UPDATES

UPDATE 2/28/2025

Information Update Meeting on Our Lady of Peace Parish
March 4,2025 – 7PM
Clarence Fire Hall – 10355 Main Street, Clarence, NY

All Our Lady of Peace Parishioners are Welcome!

This meeting and presentation will provide an update on the current status of the Appeal Process to rescind the Bishops Decree that is currently underway.

Also, a discussion on what happens when a parish is ‘Merged” with another Parish. In general, the current plan is that the parish of Our Lady of Peace will close / merge into Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Main Street at Harris Hill. The buildings and grounds will remain, yet they will now be part of Nativity parish.

A presentation from the Save Our Buffalo Churches group will provide an update on the process of Closures and Mergers in the Diocese of Buffalo.

It is very important that parishioners know what is happening and the processes of Canon Law as it pertains to closure and merges.

This meeting will address some recently presented information that Our Lady of Peace is not closing. As per the current Diocese of Buffalo plan this is not correct. The parish will close but the buildings will remain a part of Nativity parish.

The reason for the meeting at the Clarence Fire Hall is that the Diocese has instructed that no meetings that oppose the closure / merge shall be held on parish property.

Please join your fellow parishioners on March 4th at 7PM to become informed about the status of Our Lady of Peace parish.

UPDATE 1/29/2025

Appeal Update

January 10, 2025 – Our Appeal to the Dicastery for the Clergy was sent to the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, in Washington DC. He will then forward on to the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican.

January 15, 2025 – Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio, acknowledged our recourse and forwarded it on to the Vatican.

Parish Council Removed from Service

January 15, 2025 – At the scheduled Parish Council meeting, Fr. Tom Mahoney removed all members of the Parish Council that signed the Procurator Mandate. To quote the letter he handed out, “…by signing the petition to appeal Bishop Fisher’s decree, you have placed yourself in opposition to the goals of the current leadership of Our Lady of Peace.” So, by trying to save Our Lady of Peace, the Parish Council was removed. Very disturbing.

UPDATE 12/4/2024

Trustee Removed

Trustee Lew Wargo was removed from his position as Trustee by Pastor Fr. Tom Mahoney. The reason given in the removal letter from Fr. Mahoney, is that Lew was representing the parish in the Appeal process as Procurator, and that is not allowed.

A few issues here...

Lewis Wargo is not OLP's Procurator.
Trustees have a duty to act according to the best interests of the parish. By working to save one's parish from being (illicitly, invalidly?) extinguished, a Trustee is fulfilling his/her obligation to the highest degree. The Diocese sees this fidelity as disobedience and a conflict of interest.
In serving as both Trustee and canonical appeal Procurator, the only conflict of interest there is, is a conflict of interest with the diocese's moves to extinguish a parish- a parish vibrant enough to form a recourse group and fight for its life.
While removing a Trustee on grounds of his/her being procurator is invalid to begin with (see above), the mistake here extends termination to a non-procurator trustee. Because lay trustees have to sign off on property sales, it makes strategic sense for the diocese to want to remove all appeals-involved trustees, not just procurators, so they can remove all human obstacles from moving ahead on the goal of property sales. So, the question is, was this a genuine mistake?
Considering trustees are appointed by the Bishop, Vicar General and Pastor (as President, VP and Secretary of the Board), the removal from appointment should be issued by the President, not the Secretary. The President (Bishop) is not even mentioned or CC'd in these types of letters. Pastors rights are being mangled left and right in this diocese, but here, ironically, the pastor seems to be being given authority over and above what's outlined in rules for organization. This applies in Ascension and Blessed Sacrament as well.

Appeal Update

The letter of Remonstratio sent to the Bishop on behalf of Our Lady of Peace parish was not been responded to with in the 30 day time period allowed within Canon Law. Thus, no response is the same as a negative response. With that result, an Appeal was sent to the Dicastery for Clergy in Rome, seeking that the Decree to have Our Lady of Peace parish merged / extinguished be reversed. This was sent on January 10,2025. They have 90 days to respond. Now we hope and pray for the survival of Our Lady of Peace parish.

If you are a signor of the the Procurator Mandate and would like a copy of the Appeal letters sent to the Bishop and the Dicastery for Clergy, please request that through a

reply to saveolpclarence@gmail.com.

UPDATE 12/4/2024

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, the Remonstratio Letter to appeal the merge of Our Lady of Peace parish into Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish was sent to Bishop Fisher via FedEx. The letter along with copies of over 300 Procurator Mandates from Our Lady of Peace parishioners, appeals to the Bishop to withdraw his Decree dated November 19, 2024. The Remonstratio Letter, makes clear that the reasons stated in the Decree do not rise to the level of validity to close / merge Our Lady of Peace.

The next step in the process is that the Bishop has three options:
1) He can accept the facts presented in the Remonstratio Letter as true and correct,
and withdraw the Decree;
2) He can refute the facts in the Remonstration Letter and respond that He is not withdrawing the Decree. He would have 30 useful days to respond this way;
3) He can not respond at all. After 30 useful days, this would be the same as sending a negative response.

So now we wait, hopeful for the Decree to be withdrawn. If it is not, then we are preparing for the next step in the appeal process. This would be to send letter of Appeal to the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican within 15 useful days of receiving a negative response from the Bishop or if no response, then within 45 useful days after the letter is received by the Bishop. During this process of Appeal the Decree is put on hold and no action is to be taken on the merge until a final determination comes from the Vatican.

If you signed a Procurator Mandate and would like a copy of the Remonstratio Letter, please use the CONTACT page of the website and a copy will be emailed to you.

UPDATE 11/25/2024

On November 14th, the Parish received a Decree from Bishop Fisher that Our Lady of Peace will merge into Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in June of 2025. This would be referenced as Decree #1. In this Decree, refence is made to the Bishop’s required consultation of the Diocese’s Presbyteral Council and that the merge received unanimous support from the members of the Presbyteral Council present on August 27, 2024. This was not the case and as stated is untrue.

Upon discovery of this error, the Diocese, thru Fr. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal, asked the that the Decree not be posted or distributed to the members of the parish while the Diocese reviews the conflict of the decree with the minutes of the meeting.

On November 22nd, after 5PM, Decree #2 was sent to be distributed and read to the parish at Sunday Masses. This decree now states that the Presbyteral Council discussed on October 8, 2024, the merge of Our Lady of Peace with Nativity. The Council voted to oppose the merge – 6 in favor, 11 against, 4 abstained. Thus, the Priests council advised the Bishop to not merge Our Lady of Peace. The Bishop chose to ignore the advice of his Presbyteral Council and issue the decree again their advice.

So now we are preparing what is called the Remonstratio letter to the Bishop. This letter will defend Our Lady of Peace Parish from merging by refuting the reasons stated in the decree and various reasons this would be against Canon Law. We have 10 Useful Days to submit this letter along with copies of the Procurator Mandates signed by parishioners. We hope and pray the Bishop sees the errors of this merge and why he should revoke his decree.