User:Schetm/sandbox/BuffaloCatholicExpansion

Outside Buffalo

Current churches

This list includes all churches that are open for either regular or occasional Catholic worship, whether they are independent parishes or not.

Name	Image	Location	Founded	Vicariate	Description/Notes
St. Teresa of Avila		Akron	1869	Northern Erie	Catholicism in Akron had its origins in 1853, when priests would travel to Akron to say mass. In 1865, the first church building was erected and by 1869, St. Teresa became a full parish. One year later, a new church building was erected, which served the parish until 1961 when the third and current building was dedicated.
Holy Family formerly St. Joseph		Albion	1852	Niagara Orleans	Founded as St. Joseph in 1852. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph merged with St. Mary, also in Albion, to form Holy Family Parish, utilizing only the St. Joseph site.
St. John the Baptist		Alden	1850	Southern Erie	One of the many parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo with roots in the missionary activity of Fr. John Neumann, land was purchased in 1850 to build a church in Alden. In 1854, the first resident pastor, Fr. Nicodemus Neumann, arrived and the parish was formally founded. In 1894, the present church was constructed.
St. Jude Immaculate Conception Parish		Alfred	1959	Southern Tier East	St. Jude was established in 1959 as a chapel for the campus communites of Alfred University and Alfred State College. In 1992, it was merged with St. Brendan in Almond to form SS Brendan & Jude Parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, SS Brendan & Jude was merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellsville, with St. Jude retained as a worship site.
St. Bonaventure		Allegany	1854	Southern Erie	Staffed by Franciscans and closely associated with the nearby St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure parish was established in 1854. In 2011, St. John the Baptist Church in Vandalia was merged into St. Bonaventure.
St. Gregory the Great		Amherst	1958	Northern Erie	St. Gregory the Great traces its history back to August 22, 1957, when the Buffalo Diocese completed the purchase of a 23-acre farmstead for use as the site of a new church to serve the Catholic population of what was now a rapidly suburbanizing section of Amherst. In November 1958, when the parish was only a few months old, plans were unveiled for the enormous campus that included not only a church but also a rectory, a convent, and a large school building with 11 classrooms, a gymnasium and auditorium, cafeteria, and outdoor recreational facilities. The church building was dedicated in October 1968, and new construction has proceeded apace since: most recently, the year 2000 saw the dedication of the aforementioned bell tower, a new rectory and ministry center comprising a vast performance space, meeting rooms, a commercial kitchen and food pantry, and a Catholic-supply store.
St. Leo the Great		Amherst	1954	Northern Erie	St. Leo traces its history as a parish back to 1953, when the Diocese of Buffalo purchased 20 acres of farmland in what was then a rapidly suburbanizing section of West Amherst on which to eventually build a church and school, as well as a small house on a neighboring lot to serve as a temporary rectory for founding pastor Fr Cletus Snyder. The parochial school opened in September 1954 after a few months of construction, complete with a chapel in the basement where Sunday Mass would be held for the following fourteen years. The ensuing years saw the completion of an expansion of the school (1958), the permanent rectory (1966), and finally the church itself (1971).
Most Precious Blood		Angola	1871	Southern Erie	Prior to the foundation of Most Precious Blood in 1871, the spiritual needs of Catholics in Angola were met by religious order priests from Dunkirk. A disused schoolhouse was purchased and served as the first church building for the fledgling community. In 1897, the first purpose built church was erected for the parish. This was followed by a modern church in 1962. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Anthony Church in Farnham was merged into Most Precious Blood, and closed.
St. Mary formerly SS Peter & Paul		Arcade	1907	Southern Tier East	In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, SS Peter & Paul was merged with St. Mary in East Arcade and Blessed Sacrament in Delevan to form St. Mary Parish. Worship sites were maintained in Arcade and East Arcade. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, several parishes were merged into St. Mary. St. Aloysius Church in Springville and St. Joseph Church in Holland were merged and slated to remain open, St. Jude Church in Sardinia and St. John the Baptist Church in West Valley were merged and closed, and the St. Mary site in East Arcade was slated to close. However, the decision to close St. Mary in East Arcade was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. Francis of Assisi St. Mary of the Lake Parish		Athol Springs	1929	Southern Erie	In 1929, as St. Francis High School was being launched by the Conventual Franciscans, that order wished to establish a parish adjacent to their school. Bishop Turner created St. Francis of Assisi Parish, and entrusted it to the care of the Franciscans. The first pastor was Fr. Thomas Wieprecht. A school was established in 1947 and operated until 1999. A new church was built in 1958. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Francis was merged into St. Mary of the Lake Parish. It continues to operate as a secondary worship site of St. Mary, offering daily and weekend masses.
St. Vincent de Paul St. John Neumann Parish		Attica	1851	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Vincent de Paul was founded in 1851. In 1882, the present 380-seat church was built. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Vincent de Paul merged with St. Joseph in Varysburg to form SS Joachim & Anne Parish, utilizing both sites for worship. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, SS Joachim and Anne was merged into St. John Neumann Parish, with both sites remaining in continuous use.
St. Patrick Our Lady of the Lake Parish		Barker	1865	Niagara Orleans	In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick merged with St. Joseph in Lyndonville to form Our Lady of the Lake. St. Joseph was destroyed in 2023 leaving St. Patrick as the only surviving church of Our Lady of the Lake.
