“Road to Renewal Rightsizing and Reshaping Update”
Last month, the Cattaraugus Creek Catholic Community Transition Team met to propose a transition date for the rightsizing and reshaping of our family of parishes according to the final decision of Bishop Michael Fisher to present to the Renewal Team of the Diocese.
At that meeting, it was decided that we would close St. John the Baptist, West Valley and St. Mary’s, East Arcade Worship Site and merge St. Aloysius, Springville and St. Joseph, Holland into St. Mary’s Parish, Arcade on Sunday, May 18, 2025.
That date has been accepted by the Renewal Team. Therefore, on that date, we will celebrate the closing Masses at St. John the Baptist and St. Mary’s, East Arcade Worship Site and St. Aloysius and St. Joseph will become secondary worship sites of St. Mary’s Parish, Arcade. The transition team will be working to co-ordinate the necessary steps of this transition and we will keep everyone updated on the progress over the next several months.
As part of the final decision from Bishop Fisher, in response to our counter-proposal to keep Bingham Hall in West Valley for the Clothes Closet Ministry and some property at the East Arcade Worship Site for the use of fundraisers for our Family of Parishes, we were tasked with deciding by January 1, 2025 whether it is financially sustainable and beneficial to our Family of Parishes to do so.
As part of that decision, the transition team recommended meeting with the parishioners of St. John the Baptist and St. Mary’s East Arcade to get their input.
Therefore, we will have a meeting following the Sunday Masses on:
- Sunday, December 8 (2024) at St. John the Baptist
- Sunday, December 15 (2024) at St. Mary’s, East Arcade
Based on the bulletin of December 1, 2024.
