'Totally frustrated': Old First Ward parish files counter proposal with Diocese, but expects rejection

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "Our parish has submitted a counter proposal. However, our pastor will not sign it. And we did not recommend that another parish from family No. 22 be closed," said Roxanne Casey, a concerned parishioner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Old First Ward.

She told WBEN on Monday she believes their counter proposal will be rejected.

"It bothers us so much that [the Diocese] is pushing us against the wall, and telling us to make a counter proposal. If you stay open, then throw
someone else under the bus. That is not Christianlike," Casey said.

The parish counsel at OLPH (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) came up with a
counter proposal, but Casey learned that the pastor came up with his own proposal. She added that the pastor did not share his proposal with parishioners, and she and others don't trust it.

Casey says she and others at the church expect to receive a rejection letter before the first week of September when final recommendations are made.

"They're trying to break our spirituality. They're chiseling away at it, bit by bit. But we have to stay united and do the best we can for our church. We're getting out schooled and it's horrible," she added.

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She said the mood at Sunday's mass was dour. There were a handful of parishioners there. She left and chose to go to another church in Ellicottville.

"It's wearing on me. Morning, noon and night," Casey said.

The Diocese is set to hold meetings on the counter proposals from Aug. 12-to-21. Clergy from each church will be in attendance and each pastor can bring two people with him.

Buffalo Diocese expects to review counter proposals from 30 of 36 families regarding parish closures and mergers

"We keep hearing that this is the result of declining attendance and lack of priests," but Casey says this goes back to the bankruptcy filing and the sex scandals that have rocked the Diocese.

Casey says OLPH and other parishes are not just going to sit there are allow the diocese to shut them down.

"Action will be taken," she said. "We are essential to this community. OLPH is the heart of the Old First Ward. We are a tight knot community with the church in the center of it. This is home. I don't ever want to hear again that a church is just a building."