Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Appeals for 10 parishes in Western New York have been acknowledged and accepted by the Dicastery of the Clergy at the Vatican for further review.
Letters were sent out by the Nuncio in Washington outlining that the decrees issued will be suspended until officials in Rome can review each case.
Mary Pruski with Save Our Buffalo Churches says the letters also outlined the Dicastery will begin corresponding with Bishop Fisher on the matter.
"You can only apply to stop the closure if you've received a decree. Everyone who's working with us who's received a decree filed their appeal, first with the bishop, everyone was declined. So we moved on to the dicastery in Rome. For the first dozen that have been sent to the dicastery in Rome, for every single one, the Vatican has said, 'Yes, we need to investigate this. Everything is on hold.' This is now a plateau that could last maybe about a year, while we wait for them to do their investigation, answer their questions. We'll see, hopefully, when we come out the other end, they will say, 'No, your parishes will not be closed,'" stated Pruski in an interview with WBEN.
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Pruski says the Dicastery will be reviewing each parish on a case-by-case basis and more appeals are expected to be approved in the near future.
"Everyone is on their own timeline, but we did have a cluster of parishes that filed in December/January, so this is about that 90 day window that they have to get back to us, but there have been parishes since. We even hope that there may be a parish or two that may get another letter today, because it seems like they were sent in a batch, and they're being mailed out and arriving intermittently. We're expecting to hear more good news, because everyone who's applied so far and heard back has gotten a positive response," explained Pruski.
Parishes that have already received an appeal:
- St. Bridgid, Bergen
- St. Rose of Lima, Forestville
- Our Lady of the Rosary, Wilson
- Infant of Prague, Cheektowaga
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Cheektowaga
- Holy Spirit, Buffalo
- Ascension, Batavia
- St. Bernadette, Orchard Park
- Blessed Sacrament, Tonawanda
- St. John XXIII, West Seneca