter 11, which is going to take a lot of resources to do so, and wants to get the Diocese out of that situation as soon as possible to commence the healing process.
"There's been great harm done to victims and survivors of abuse in this Diocese, and we can't get away from that. We all have to own it, clergy as well as laity," Bishop Fisher noted. "And we have to make sure that, to the best of our ability, we're able to heal those who have been harmed in the way that they need to be healed. Now that may take also resources of the Diocese as we know, but we have to do that together."
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The letter also claims that Bishop Fisher has "turned his eye to closing Catholic churches and schools," saying the main reasoning for his decisions is money, not ministry. The parishioners also claim the Bishop has no direct presence in the Catholic community to support parishioners faced with closures of the institutions.
As Bishop Fisher explains, the Diocese has to move forward in a pastoral way with hope that the legacy and ministry of faith in Western New York continues, which is what its Road to Renewal initiative is all about. He says it doesn't come down to the bottom line, or how much money each parish collects.
"We don't have enough priests, so we have to form these families in a way that the limited personnel of priests that we have are able to handle the sacramental, the faith formation, the charitable works within those families," Bishop Fisher explains. "In many cases, we may have too many assets, you might say - I guess if I want to use a business term. We have churches that don't have a lot of people coming to church, but yet, they still have full Mass schedules. We have churches that are financially failing, haven't had baptisms. When I look at the life of a parish, I look at how many baptisms, marriages were done. We have some parishes that haven't had a baptism in three, four years. That can't be, so how do we bring the family of faith together? Yes, we love our churches and those that have been built, but more importantly, we need to see how do we care for the people as a community? So that is ongoing."
Bishop Fisher says there are 103 active priests in the Diocese, and that number keeps fluctuating with have 160 parishes. That's also not counting how many ministries the Diocese has, which he says is beyond counting.
"I don't see an end to always looking at that, and assessing how do we meet the needs of the people in these families. And it might mean that we have to close things. We may have to close churches, we may have to close more schools. If we don't have the children or the parents' support, or even the community's support, we don't have the resources to keep them open. So we have to move in that direction," Bishop Fisher explained. "Even if we weren't in Chapter 11, we would still have to be doing what we're doing in the Road to Renewal and restructuring, and figuring out how we can make sure that on a given Sunday, a community of faith is going to have a preset to celebrate Mass. That we're going to have a school in all the areas of the Diocese. It may not be all the schools that we have now, but that there is an option for any of our parents that want to send their child to a Catholic school. It takes a lot of planning, there's no rulebook on this, but we have to move forward. That's what I'm trying to be focused on."
Another item in the letter to Pope Francis that Bishop Fisher points to was there was a claim that a priest that brought up the fact that there were 115 parishes out of our 160 parishes that did not have any catechumens, or those elect that come into the church at Easter time. Bishop Fisher says he was the one who said that.
"I was the one who made that statement, because I was challenging in a pastoral way our parish leaders, our pastors, that this is something we need to address and we need to look at, and we need to make better," he said. "How in the midst of our struggles, can we attract people to the parish?"
Another one of Bishop Fisher's goals when he took over at the Diocese of Buffalo was to love the people of Western New York with all his heart, and to bring Christ to them and celebrate Christ with them.
"I pray for our people every day. I love people, I like being with people," Bishop Fisher said. "Now, granted, I'm probably not in every place that everyone wants me to be, and I know I have to get better. I'm also one that's not one that wants to jump out in front of the press, I know I have to do that and that's a part of leading and guiding this flock. But I just want to keep moving the Diocese forward with a sense of hope in a sense that we can certainly rejoice in the legacy of faith that our Catholic Church here has done."
So what's the Bishop's message to the parishioners that sent this letter to Pope Francis?
"I'm always open to anyone that wants to come and evaluate what I'm doing. I don't know what comes of this, but I want to work with the people here, I'm willing to do that. And sometimes it may need to be in a particular setting that is conducive to constructive dialogue also," he said.
As for the people of the Diocese and the Catholic church in Western New York, Bishop Fisher continues to ask those to have faith.
"The Lord is with us. I love the saying, one of the sayings that I've heard is, 'The Lord's will is not going to take us to a place that God's grace won't protect us.' That's sort of my mantra of how I try to get up every day and look at some of the daunting things," Bishop Fisher noted. "Have faith, have hope as we move forward, but also there's going to be pain and healing, and we all need to be a part of that and to be a family of faith. We need to be together, and I'm here to do that as best as I can. I'm going to make mistakes, but I'm here."