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. On Thursday June 13 the Southern Erie Vicariate received recommendations from the Diocese for restructuring the Families of Parishes in the vicariate. Fourteen Holy Helpers is a member of Family of Parishes #7 which is included in the Southern Erie Vicariate. The main recommendations from the Diocese presented on Thursday 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 sell the entire parish campus of St. John Vianney
- Merge Fourteen Holy Helpers with St. Gabriel utilizing Fourteen Holy Helpers as a second 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 we support and maintain them. As was explained to us, the objective of our merger was to share and consolidate administrative resources with the parish that we merge with.
The Diocese was clear in stating that these are recommendations only at this time. Family #7 has an opportunity to suggest an alternative proposal. That alternative must come from the Family, not individual parishes, and is under strict parameters as to the suggestions made. The complete listing of recommendations for the entire Diocese has been posted on the Diocesan website … Recommendations LINK. Scroll down the page. On the left side just after the announcement text you will see an oblong bubble box with two links … Diocesan Recommendations (entire list of recommendations) and Listing by Vicariate (listing of families in a vicariate with links to the recommendations).
Fr, Greg Faulhaber leads our family. He is currently working on a plan to meet within the family to review the recommendations and determine if any alternative proposals will be made. We will be part of those discussions and will keep you updated as to their progress. There are also many questions on the table about the impacts of the merger and details as to how we will operate in the future. As we have answers to the questions you will be informed as well.
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.
Earlier on Tuesday, May 28 the Diocese of Buffalo in a televised press conference announced the plan to address “The Need to Rightsize and Reshape the Diocese of Buffalo”. The plan will primarily meet the need through the “merger” of parishes and closing of some worship sites in the Diocese. Between now and the end of August, the Families of Parishes in the Diocese will be working with the Diocese on identifying the specific parishes and worship sites impacted. The announcement of those mergers and closings is planned for early September 2024. Thursday’s meeting was the first step in that process.
The Diocesan announcement in May included a Fact Sheet and FAQ Listing that are available on the Diocesan Website at … Rightsize and Reshape Plan LINK. These documents are also available through our website at … Fact Sheet LINK and FAQs LINK. For those who were not able to watch the televised press conference we are making the slide deck presented during the press conference available at … Press Conference Deck LINK.
UPDATE: A Parishioner Meeting was held in the Church on Thursday, June 27. Questions and responses resulting from that meeting are presented in the notes at the following link … Parishioner Meeting LINK.
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. See you on the Road to Renewal!