Ascension formerly Sacred Heart		Batavia	1871	Geneseee Wyoming	Sacred Heart was founded in 1903 to cater to the Polish-American community in Batavia. At Sacred Heart's original location on Jackson Street, Mass was held in a converted house and a barn was converted for use as a school; this setup actually lasted for half a century, when the low-lying property was finally vacated due to persistent flooding. The church pictured here was erected in 1954, this modest-scaled church building is a work of Buffalo architect Frank Mazurowski, who in his design combines elements of the Colonial Revival and Gothic Revival styles, both in the simplified versions that were common in the mid-20th century: the latter is exemplified by the pointed arched crowning the windows and front entrance, while the former turns up in the roofs, whose gable returns at the base suggest broken pediments. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Sacred Heart was merged with St. Anthony Church, also in Batavia, to found Ascension. Both sites were used until 2012, when St. Anthony was closed. As part of the Road to Renewal, Ascension was to be merged into Resurrection Parish in Batavia in 2024 and closed. However, the decision to merge Ascension was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. Joseph Resurrection Parish		Batavia	1849	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Joseph was founded in 1849 as the first Catholic church in Batavia. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph merged with St. Mary, also in Batavia, to form Resurrection Parish, utilizing both sites for worship. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, the St. Mary site closed and the parishes of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Padre Pio merged into Resurrection with Holy Name of Mary Church from St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Cecilia Church from St. Padre Pio used as worship sites, with St. Joseph being the main church for the parish.
St. Patrick		Belfast	1859	Southern Tier East	In 2012, St. Mark in Rushford was merged into St. Patrick and served as an oratory until it was closed in 2024. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary in Canaserage and St. Patrick in Fillmore was merged into St. Patrick in Belfast, utilizing all three sites for regular worship.
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph formerly St. Mary		Belmont	1861	Southern Tier East	St. Mary in Belmont was established in 1861. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with Sacred Heart in Angelica and St. Joseph in Scio into Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Parish. The St. Joseph site was retained as an oratory, and the Sacred Heart site was closed. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Family was merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellsville.
Our Lady of Lourdes St. Mary of Lourdes		Bemus Point	1948	Southern Tier West	In 1940, a chapel dedicated to St. Elizabeth was constructed in Bemus Point for the use of summer residents on Chautauqua Lake. In 1948, Our Lady of Lourdes was founded as an independent parish. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Lourdes was merged with St. Mary in Mayville to form St. Mary of Lourdes Parish. Both sites are utilized for regular worship.
St. Brigid		Bergen	1871	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Brigid was founded in 1871. Fr. P.J. Malloy served as its first pastor. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Michael in South Byron was merged into St. Brigid on January 13, 2008. As part of the Road to Renewal, St. Brigid was to be merged into Our Lady of Mercy in Le Roy in 2025 and closed. However, the decision to merge St. Brigid was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. John the Baptist SS Peter & Paul Parish		Boston	1869	Southern Erie	In 1869, a congregation for German Catholics was established in Boston. The first church, which served for the next 97 years, was constructed that same year. In 1877, Fr. George Zuercher was sent as the first resident pastor. A school was operated from 1904 to 1973, and a new church was dedicated in 1968. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary Church in East Eden was merged into St. John the Baptist. St. Mary continues as an oratory of St. John the Baptist. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John the Baptist was merged into SS Peter & Paul Parish in Hamburg. Regular weekday and weekend masses continue to be held at St. John the Baptist and St. Mary.
Sacred Heart of Jesus		Bowmansville	1920	Northern Erie	In 1917, a mission was established for Catholics residing in Bowmansville. Three years later, the first church building was erected and Sacred Heart of Jesus parish was inaugurated. After many years of overcrowding, the current church, which seats 450 people, was dedicated in 1959, costing $187,500. Sacred Heart is a designated diocesan shrine, and is home to two outdoor grottoes, both dedicated in the 1920s. The parish school, which operated intermittently from 1920 to 1983, is home to the Chesterton Academy of Buffalo. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, Sacred Heart was slated to merge into Nativity Parish in Harris Hill. As of July 2025, no merger has taken place.
St. Mary St. Patrick Parish		Canaseraga	1855	Southern Tier East	From 1855 to 1865, the Catholic community in Canaseraga was a mission of St. Mary in Hornell. A formal parish was organized in 1865, and the first (and present) church was built in 1877. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary was merged into St. Patrick Parish in Belfast, remaining as a site for regular worship.
Infant of Prague		Cheektowaga	1946	Northern Erie	Infant of Prague was founded in 1946 on the recommendation of Rev. Maurice Woulfe, pastor of the nearby Our Lady Help of Christians whose parish was growing explosively with the postwar flight of city residents to the suburbs. Worshipping originally in an old airplane hangar, a combination church and school building was erected around the corner on Foisset Lane in 1950 and replaced in short order with the current one, for which ground was broken in November 1959. The church was dedicated in 1962. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Mother of Divine Grace, also in Cheektowaga, was merged into Infant of Prague. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Infant of Prague was set to be merged into SS Peter & Paul in Williamsville and its properties disposed of. However, the decision to merge Infant of Prague was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
Our Lady, Help of Christians		Cheektowaga	1851	Southern Erie	This German parish, founded in 1851, is well known for its Maria Hilf Chapel (pictured here). It was built in 1853, was the site of many miraculous healings, and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The chapel is one of two places where the Latin Mass is celebrated licitly in the Diocese of Buffalo, the other being St. Anthony of Padua Oratory in Buffalo. A newer, more modern church was built in 1959 and is the site of the Novus Ordo congregation.
