UPDATE JANUARY 17, 2025
We have not heard from the Bishop on our recourse submission. We are concerned about the Diocese’s Plans to consolidate control of parish school with a new and bloated organization with considerable new over head positions located downtown.
Here is our fund raising progress: GIFTED $3,100 GOAL $13,000
Please consider helping.
UPDATE JANUARY 13, 2025
The Canon Lawyer’s fee for the drafting of our appeal to the bishop is $2100. We are halfway to paying that fee with gifts. Nandor Forgach has opened a bank account for gifts. Any moneys gifted after payment of all fees will be donated to Saint Benedict School.
As you may recall, if the bishop rejects our appeal, we can appeal to Rome. Recently, there have been some successful appeals in other Dioceses. That next appeal could cost over $10,000. The cost of the appeal must be borne by the appellants and cannot be paid with Parish funds, which is why contributions must be termed “gifts”.
If 150 parishioners would gift $100, we would be covered for the remainder of the $2100 fees incurred in the appeal to the bishop and have funds to decide to appeal to Rome. We cannot decide to appeal to Rome, if we do not have a commitment to these costs. The bishop will answer within 30 days from our filing on January 6th. We have limited time to complete an appeal to Rome based upon the bishop’s response – so a commitment of funds through a gifting needs to happen soon.
We are fully aware we just came through an expensive holiday season, but please “gift” whatever you can to help us keep Saint Benedict Church open. If you have questions, contact Nandor at nandor.forgach@gmail.com. His address is 69 Audobon Drive, Amherst NY 14226 to mail gifts.
Please share this with other parishioners you know.
Thank you
Ad Hoc Committee to Save Saint Benedict Church
UPDATE JANUARY 6, 2025
Our recourse letter was received by the Diocese at 1:35pm on January 6, 2025. We will await the Bishop’s response within the next 30 days. In the interim, we must address the bill for $2100.00 for the Canon Lawyer’s advice and his preparation of all the required documents. We are working on paying the bill and discussing the costs for the next step (Rome). Depending on the length of the appeals process in Rome, this cost can be between $15K-$20K.
Since this is not part of the Parish formally – any moneys provided can not be considered donations to the church. We are grateful for any support that people can give right now to help pay for the appeals process. Besides financial assistance, we need assistance with informing the entire parish that we are appealing to save Saint Benedict Parish and that the designation as a Secondary Worship Site can have all services eliminated without consultation. So we could be left with an empty building at any point..
We are grateful for any support that people can give right now to help pay for the appeals process. Please reach out to me via Facebook or Email (Nandor.Forgach@gmail.com) about supporting the cause financially. THANK YOU – pleass
UPDATE JANUARY 3, 2025
The recourse letter has been sent to the Bishop and is available for your review and downloading by clicking below.
RECOURSE LETTER TO THE BISHOP
SAINT BENEDICT DATA APPENDICES
SAINT BENEDICT SIGNATORIES
WHILE WE AWAIT THE BISHOP’S DECISION PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SAY THE FOLLOWING NOVENA TO SAINT BENEDICT
Glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace, behold me humbly kneeling at your feet. I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God. To you I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me. Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor. Inspire me to imitate you in all things. May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for his kingdom. Graciously obtain for me those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries, and afflictions of life. Your heart was always full of love, compassion, and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way. You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you. I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain the special grace and favor that we, members of St. Benedict Parish, implore: the preservation of St. Benedict Parish in its current status and configuration as a parish in its own right, so that God’s kingdom will be made known in our local community in Amherst. Help me, great St. Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain to the eternal happiness of heaven. Amen.
[Source: adapted from www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-st-benedict-303]
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR NAME AND EMAIL SO WE MAY UPDATE YOU – SEND IT TO SAVESAINTBENEDICT@GMAIL.COM
UPDATE JANUARY 2, 2025
The Attorney hired to assist with our recourse process has finished the request for reconsideration documents. The “leader” of our efforts, Nandor Forgach, will forward it to the Bishop for his review and action. He has 30 days to do nothing/reject our request at which time, we will only have a short period of time to request consideration by the Pope. The cost of the appeal to the Pope will increase our costs because of the processing in Rome. We are in the process of developing the appropriate strategy. As the appeal is processed at each step NO ACTIONS can be taken to consolidate/close Saint Benedict Parish.
Parish Priests, Trustees, Staff, Church property and resources can not be used for our appeal process to either communicate with the whole parish or collect donations. Please spread the word to other parishioners to keep looking at this site for updates. We are looking for assistance in gathering interested parishioners to discuss present and future steps as well as fundraising ideas. Please email savesaintbenedict@gmail.com
Our other Family 16 members – Infant of Prague and Saint Aloysius have both already filed their appeals; so there will be immediate changes to Family 16.
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DECEMBER 21,2024
NOW WHAT – THE CLOCK IS TICKING AND THE BISHOP DOESN’T CARE THAT IT IS CHRISTMAS WEEK THAT HE IS ANNOUNCING THE CLOSING
Step 1 – An appeal to rescind the decree must be made to the Bishop in 10 days. He has 30 days to answer or choose not to answer.
