LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — All Saints Church in the City of Lockport has received an update from the Vatican. Under the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo's Road to Renewal, All Saints Church is slated to merge with another church nearby.
"I consider it a partial victory," said John Wick, procurator of the appeal at All Saints.
All Saints parishioners in Lockport are trying to stop the Buffalo Diocese from closing the church. The parish was the first to appeal to the Vatican.
A decree from Rome states it upholds the bishop's decision to merge All Saints with St. John the Baptist Church in Lockport. But the person leading the appeal, John Wick, told me what else was stated.
"The decree prohibits the bishop from using the parish monies to pay off the sex abuse lawsuits," said Wick.
Save Our Buffalo Churches has helped several churches appeal to the Vatican.
"The one part that is sending us all into celebration is that they confirmed by Canon Law, a diocese may not absorb the money from the sale of any property of a parish. It must stay with the people, wherever they've been officially moved," Mary Pruski, Save Our Buffalo Churches, said.
But the diocese sent a response that what is being reported by Save Our Buffalo Churches "is mostly inaccurate, and contains "a kernel of truth."
It goes on to state, "It has never been stated that the diocese intends to transfer the proceeds from a potential sale directly to the diocese. The dicastery affirmed the bishop's rationale and authority to merge the two parishes."
But both Pruski and Wick did acknowledge that with me. “The end of the decree did say they upheld the bishop's decision to merge us with St. John’s,” replied Wick. “It's all a big waiting game. Our next step is to appeal to the Apostolic Signatura – the supreme tribunal – which is the supreme court of the Catholic church – that’s the final step."
WATCH: 'I consider it a partial victory': All Saints in Lockport hears from Vatican
You can read more information from the Diocese of Buffalo below:
“On 28 July 2025, the Dicastery for the Clergy signed a decree that upheld Bishop Fisher's decision to merge All Saints Parish, Lockport into St. John the Baptist Parish, Lockport. The same decree modified the original merger decree of the bishop by mandating that the assets and liabilities of All Saints Parish be transferred immediately to St. John the Baptist Parish. The 25 November 2024 merge decree that the Dicastery upheld intended a pause in this transfer to calculate the net assets and liabilities before their transfer to the receiving parish (St. John the Baptist).
The decree of the Dicastery states:
"In accord with CIC can. 1739, this Dicastery hereby MODIFIES the 25 November 2024 decree of the Bishop of Buffalo, which joined All Saints Parish, Lockport to that of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Lockport in an extinctive union, confirming the extinctive union, for which sufficient just cause has been shown, while directing that the temporal goods of the suppressed Parish accrue immediately to the Parish ad quem."
Catholic Diocese of Buffalo
Meanwhile, the diocese said Bishop Michael Fisher will be heading to the Vatican sometime next month, and he has requested meetings with Dicasteries, but he has declined any interviews on this topic.