Our Lady of Czestochowa		Cheektowaga	1922	Buffalo	Our Lady of Czestochowa was founded in 1922 to serve a Polish-American community whose spread eastward had now taken them from the original enclave of Kazimierzowo, on the far East Side of the city, over the border into the Town of Cheektowaga, in the area now known as Doyle. The fledgling parish held Mass in rented spaces above a grocery store and in a converted horse stable until the 1928 construction of their first home (to the right in the image), a combination church and school building designed in a handsome Italian Renaissance style. This structure served their needs for 45 years and remains in use as a school and parish hall. Ground was broken for the current church in January 1972, with a cornerstone-laying ceremony held that December to coincide with the parish's 50th anniversary. It is a Modern-styled building, whose architecture is representative of a contemporaneous mini-trend in local church design that favored low-slung, often roundish buildings whose steel-reinforced exterior walls permitted an open floor plan with sightlines unobstructed by pillars or other intrusions. More specifically, Our Lady of Czestochowa's building sports an octagonal footprint, a buff brick exterior, and an entrance recessed behind a pair of engaged brick pillars and a gable-like canopy, with a large stained glass window set above the doors. Topping off the tent roof is a roughly cone-shaped spire with a cross at its peak. In 2024, as part of the road to renewal, St. Bernard Church, located less than a half a mile west on Clinton Street, was merged into Our Lady of Czestochowa.
Queen of Martyrs Our Lady, Help of Christians Parish		Cheektowaga	1946	Southern Erie	On June 2, 1946, before any buildings could be built, Fr. John Szal pitched a tent and held mass for 46 people. From there, Queen of Martyrs was born. A combination church/school was dedicated in October of that same year, which served the parish until 1954, when the final church, designed by Backus, Crane & Love, was built. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Queen of Martyrs was merged into Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Cheektowaga. It is expected that Queen of Martyrs will close later in 2025.
Resurrection		Cheektowaga	1922	Southern Erie	Resurrection parish was founded in 1944 to serve the growing community of Cheektowaga. Its church building was dedicated in December of 1969.
St. Aloysius Gonzaga		Cheektowaga	1940	Northern Erie	One of the first Catholic congregations in Cheektowaga to owe its establishment to the suburbanization process that was incipient at the time of its founding and would grow to tidal-wave proportions over the next decades, it was in 1940 when St. Aloysius Gonzaga's parish boundaries were carved out of those of St. James, St. Benedict, and Christ the King. Founding priest Fr. Walter Gonter said Mass in a temporary frame structure for ten months until the present building, designed by local architect Mortimer Murphy, was dedicated in 1941. The growth of the parish was so rapid - it had doubled in size by 1952, to 1,800 families - that expansions to the building became necessary almost immediately. The parochial school was opened in 1948; new sacristies added in 1952 and '53 allowed for enlargement of the worship space, and finally a convent for the Sisters of Saint Joseph who staffed the school was erected in 1962. The nearby Bishop Neumann High School, too, was founded in 1959 largely to serve the continuing Catholic educational needs of the graduates of St. Aloysius' parochial school. As elsewhere in the Buffalo diocese, parish membership tallies plateaued in 1980 and soon began to drop, in tune with both the changing demographics of the innermost ring of suburbia and the secularization of American society as a whole. The parish school closed in 2007 and in that same year, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Buffalo was merged into St. Aloysius. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Aloysius Gonzaga was set to be merged into Christ the King Parish in Synder and its properties disposed of. However, the decision to merge Infant of Prague was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. John Gualbert St. Stanislaus Parish		Cheektowaga	1916	Buffalo	Standing at the corner of Gualbert Avenue and Doat Street just about a quarter of a mile (500 m) from the Buffalo city line, St. John Gualbert Catholic Church was founded in 1916 to serve the Polish-American enclave in the Pine Hill neighborhood of Cheektowaga, New York, dubbed "Gwalbertowo". A combination church/school building was completes that same year. Fr. Peter Adamski served as the first resident pastor, arriving in 1918, and oversaw the construction of the present church, which was dedicated in 1929. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Queen of Peace and Holy Name of Jesus parishes were merged into St. John Gualbert, utilizing only the Gualbert site. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John Gualbert was merged into St. Stanislaus Parish in Buffalo, with St. John Gualbert continued to be utilized as a worship site. The church serves as the Diocesan Shrine of the Holy Relics of the Saints, and is home to more than 1,000 relics.
St. Josaphat Resurrection Parish		Cheektowaga	1906	Southern Erie	St. Josaphat owes its existence to the continued growth and out-migration of Buffalo's Polish-American community, which by the first decade of the 20th century had surpassed the city line to establish homes in what's now the Doyle area of suburban Cheektowaga; Bishop Charles Colton founded the parish in 1905 and appointed Father Andrew Garstka as its first pastor. A combination church/school building, erected in 1907 and rebuilt following a 1924 fire, was soon enough superseded by the present structure, which was completed in 1952. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Josaphat was merged into Resurrection Parish in Cheektowaga. It is expected that St. Josaphat will close later in 2025.
St. Philip the Apostle		Cheektowaga	1850	Southern Erie	One of the last new parishes to be founded in the Buffalo Diocese (excepting those formed as mergers of preexisting parishes during the diocesan downsizing programs of the 1990s and 2000s), St. Philip the Apostle traces its history back to 1967, when Buffalo bishop James McNulty appointed Msgr. Anthony Jasinski to head up a new parish in the fast-developing southern portion of the town of Cheektowaga. The flock worshiped for the first year and a half of its existence on the premises of the Brushenbrook Hunting and Fishing Club before the completion of their first permanent home, a combination church and school building that was dedicated in May 1969 and now serves as the Monsignor Jasinski Parish Center. The dedication of their second and present church building, designed by the Williamsville-based firm of A. M. Mussachio, occurred ten years later. The parish is notable in the local diocese as the holder of a relic of St. Philip himself - namely the skeletal remains of his foot, complete with the crucifixion wound from his martyrdom - which was uncovered by archaeologists in 2017 during structural repairs to his tomb in the crypt of the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome.
