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Friends of Ascension are celebrating a win, albeit it’s uncertain for how long, with the Dicastry's decision to accept a second appeal from Ascension Parish to halt its closure in Batavia.
Longtime parish member Bill Brach dropped that second appeal to the Buffalo Diocese in the mail in mid-December. That action was another step in a relentless process of collecting petitions, sending out updates, encouraging participation, and ongoing financial support as a display that the Sacred Heart Church community wasn’t going away without a fight.
Member Nancy Brach had said at the time that it was one thing for a parish to lose its home based on legitimate underutilization, poor physical condition, and lack of financial viability; however, none of that was the case for Ascension.
“But to close healthy churches that are needed, cared for, and loved in their communities is another story,” she said in December. “It is clear that individual parishes are being closed due to the transgressions of the Diocese.”
Those transgressions were from sex abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese and costly settlements resulting in church closures and merging assets to pay off the plaintiffs instead of the defendants paying directly, according to prior news articles.
Attorney Ilan Schard said, “If the diocese is going to survive as an entity, other parishes, even those without claims directly against them, can contribute to help fund a settlement. It’s been done in every other settlement across the country,” according to the Buffalo News.
Brach disagreed.
“While this may be legally correct, it is ethically wrong to punish people for the sins of others,” she said.
The parish was one of more than 10 “from all corners of our diocese” that received letters from the Nuncio in Washington notifying them that their appeals had been acknowledged and accepted for further review, the nonprofit group Save Our Buffalo Churches said.
“In addition, the letters mentioned that the decrees issued were suspended pending the review in Rome. Of note, the letters all mentioned that the Dicastry would be corresponding with Bishop Fisher on the matter,” the nonprofit said in an email to The Batavian. “Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik is the prefect. Most of the letters were written on 3/25, the feast of the Annunciation, when we celebrate the incarnation of our Lord Jesus in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nine months before Christmas.
Also, our faith community is eager to learn about the status of the bankruptcy as well as the class action lawsuit. Since no settlement nor closure for either has been formally announced, we do not understand why the diocese is informing various parish and church offices to expect ‘bills’ for their share of the settlement,” it stated. “In the 2020 document issued by Bishop Scharfenberger entitled ReOrganizing for the Future Together, page 9 states: ‘The Diocese cannot use parish assets or property to settle claims.’ The document is linked from our webpage.”
Nonprofit members continue “to pray for abuse victims,” it states, as each parish community in the diocese continues to operate “as is,” celebrating Easter and other holy traditions and services, it stated.
“We continue to pray for the bishop, priests of our diocese as well as the faithful Catholics in our diocese as we complete the holy season of Lent,” it stated. “God bless you all.”
