NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church on Niagara Falls Boulevard in North Tonawanda is set to close Monday after Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher issued a new decree ordering it to merge with nearby St. Christopher parish in the Town of Tonawanda.
The move comes despite the Vatican previously allowing St. Jude to fully reopen last month — though the church opened with only a couple of masses a month.
"In essence — Bishop Fisher is ignoring the decree...He had the opportunity to appeal to the Apostolic Signatura. He chose not to — that is in writing," Victoria Vanill said.
Vanill showed me letters she received directly from Rome that revoked the bishop's original merger order from last year. She believes the diocese wants to sell the church property.
A diocesan spokesperson told me this is a merger and not a church closing. The diocese says the decision is based on "low mass attendance" and a "drop in sacraments," and that the new decree includes the necessary evidence. But parishioners argue the data is flawed.
"First, it’s not a church closure, just a merger.
Second, the reasons for the merger are spelled out in the decree. Low sacramental engagement and shrinking mass attendance among them.
Third, the Vatican passed a judgement on the decree in question, not the decision itself. The judgment of the Dicastery is about the reasons outlined in the decree. This decree gives more precise reasons based on the parish in question which were, admittedly, lacking from the original decree. If it is challenged, the Bishop will be able to support his claims with evidence collected as part of the research phase of the Road to Renewal."
"No new facts...no new evidence...it's the same language just reworded slightly different," Vanill said.
Vanill also said the diocese used attendance data that spans years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"And they're also using the span of years during which COVID happened. There was no sacraments and no large marriages and large baptisms during COVID," Vanill said.
WATCH: St. Jude Catholic Church in North Tonawanda set to close and merge again
She also pointed to what she described as deliberate efforts to undermine the church's viability ahead of the closure.
"They completely refused to do collections within the three masses that we held – refusing to send out envelopes. It was the plan all along," Vanill said.
Vanill showed me how an LED sign at the front of the church has been off for more than a year.
"And there's actually an LED sign in the front of St. Jude that has been off for over a year. This is a prime Niagara Falls Blvd. This is failure of evangelization on the part of our pastor," described Vanill.
Vanill, who was hoping to have her eight-week-old daughter baptized at St. Jude, said she has sent a response to the bishop with a copy to the Vatican.
"We're here. We're ready. We're ready to pray. We are praying that the diocese gets it together," replied Vanill.
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