Our Lady of Peace Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish		Clarence	1922	Northern Erie	The second Catholic church to serve Clarence, Our Lady of Peace was cleaved off the parish territory of St. Teresa of Avila in Akron to serve the Catholics of Clarence Hollow. Their original home, built in 1922, is an interesting stylistic hodgepodge, freely borrowing elements of Colonial Revivalism (namely the symmetrical façade and the open bell tower crowning the front gable) and Gothic (the pointed arches that once crowned the windows and front entrance, bricked over today but still retaining their decorative keystone voussoirs). Their original building was superseded in 1965 by a much larger church building, pictured here. The new building is a fine example of the heavily Modernist-influenced Late Gothic Revival style that dominated Catholic church architecture in Western New York in the middle 20th century: pointed arches predominate, but so do sleek lines and geometric forms, even in the tracery that adorns the large stained-glass window above the main entrance. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of Peace was slated to be merged into Nativity Parish in Harris Hill. However, the decision to merge Our Lady of Peace was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains independent during the appeals process.
Our Lady of the Angels Immaculate Conception Parish		Cuba	1850	Southern Tier East	The first priest to serve Our Lady of the Angels was Fr. John Doran, who organized the parish in 1850. Churches were built in 1854, 1883, and 1926. In 2004, Sacred Heart Church in Friendship was merged into Our Lady of the Angels. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of the Angels ws merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellsville and retained as a site for regular worship.
St. Martha formerly Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament		Depew	1965	Southern Erie	In 1965, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament (OLBS) was founded. In 2011, OLBS merged with St. Barnabas Church to form St. Martha. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Martha was slated to be merged into St. Mary of the Assumption in Lancaster, and closed. However, the decision to merge St. Martha was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
Holy Trinity		Dunkirk	1908	Southern Tier West	In 1908, Holy Trinity was established as a personal parish for Italian migrants who moved to the Dunkirk area. Initially located at the corner of Ruggles and Wright Streets, a church was erected in 1909. Due to changing demographics, the church moved to Central Avenue in 1972, midway between Dunkirk and Fredonia. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, the parish was transformed from a personal to a territorial parish, and took on the territory of St. Joseph in Fredonia and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Dunkirk, and absorbed the personal parish of Blessed Mary Angela in Dunkirk.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Holy Trinity Parish formerly St. Mary		Dunkirk	1851	Southern Tier West	The first Catholic parish in Chautauqua County, the first church was built in 1851, and the present church, one of the oldest buildings in the Diocese of Buffalo, was built in 1855. From 1860 to 1972, the parish was staffed by the Passionist Fathers. In 1972, St. Mary merged with Sacred Heart Church in Dunkirk to form St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, using the St. Mary site for worship. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Elizabeth was merged into Holy Trinity Parish in Dunkirk. St. Elizabeth continues to be used for regular worship, including Spanish language masses.
St. Hyacinth Holy Trinity Parish formerly part of Blessed Mary Angela Parish		Dunkirk	1875	Southern Tier West	In 1875, St. Hedwig was established as a personal parish to serve the Polish community in Dunkirk. Another Polish personal parish, St. Hedwig, was established in 1902. A St. Hyacinth Parishoner, Lillian Halasinski, attributed a healing in her leg to Mary Angela Truszkowska in 1984. Her healing was certified by the Vatican as a miracle attributed to the intercesion of Truszkowska, and was the impetous for her beatification in 1993. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Hyacinth and St. Hedwig were merged together as Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska Parish, using both sites for regular worship. In 2025, St. Hedwig was closed and Blessed Mary Angela was suppressed into Holy Trinity Parish in Dunkirk. It is expected that St. Hyacinth will close in 2026.
St. Mary St. Mary Parish		East Arcade	1846	Southern Tier East	In 1846, a church was built to serve the recent arrivals to East Arcade of victims of the Irish Potato Famine. A larger church was built in 1892 but, by 1944, it was determined that this church was too large for the parish and its materials were used to construct the current, smaller building. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with SS Peter & Paul in Arcade and Blessed Sacrament in Delevan to form a new parish, also called St. Mary. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary in East Arcade was slated to close. However, the decision to close St. Mary was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
Immaculate Conception		East Aurora	1882	Geneseee Wyoming
St. Mary SS Peter & Paul Parish		East Eden	1835	Southern Erie	Established in 1835, St. Mary is Erie County's first Catholic church outside of Buffalo. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged into St. John the Baptist in Boston, continuing as an oratory of the merged parish. With the Road to Renewal, St. Mary joined St. John the Baptist in a merger into SS Peter & Paul Church in Hamburg, and has been upgraded to a secondary worship site.
Holy Name of Mary Resurrection Parish		East Pembroke	1868	Geneseee Wyoming	Holy Name of Mary was founded in 1868. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Holy Name of Mary was merged with St. Francis of Assisi in Corfu in 2009 to form St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish. Both sites were utilized for worship. St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish itself was merged into Resurrection Parish in Batavia as part of the Road to Renewal in 2024, with Holy Name of Mary continuing as a worship site of Resurrection.
Immaculate Conception		Eden	1908	Southern Tier West	In 1907, a priest was sent to Eden to establish a parish. The first church was built in 1908. The present church was dedicated in 1958. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Spirit Church in North Collins was merged into Immaculate Conception.
St. Benedict		Eggertsville	1920	Northern Erie	Owing its existence to the very beginning of the process of suburbanization in the Buffalo metro area, the parish was formed in 1920 to serve the spiritual needs of the rapidly growing hamlet of Eggertsville. The first resident priest was Fr. William Tobin, and the first church building, which served the parish for a decade, was dedicated in 1921. It was followed by a combination church/school building, which still serves the parish school. The current church, designed by architect Mortimer Murphy in the Late Gothic Revival style, was erected in 1952. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Benedict was decreed to be merged into St. Leo the Great Parish in Amherst, where it would survive as a secondary worship site. However, the decision to merge St. Benedict was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains independent during the appeals process.