Step 2 – If the decree is not rescinded, an appeal can be made to the Vatican which will stall the closure for 1-3 years while a decision is reached in Rom
If an appeal is not made to Rome, Saint Benedict Parish will cease to exist May 2025
CONTRARY to information circulating, being named a Secondary Worship site still allows for the elimination of Masses as determined by the Pastor or at the direction of the Bishop – without an appeal process by the Parishioners. St. Leo is protected by the Canon Law provisions. We must keep the full parish structure including our own trustees, Church and School
A small group of Parishioners have been working on documenting and obtaining information to appeal to both the Bishop and Rome.
Unfortunately, the Bishop has a Canonical Lawyer on staff to assess our appeal against Church Law.
We have engaged a Canonical Lawyer from a firm in Albany NY and an initial fee has been paid by a few Parishioners for his very insightful advice up to this point. To move forward, we will need to raise $15,000-20,000 for the appeal to the Bishop and then Rome. This sounds like a lot of money – and it is – but relatively a small amount to keep our parish open.
Our lawyer thinks that the Diocese’s process and decision has flaws but we need to argue the facts and demonstrate it was done in a manner that does not adhere to Canon Law.
What we need now:
1. Assistance with collecting email addresses of parishioners interested in staying informed on the closing of St. Benedict Parish. Please send an email to
—->>>> SAVESAINTBENEDICT@GMAIL.COM<<<<<—-
2. We need assistance identifying a contact and a place (free) to hold an informational meeting with parishioners on the appeal process we are undertaking. Ideas: fire halls, other church non-catholic facilities.
PLEASE COME BACK TO THIS PAGE FREQUENTLY AS WE POST INFORMATION
IF YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION USE THE EMAIL ADDRESS
THE DECREE FOLLOWS – and – allows for the assets of Saint Benedict Parish to be extinct and owned by St. Leo’s for their use or dissposal
HIS EXCELLENCY
MOST REVEREND MICHAEL W. FISHER
By the Grace of God and the Authority of the Apostolic See
BISHOP OF BUFFALO
DECREE OF THE MERGER OF ST. BENEDICT PARISH, EGGERTSVILLE AND ITS TERRITORY INTO ST. LEO THE GREAT PARISH, AMHERST
THE FACTS
The parish of St. Benedict was named to honor both the founder of Western monasticism and Pope Benedict XV who occupied the seat of Peter at that time. Bishop William Turner entrusted the foundation of this new parish to a young Irish priest, the Rev. William F. Tobin. The first parish Mass, attendee by some fifty people, was celebrated at the local fire hall on 21 November 1920. Land was purchased from Mr. Jacob Brunner in 1921 for the building of a church. This first church, a simple wooden structure, was completed in July of 1921 and served the community for ten years.
By God’s grace, natural gas was discovered on the property. This was harnessed to heart the church and rectory. Other fundraising efforts rendered the parish debt free by 1923. 1930 saw the beginning of construction on a new combination church/school. Around the same time, the administration of the school, which had been operating since 1921, was turned over to the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity from the Sisters of St. Francis, Williamsville.
The school would swell to over 1,000 students in 1959. Since then, it has maintained a healthy enrollment and continues to be the pride of the parish today.
Construction on the current church began on 3 June 1950 and resulted in the current sacred edifice currently standing at 1317 Eggert Road. During the pastorate of Rev. Msgr. John Ryan (1981-2001), an interparish exchange program united St. Benedict Parish with St. Marien Parish in Dortmund, Germany. St. Benedict Parish has consistently shown itself to be a community of generous and loving Christians who are not hesitant to reach out to the neighbor in need.
In July of 2023, St. Benedict Parish was included in Family #16 as part of the Road to Renewal program.
The Road to Renewal has allowed the diocese to gain a more realistic picture of the financial and sacramental situations in its parishes. St. Benedict Parish has been identified as a community that could benefit by being joined with its sister community in Amherst.
Additionally, due to our need to amass a substantial sum of money to settle numerous civil claims in Federal Bankruptcy Court, the possibility of alienating this property has also been suggested. This was discussed with members of the Chancery and especially with the Reverend Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for the Renewal. As a result of these conversations, I hereby issue the following decree.
THE LAW
Because a parish is a public juridic person (cc. 116, 515 §3) and therefore established perpetually (c. 120), it can only be extinguished by legitimate authority according to the norm of law. Canon 515 §2 states, “It is only for the diocesan bishop to erect, suppress, or alter parishes. He is neither to erect, suppress, nor alter notably parishes, unless he has heard the presbyteral council.”
Unstated in this norm is the requirement for at least a just cause in augmenting the structure of a parish. As a parish is defined in law as “a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop” (c. 515 §1). The focus of such augmentation is primarily concerned with the pastoral care of a group of people and only secondarily interested in specific worship sites. Thus, a merger of parishes falls under the governing authority of the diocesan bishop in accord with canon 374 §1.
