The Catholic Faithful, priests, deacons, religious, parish administrators and school leaders of the Diocese of Buffalo have embarked on a journey to reinvigorate Catholic faith, more fully optimize parish and diocesan resources, and increase the impact of our varied ministries throughout WNY. According to Father Bryan Zielenieski, leader of the Road to Renewal effort in the Diocese, “The Road to Renewal is not just about dealing with reduced clergy numbers, but it’s about really how do we revitalize — reinvigorate — make sure their responsibilities are shared in our parishes between the laity between the clergy and making sure we are working together.”
Sections:
… Renewal Process (Summer 2023)
… Rightsizing and Reshaping Process (Summer 2024)
Renewal Process. All of the parishes in the Diocese have been organized into smaller groupings of parishes called Families. These Families of Parishes will join together as a team to work together in the renewal. We are part of Family 7. Family 7 is made up of Fourteen Holy Helpers, Queen of Heaven, St. Gabriel, St. John XXIII, and St. John Vianney. The planning for our family will be starting this Fall 2023. Planning can take up to 6 months, although implementation of individual components of the plan need not wait until the entire plan is completed.
The work of the Renewal will be accomplished in stages.
- Activation Stage
The purpose of the Activation Stage is to allow the parishes of the Family to work on the six Pillars that make up being Church. These Pillars are Liturgy, Spiritual Life, Forming Disciples, OutReach/InReach, Stewardship and Administration. Pillar Groups are formed to identify how the Family will organize and perform the work within these Pillars.
- Family Action Plan
The goal of the six month Activation Stage for each Family is to collaborate on the creation of a Family Action Plan, which will define goals, strategies, expected outcomes, and creative solutions for reaching a vibrant future characterized by spiritual vitality and fiscal responsibility to attract new members of the Family. This Family Action Plan will guide each Family over the course of the next 3-5 years.
Pillar Groups
There are 6 Church Pillars: Liturgy, Spiritual Life, Forming Disciples, OutReach / InReach, Stewardship & Administration. These are the 6 key areas of the Church that require constant planning, monitoring and evaluation within each Family of Parishes and for which a Family Action Plan will be created.
As the Pillar teams have begun the work of the Road to Renewal process, 6 to 12 people have stepped forward to represent the parish on the pillar teams. These people demonstrate embody a strong sense of mission to help rebuild the church in our area:
“To be a person of prayer and have a strong desire seek what God wants for the West Seneca and Elma area. As Jesus said, “… the wise scribe is the one who can take both the old and the new out of his storeroom.” Seeking God’s design for our area will mean that everything is evaluated according to how it will rebuild the Church. One must believe that the Church in our area can be reinvigorated. Have an open mind to allow ideas to be reshaped and willing to seek answers. One who can reason things out and not be afraid to challenge with charity what is being presented. Have a strong dedication to Fourteen Holy Helpers Parish and the area parishes.”
The focus of the Pillar groups will be …
- Liturgy
- Mass Schedules for each parish within the Family
- Sacrament schedule
- Liturgy Committee
- Spiritual Life
- Sacramental preparation
- Devotions
- Retreats
- Life in the Eucharist
- Forming Disciples
- Religious Education (Kindergarten through grade 12)
- Catholic schools
- Youth Ministry (Grades 6-8)
- Youth Ministry (Grades 9-12)
- Young Adult Faith Formation
- Adult Faith Formation
- Adult Leadership Training
- Inclusive Catechesis
- Family Formation
- RCIA
- Out Reach / In Reach
- Out Reach
- Any ministry or activity aimed at bringing relief for those who are suffering, while maintaining inclusivity
- Evangelization efforts geared at people who are unchurched and seeking Christ
- Promotion of missionary discipleship to attract new Catholics
- In Reach
- Ministry to those who are in physical or spiritual need
- Empower parishioners
- Develop a culture of welcome
- Out Reach
- Stewardship
- Volunteers
- Donate time, treasure and / or talent
- Family / Parish hospitality
- Any activities that have to do with the above
- Volunteers
- Administration
- Human Resources
- Compensation, benefits & policies
- Safe Environment
- Governing / Family leadership
- Central office
- Processes / On-site Hours
- Personnel
- Budgeting / Finances
- Communications
- Data / Reporting
- Security / Compliance
Documents developed during the work of the teams are available at … Pillar Documents LINK.
Rightsizing and Reshaping. The Diocese has released their final decision for restructuring the Families of Parishes in the Southern Erie Vicariate. Fourteen Holy Helpers is a member of Family of Parishes #7 which is included in that Southern Erie Vicariate. The decision from the Diocese for Family #7 are:
- Merge St. John XXIII with Queen of Heaven and sell the entire St. John XXIII site
- Merge St. John Vianney with Queen of Heaven and maintain St. John Vianney as a secondary worship site as long as the parish school is open. The Bishop has decided to close the school after the 2025-26 school year. Then sell the entire parish campus of St. John Vianney
- Merge Fourteen Holy Helpers with St. Gabriel keeping Fourteen Holy Helpers open as a secondary worship site.
Additional details and supporting data provided by the Diocese for these recommendations is available at … Family #7 Restructure LINK.
For Fourteen Holy Helpers this means that our church will remain open as a functioning Catholic Church. We expect that the buildings on our campus will remain open and be operational as long as they are needed and we support and maintain them.
The complete listing of decisions for the entire Diocese has been posted on the Diocesan website … Final Decision LINK.
Be encouraged that Fourteen Holy Helpers Church will remain open. We truly need your continuing support and participation in our services and parish events as we need to demonstrate the viability of operations at Fourteen Holy Helpers. Further information will be provided through the bulletin, our parish website, our parish Facebook, and emails.
As we continue down the Road to Renewal, please don’t forget to visit the Diocesan website at www.RoadToRenewal.org and pray the Prayer for Renewal regularly.