Holy Name of Mary		Ellicottville	1850	Southern Tier East	In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Pacificus in Humphrey was merged into Holy Name of Mary. It continues as an oratory of Holy Name of Mary.
Annuncuation		Elma	1882	Geneseee Wyoming
St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows		Elma	1925	Southern Erie
St. Patrick St. Patrick (Belfast) Parish		Fillmore	1881	Southern Tier East	In 1881, a simple church was constructed to serve Catholics in Fillmore. The first resident pastor, Fr. Albert Rivers, was assigned in 1905. The current church was built in 1914. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Patrick was merged into St. Patrick Parish in Belfast, remaining as a site for regular worship.
St. Philomena		Franklinville	1873	Southern Tier East	St. Philomena got its start as a parish in 1873 and worshiped for many years at a site adjacent to the Free Methodist Church on South Main Street. The move to the present site culminated with the new church's dedication in May 1965. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Holy Family in Machias was merged into St. Philomena. In 2025, St. Philomena was slated to be merged into Holy Name of Mary in Ellicottville, remaining as a site for regular worship.
St. Anthony		Fredonia	1905	Southern Tier West	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Immaculate Conception in Cassadaga and St. John the Evangelist in Sinclairville were merged into St. Anthony and closed. In 2026, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Anthony is to be merged into Holy Trinity Parish in Dunkirk and closed.
St. Matthias Christ our Hope Parish		French Creek	1873	Southern Tier West	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Matthias merged with St. Isaac Jogues in Sherman to form Christ our Hope Parish. St. Isaac Jogues was closed in 2025 leaving St. Matthias as the only surviving church of Our Lady of the Lake.
Fourteen Holy Helpers Queen of Heaven Parish		Gardenville	1864	Southern Erie	What is now Gardenville once one of the Ebenezer Colonies, settled by the Community of True Inspiration. Once they moved on to Amana, Iowa, their church was purchased by a new Catholic parish, who razed it and built the present church in its place. A school operated until 2014. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Fourteen Holy Helpers was merged into Queen of Heaven Parish, with regular services continuing at both sites.
St. Pius X		Getzville	1958	Northern Erie	In 1958, noting the suburbanization in the Buffalo area, Bishop James McNulty appointed Fr. Joseph Weber to serve as pastor of the fledgling St. Pius X Parish. Masses were initially held in the Getzville Fire Hall until Christmas, 1959, when a suitable temporary structure, a parish social hall, was ready for use. A permanent church building was completed a decade later. Plans for a parish school never materialized. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Pius X was to be merged into St. Gregory the Great parish.
St. Joseph		Gowanda	1898	Southern Tier West	While Mass was celebrated in Gowanda as far back as 1855, St. Joseph was not founded until 1888, when a church was built. Ten years later, St. Joseph was formalized as an independent parish. A parish school operated from 1925 to 2014. In 1992, St. Elizabeth in Cherry Creek was merged into St. Joseph. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Paul of the Cross in Dayton, St. Joan of Arc in Perrysburg, and St. John Fisher in South Dayton were merged into St. Joseph. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary in Cattaraugus, itself having absorbed St. Isidore in East Otto and St. Mary in Little Valley in 2008, was merged into St. Joseph. Only St. Joseph is used for worship in this geographically expansive parish.
St. Stephen		Grand Island	1862	Northern Erie
Saint Mary of the Lake		Hamburg	1926	Southern Erie	In 1926, a mission church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lake View was established in the Mount Vernon area of Hamburg. The mission church met for several years in a large farmhouse until 1940, when a purpose built church was constructed. In 1948, St. Mary of the Lake was established as an independent parish. A new church was built in 2000. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Athol Springs was merged into St. Mary of the Lake, with both sites utilized for regular worship.
SS Peter & Paul		Hamburg	1844	Southern Erie	One of the earliest Catholic congregations in Western New York, the parish was founded in 1844 by about two dozen German farm families who previously had to travel as far as Buffalo or Eden to attend Mass. They began worshiping in a former Baptist church on this site, with Redemptorist priests from St. Mary's in Buffalo holding services every other week. The church building seen here, their third, was erected in 1911. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John the Baptist Church in Boston and St. Bernadette Church in Orchard Park was to be merged into SS Peter & Paul. However, the decision to merge St. Bernadette was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary		Harris Hill	1954	Northern Erie	Founded in 1954, Nativity is the newest of Clarence's three Catholic parishes, yet the parcel on which it sits had been used for religious purposes for over a century prior: it was the site of the Harris Hill United Brethren Church's parsonage beginning in the 1860s, and before that, of the so-called "Devil's Cave": a 150-foot-long cavern created by water leaching through the Onondaga limestone bedrock which was supposedly used to shelter runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. The parish itself was split from Sacred Heart in Bowmansville and, for its first year, shared a Sacred Heart's church building. Architect Joseph Fronczak brings to bear a staunchly classicist Georgian Revival design that hearkens back to what was more typically seen half a century or more before its 1965 completion: the façade of the building features columns and pilasters of the Ionic order supporting a broken pediment above the triple entrance, with balustrades flanking the base of the tower and round-arched windows decorated with ornamental keystones and voussoirs.
St. Joseph St. Mary Parish		Holland	1890	Southern Tier East	Beginning in 1865 and continuing for about twenty years later, pastors passing through town from Boston, Spring Brook and elsewhere would say Mass about once a month for the two dozen or so Catholic families in the area; after that, the congregation moved to a proper building in the center of Holland, and services became more frequent: two Masses a month were said by preachers from East Aurora and, later, Arcade. In 1924 - six years after the original mission church burned down in a fire of unknown cause - St. Joseph became a parish in its own right, worshiping in a converted private residence that was razed and superseded by the current building located on the same site. The present church, the work of the Buffalo-based architect Gerard Zimmermann, was built in 1968. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Joseph was merged into St. Mary Parish in Arcade, remaining open for regular daily and weekly masses.