Following the norm of canon 121, when two public juridic persons “are so amalgamated that one aggregate, itself with a juridic personality, is formed, this new juridic person obtains the goods and patrimonial rights proper to the prior ones and assumes the obligations with which they were burdened.” The eminent canonist Reverend Robert Kennedy notes, “Canon 121… focuses on what, in the United States, is called a consolidation, in which two or more juridic persons are so joined that each of them loses its own juridic identity and in their stead a new juridic person is constituted. A consolidation involves both the suppression and creation of juridic persons” (“Chapter II: Juridic Persons” in New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (New York: Paulist Press, 2000) 168). Since the norm of canon 121 assumes a consolidation in which two juridic persons go out of existence to form a new juridic person from the amalgamation of the former entities, it does not strictly apply to the situation of a parochial merger in which one entity absorbs another.
When the principle of law contained in canon 121 is applied to the canonical merger of one parish into another, the receiving parish must assume all net assets and debts of the merging parish. Here the term “net assets” is used to indicate that the merging parish is responsible for paying off its debts before an accurate assessment of what constitutes the temporal goods of the merging parish can be determined. “Commutative justice,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “obliges strictly; it requires… paying debts” (n. 2411). This amount, once established, will be transferred to the receiving parish. What would be a clear a iure transfer of assets and liabilities to a newly constituted juridic person described in canon 121, is only partially applicable to the situation of a merging parish and can thus be addressed in terms of “net assets” to be identified at a future date.
THE ARGUMENT
The reshaping of the diocese to prepare it for more effective ministry in the future requires a certain consolidation of resources. The goal of the Road to Renewal is to reduce the strain on our already limited number of priests while at the same time uniting communities to foster a greater drive to “go out to all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15). Part of this process requires the merging of parishes and the overall reduction of physical worship sites throughout the diocese. Looking at St. Benedict Parish in particular, the research and consultation done by the Office for Renewal and Development has revealed that this community would be better served by joining its resources to St. Leo the Great Parish in an extinctive merger.
On 27 August 2024, the presbyteral council met at the Catholic Center of the Diocese of Buffalo. At this meeting, I consulted the council about the possibility of merging St. Benedict Parish into St. Leo the Great Parish, Amherst. Rev. Zielenieski pointed out that there would likely only be two available priests serving in Family #16 by 2030. St. Leo the Great Parish is also being considered a site where efforts to centralize pastoral ministry and increase evangelization can be realized. This proposal received nearly unanimous support from the members of the Presbyteral Council present on 27 August.
Having heard the Presbyteral Council on this issue, I have chosen to merge St. Benedict Parish into St. Leo the Great Parish in accord with canon 515 §2.
Thus, having done the requisite consultations and having gained the required consents, I, the undersigned Most Reverend Michael W. Fisher, Bishop of Buffalo, exercising my ordinary power in virtue of canon 515 §2, do hereby decree that St. Benedict Parish, Eggertsville be merged into St. Leo the Great Parish, Amherst and St. Benedict to be extinct thereby. The church of St. Benedict will continue to be utilized as a secondary worship site of St. Leo the Great Parish. It is hoped that the merging of these two faith communities will provide a vibrant and collaborative witness of the Catholic faith for today.
St. Leo the Great Parish will be the recipient of the net assets and liabilities of St.
Benedict Parish. The territorial boundaries of St. Leo the Great Parish will henceforth include:
- the territory south of Rte. 290 and Rte. 990 to Sweet Home Rd., south on Sweet Home Rd. to Skinnersville Rd., east on Skinnersville Rd. to Ellicott Creek;
- the territory west of Niagara Falls Blvd. (Rte. 62) from Rte. 290 to Longmeadow Rd., east on Longmeadow to Windermere Blvd., south on Windemere Blvd. to Kenmore Ave. to Main St. (Rte. 5) to Bailey Ave. (Rte. 62) and south to the City Line;
- the territory east of Ellicott Creek from Skinnersville Rd. to Sheridan Dr., west on Sheridan to Harlem Rd. (Rte. 240), south on Harlem to Kings Hwy. west on Kings Hwy. to Washington Hwy. and Washington Hwy. south to the City Line;
- the territory north of the Buffalo City Line and Cheektowaga Town Line.
The intentions of the founders and donors regarding the temporal goods and patrimonial rights proper to the extinct St. Benedict Parish, insofar as they exist, must be respected. In addition, the temporal goods and patrimonial rights, and obligations of the extinct St. Benedict Parish must be defined and allocated according to the norm of law (cf. cc. 121-122) as interpreted by this document.
All the parish and sacramental records of the extinct St. Benedict Parish are to be properly preserved and safeguarded in the parish archives of St. Leo the Great Parish, Amherst, in accord with the norm of law.
This decree is to be effective on Monday 19 May 2025.
This decree is to be communicated to the Rev. David A. Bellittiere, the Pastor of both parishes (c. 532) and the two parishes affected by this extinctive merger (cf. cc. 7, 54 §1).
Anyone who feels his or her rights have been legitimately harmed by this decree, may present a challenge by requesting its revocation or emendation to its author within ten (10) useful days from its legitimate notification. Further recourse will follow the norms of canons 1734-1739.
Given at the Chancery of the Diocese of Buffalo on this 17th day of December 2024. o t Reverend Michael W. Fisher