Published: April 07, 2007 11:51 pm      

GLYNN COLUMN: Catholics struggle with change in parishes

Audrey L. Perry, 83, a longtime parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Niagara Falls, was devastated when she first heard that the landmark North End church might close.

Beyond the pastor and other parishioners, she felt an urgent need to convey her concerns to the one person who would undoubtedly have a dominant voice in deciding the fate of 153-year-old Sacred Heart.

She wrote a compelling letter to Bishop Edward U. Kmiec, stressing the history and beauty of the church and how it was an integral part of the local community before the city was established.

Like hundreds of other letters and notes the bishop has received since the diocesan plan was outlined, Ms. Perry was trying to make a case to save the place where her parents and grandparents worshipped since the family moved here in 1893 from Wyoming.

In less than two days, the bishop responded, reassuring Ms. Perry that such a crucial decision would come only after serious prayer and study.

“There are countless parishioners who love their parishes as you do,” the bishop stated, “But we are at a new time in our diocesan history when we need to restructure our parishes and schools to strengthen the diocese as a whole.”

Kmiec added: “I’m sure there are many parishioners who share your memories and devotion to Sacred Heart. You also are blessed to have such a dedicated pastor as Father James J. Kasinski.”

Problems plaguing parishes in the Falls area are, for the most part, identical to those throughout the diocese. The same kind of anxiety also prevails in Dearborn, Mich., Erie, Pa., and Newark, N.J., among other dioceses.

At present, many area Catholics are attending services at churches which are half-empty. A study in 2006 showed that attendance at weekend Masses had declined 15 percent since 1995. In addition, baptisms are down more than 40 percent and Catholic marriages have dropped nearly 35 percent.

Among the recommendations already submitted for further consideration is one that would merge Sacred Heart with St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. While that was announced earlier this year, the Diocesan Commission is reportedly still reviewing the matter.

As Kasinski reflected on the harsh reality that dramatic change is inevitable, he conceded: “It will cause a great hurt in the beginning. And I don’t see any way around that. But I think after a time — perhaps five years or so — then a lot of good things will happen. It’s a necessary adjustment but it must be done because of our circumstances.”

The Rev. Michael H. Burzynski, pastor of St. Mary of the Cataract Church (1836), the oldest in the city, has witnessed rebirth and decline in his parish assignments during the past decade.

When he assumed the pastorate at St. Mary in 2000, the parish included about 600

families. Now that figure exceeds 1,100. Today, Burzynski also is responsible for Our Lady of the Rosary, a depressed East Side church with fewer than 150 families where the diocese recently suspended operations.

As one Jesuit scholar observed — in a recent book about the endless struggle of American Catholicism coming to terms with itself — the church needs to remain open to change and growth.

The times in which the church became least receptive to new things were generally the least productive eras in the church’s life.

Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, Ext. 2246.