St. Mary		Holley	1866	Niagara Orleans
St. Pacificus oratory of Holy Name of Mary		Humphrey	1855	Southern Tier East	In 1855, Fr. Pamphilus da Magliano, a Franciscan friar, established St. Pacificus. Thought to be the only church in North America dedicated to Pacificus of San Severino, St. Pacificus was merged into Holy Name of Mary in Ellicottville in 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace.
St. James		Jamestown	1910	Southern Tier West	St. James was established in 1910, serving a largely Italian community. Masses were said in a large house until 1915, when the first church was built. The present church was built in 1968. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Victory Church in Frewsburg was merged into St. James, continuing as a worship site until 2025, when it was closed. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of Loreto Church in Falconer was merged into St. James, and closed. Additionally, Holy Apostles Parish in Jamestown was due to be merged into St. James, but that merger was put on hold due to an appeal to the Vatican.
St. John Holy Apostles Parish		Jamestown	1927	Southern Tier West	St. John was established in 1927 in an underserved part of Jamestown. Churches were built in 1927, 1935, and 1961. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. John was merged with SS Peter & Paul to form Holy Apostles Parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Apostles was set to be merged into St. James Parish, with St. John continuing as a worship site. However, the decision to close All Saints was appealed to the Vatican, and the parish remains unmerged during the appeals process.
SS Peter & Paul Holy Apostles Parish		Jamestown	1854	Southern Tier West	The first Catholic church established in southern Chautauqua County, SS Peter & Paul was was established as an independent parish in 1863. The present building is the third church to have been located on the same site, replacing, respectively, a small chapel used by visiting priests that stood from 1854 until an 1860 fire, and an earlier wood-frame church that was the first to house the parish proper. Built between 1894 and 1900, the present church was designed by Franz Joseph Untersee. A school operated from 1865 to 2012. In 1971, St. Joseph in Jamestown was merged into SS Peter & Paul. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, SS Peter & Paul was merged with St. John to form Holy Apostles Parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Apostles was set to be merged into St. James Parish, with SS Peter & Paul to be closed. However, the decision to close All Saints was appealed to the Vatican, and the parish remains open during the appeals process.
St. John the Baptist		Kenmore	1836	Northern Erie	Founded by Fr. John Neumann in 1836, St. John the Baptist made its home first in a log chapel and then in a small stone church built in 1849. The parish existed until 1892, when it was closed. In 1927, the parish was re-opened using the 1849 structure as its church. A larger church and modern school were later built.
St. Paul		Kenmore	1897	Northern Erie	Founded in 1892, St. Paul's was created to serve the residents of the then-newly founded village of Kenmore, which was quickly growing into its planned role as Buffalo's first proper suburb and whose predicted rapid population growth was quickly becoming a reality. The present-day church, built in 1954, replaced a simple wood-frame structure built in 1897 with the volunteer labor of a community of Jesuit priests from St. Michael's on Washington Street in downtown Buffalo. The newer, Mortimer J. Murphy designed building was built in the Late Gothic Revival style that was so favored by its designer, and which was still quite a popular trend in ecclesiastical architecture in the local area at the time the church was built.
Our Lady of Bistrica formerly Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus		Lackawanna	1917	Southern Erie	This Croatian personal parish was established in 1917 and initially housed at St. Hyacinth Church in Lackawanna. A small frame church was built in March 1917 and a large brick edifice wad dedicated at 108 Ridge Road in 1920. In 1961, the congregation left the Ridge Road site for a new home on Abbott Road. An auditorium was built which doubled as a church until 1976, when a modern church was built. At that time, the parish changed its name from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Our Lady of Bistrica. In 2024, the church was slated for merger with OLV Basilica, and closure.
Our Lady of Victory Basilica formerly St. Patrick		Lackawanna	1854	Southern Erie
Queen of Angels Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish formerly St. Michael the Archangel		Lackawanna	1921	Southern Erie	Established in 1921 as the third Polish personal parish in Lackawanna, St. Michael the Archangel is situated within the larger parish of the much larger OLV Basilica. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Grace in Woodlawn and St. Barbara and St. Hyacinth Churches in Lackawanna were merged with St. Michael the Archangel to form Queen of Angels. This new parish continued to serve as a Polish personal parish in Lackawanna, as well as a territorial parish for the former Our Lady of Grace parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Queen of Angels was merged into Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, alongside Our Mother of Divine Council in Blasdell and St. Anthony in Lackawanna. The Spanish language mass once hosted at St. Anthony moved to Queen of Angels, which continues to be used for regular worship.
St. John Paul II formerly Our Lady of Perpetual Help		Lake View	1922	Southern Erie	In 1922, a church was built in Lake View and dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. That first building served the growing parish until 1961, when a combination church/school was built. In 2001, a purpose built church was dedicated. In 2011, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Vincent de Paul Church in North Evans merged with Our Lady of Perpetual Help at the OLPH site. The merged parish took the name of Blessed John Paul II, and became St. John Paul II, upon the former Pope's canonization.
Sacred Heart		Lakewood	1912	Southern Tier West	In 1912, Sacred Heart was founded. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of the Snows in Panama was merged into Sacred Heart, continuing as a worship site until 2025, when it was closed.
Our Lady of Pompeii St. Mary of the Assumption Parish		Lancaster	1909	Southern Erie	An Italian parish, Our Lady of Pompeii was organized in 1909, and a small church was built to hold the small congregation. The parish was formally organized in 1932 as a personal parish for Italians. In 1954, a fire destroyed the church and a larger building was constructed to replace it. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, SS. Peter & Paul Church in Depew was merged into Our Lady of Pompeii, with SS. Peter & Paul disposed of by 2016. In 2025, Our Lady of Pompeii was merged into St. Mary of the Assumption Parish across the railroad truss in Lancaster, with Our Lady of Pompeii continuing as a worship site of St. Mary.
St. Mary of the Assumption		Lancaster	1850	Southern Erie
Epiphany of our Lord formerly St. Martin of Tours		Langford	1849	Southern Tier West	In 1849, a frame church was erected in Langford, and St. Martin was established as a mission of St. Mary in East Eden. It became an independent parish in 1878, and the present church was built in 1902. The parish school closed in 1970. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Martin of Tours in Langford was merged with St. Frances Cabrini in Collins Center and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in New Oregon to form Epiphany of our Lord Parish, with regular worship taking place only at the St. Martin site.
Our Lady of Mercy formerly St. Peter		Le Roy	1849	Geneseee Wyoming	Founded as St. Peter in 1849. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Peter was merged with St. Anthony in Lime Rock and St. Joseph, also in Le Roy, to form Our Lady of Mercy, using only the St. Peter site.
Our Lady of Fatima		Lewiston	1960	None	Minor basilica built in 1965 and owned and staffed by the Barnabite Fathers
St. Peter		Lewiston	1851	Niagara Orleans
All Saints formerly St. Patrick		Lockport	1864	Niagara Orleans	Founded as St. Patrick in 1864, this church was created as a result of an influx of Irish migrants fleeing the Potato Famine. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged with St. Anthony and St. Joseph, both in Lockport, to form All Saints. St. Mary, also in Lockport, objected to the merger, but was merged into All Saints in 2011, formally becoming extinct in 2018. St. Patrick was maintained as the parish church and St. Joseph was maintained as an oratory. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, All Saints was slated to be merged into St. John the Baptist parish in Lockport, with St. Patrick Church no longer to be used. That decision was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during that appeal process.
St. John the Baptist		Lockport	1834	Niagara Orleans
St. Joseph oratory of All Saints		Lockport	1912	Niagara Orleans	Organization of Italian families in Lockport began in 1911 and, by 1912, St. Joseph was established as a personal parish for the Italian community, with the first church dedicated on December 29th of that same year. On June 17, 1956, a second church was dedicated. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged with St. Anthony and St. Patrick to form All Saints Parish. St. Patrick became the parish church with St. Joseph relegated to the status of an oratory. As part of the Road to Renewal, St. Joseph Oratory was set to be closed and reduced to profane use by June 2, 2025. However, the decision to close All Saints was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. Mary St. Mary of Lourdes		Mayville	1925	Southern Tier West	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with Our Lady of Lourdes in Bemus Point to form St. Mary of Lourdes Parish. Both sites are utilized for regular worship.
Holy Trinity formerly St. Mary		Medina	1840	Niagara Orleans	St. Mary was founded in 1840, and the present church was built in 1904. In 2008, St. Mary merged with Sacred Heart of Jesus, also in Medina, and St. Stephen in Middleport to found Holy Trinity parish, using the St. Mary and St. Stephen sites. The St. Stephen site closed in 2025 as part of the Road to Renewal.
St. Bridget St. Brendan on the Lake Parish		Newfane	1859	Niagara Orleans	St. Bridget was founded in 1859. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Bridget merged with St. Charles Borromeo in Olcott and Our Lady of the Rosary in Wilson to form St. Brendan on the Lake.
St. Leo St. Vincent de Paul Parish		Niagara	1957	Niagara Orleans	St. Leo, established in 1957 and located in the Town of Niagara, was merged with Prince of Peace in 2008 to form St. Vincent de Paul Parish as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. Both sites are used by the parish.
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph formerly St. Joseph		Niagara Falls	1903	Niagara Orleans	Holy Family was founded as St. Joseph Church in 1903 and served a largely Italian community. The first church, also dedicated in 1903, seated 350 people. By 1920, the congregation had outgrown their original church and a large edifice, seating 1,000 people, was dedicated. This brick church was designed by William Alban Cannon in the Romanesque-Lombardi style. In 2008, Our Lady of the Mount Carmel Parish, also in Niagara Falls, merged with St. Joseph to form Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph Parish. Both sites were used until 2025, when, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was closed. Also in 2025, Divine Mercy Parish, itself an amalgamation of several parishes, was closed and merged into Holy Family.
Prince of Peace St. Vincent de Paul Parish		Niagara Falls	1944	Niagara Orleans	Prince of Peace, established in 1944, was merged with St. Leo in 2008 to form St. Vincent de Paul Parish as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. Both sites are used by the parish.
St. John de LaSalle		Niagara Falls	1907	Niagara Orleans	As part of the Road to Renewal, St. John de LaSalle was set to be closed by 2025. However, that decision was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during that appeal process.
St. Mary of the Cataract		Niagara Falls	1836	Niagara Orleans	Catholicism in Niagara Falls dates to the time of Fr. Louis Hennepin, who, in 1678, was the first European to view the Falls. In 1836, St. Mary was founded as the first Catholic parish in Niagara Falls and, by 1847 the present church was constructed. St. Mary is the oldest church building in the Diocese of Buffalo and the sacristy, which was constructed as a stable in 1813, is the oldest structure in Niagara Falls. The right side tower, at a height of 110 feet from its base to the tip of its steeple, is the same height as the American Falls.
Our Lady of Czestochowa		North Tonawanda	1903	Northern Erie	Our Lady of Czestochowa was founded as a Polish parish in 1903 under the direction of Buffalo bishop James Quigley, and worshiped initially in a former Presbyterian church that had been converted for Catholic use. That wood-frame building was located immediately north of the present church, on what's now the site of the grotto garden, and was raffled and moved off the property in 1927. Masses were then held in the basement of the school on a temporary basis pending the completion of the present building. Dedicated in 1928, this brick church building, the work of the Buffalo-based architectural firm of Dietel & Wade, is exemplary of the Gothic Revival style. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph Church, also in North Tonawanda, merged into Our Lady of Czestochowa. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Tonawanda, which gave up some of its territory in 1903 so that Our Lady of Czestochowa could be founded, was merged into Our Lady of Czestochowa. A chapel/columbarium of St. Francis will continue to operate as an oratory of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
St. Francis of Assisi oratory of Our Lady of Czestochowa		North Tonawanda	1852	Northern Erie	The earliest of what would ultimately be six Roman Catholic parishes serving the twin cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, St. Francis of Assisi traces its history back to August 1849, when Buffalo bishop John Timon dispatched the Rev. Sergius Schoulepnikoff to minister to the citizens of what was that a rapidly growing lumbering port at the mouth of Tonawanda Creek, near the west end of the Erie Canal. Though the Rev. Schoulepnikoff was Russian-born, the local Catholic community at the time was mostly of German and Alsatian heritage; accordingly, by 1853 - the year after the formal foundation of the parish - he had been succeeded in his post by the Rev. Francis Uhrich, the first in a nearly unbroken string of German-speaking pastors who would preach at St. Francis for the following half-century plus. The original wood-frame chapel on Franklin Street was superseded in 1862 by its first proper church building (pictured here), a handsome stone structure erected by mason and parish trustee Constantine Schimminger that served the congregation for nearly a century thereafter. By March 1954, when plans were unveiled for the construction of a new church on Broad Street, the parish's population had ballooned to a tally of 4,000. After the dedication of the new building, the 1862 church was reused variously as a gymnasium for the parochial school and for storage until its renovation and rededication in 1993 as a columbarium and chapel, playing host to a limited schedule of baptisms, weddings, funeral services, and other special-event Masses as the need arises. Out of its original territory, the parishes of Ascension, Our Lady of Czestochowa, St. Joseph, St. Albert the Great, St. Stephen, St. Paul, St. Christopher, St. Edmund, St. Timothy and St. Jude the Apostle were formed. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Francis of Assisi was merged into Our Lady of Czestochowa. Because of its use as a columbarium, the 1862 church building will be used by Our Lady of Czestochowa as an oratory for occasional masses, even as the rest of the sprawling campus is sold off.
St. Cecilia Resurrection Parish		Oakfield	1906	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Cecilia was founded in 1906. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Cecilia merged with St. Patrick in Wheatville in 2008, and Our Lady of Fatima in Elba in 2009 to form Padre Pio Parish. All three sites were used until St. Patrick, now an oratory, was closed in 2013. Padre Pio Parish itself was merged into Resurrection Parish in Batavia as part of the Road to Renewal in 2024, with St. Cecilia continuing as a worship site of Resurrection.
St. John the Evangelist		Olean	1896	Southern Tier East	In 2010, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Helen Church in Hinsdale and Transfiguration Church in Olean were merged into St. John. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John the Evangelist was slated to merge into St. Mary of the Angels Basilica Parish, remaining open as a secondary worship site. However, the decision to merge St. John the Evangelist was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains independent during the appeals process.
St. Mary of the Angels Basilica		Olean	1852	Southern Tier East	In 1989, Sacred Heart Church in Knapp Creek was merged into St. Mary of the Angels.
St. Charles Borromeo St. Brendan on the Lake Parish		Olcott	1912	Niagara Orleans	St. Charles was founded in 1912. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Charles merged with St. Bridget in Newfane and Our Lady of the Rosary in Wilson to form St. Brendan on the Lake. St. Charles is a seasonal worship site of St. Brendan on the Lake, hosting masses during the summer months.
Nativity of our Lord		Orchard Park	1908	Southern Erie
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart		Orchard Park	1920	Southern Erie	Expansion in the steel industry brought a large population growth to the Windom area and prompted Fr. Nelson Baker to construct a mission chapel in 1920. In 1929, after a tornado destroyed the chapel, a combination church/school building was constructed. This served as the main church until the present church was built in 1965. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Mother of Good Council in Blasdell and Queen of Angels and St. Anthony in Lackawanna were merged into Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as the main church and Queen of Angels as a secondary worship site.
St. Bernadette		Orchard Park	1958	Southern Erie	In 1958, St. Bernadette was founded. An auditorium was erected in 1959, and served as the parish's home for a decade before a purpose built church could be dedicated. A school operated from 1959 until it was controversially closed by the Buffalo Diocese in 2014. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Bernadette was slated to be merged into SS Peter & Paul in Hamburg, staying open as a secondary worship site. However, the decision to merge St. Bernadette was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains independent during the appeals process.
St. John Vianney		Orchard Park	1958	Southern Erie	In 1958, St. John Vianney was founded. An auditorium was erected that same year, and served as the parish's home until 1987, when a purpose built church was dedicated. A school operated from 1960 until 2025. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John Vianney was slated to be merged into Queen of Heaven in West Seneca, and closed. However, the decision to merge St. John Vianney was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. Mary Mary Immaculate Parish		Pavilion	1862	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Mary was founded in 1862 as a mission of St. Joseph Church in Batavia. A Father Cunningham oversaw the construction of the church building, which was dedicated in 1865. The first resident priest, Fr. Thomas Milde, was appointed in 1887. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with Immaculate Conception Church in East Bethany to form Mary Immaculate Parish on September 1, 2010. Both sites were utilized for worship until the Road to Renewal, when Immaculate Conception was closed on December 8, 2024.
Good Shepherd		Pendleton	1847	Northern Erie	Good Shepherd was founded in 1847 as "The Church on the Canal". Mass was held in the homes of Catholics who had been gathered by Fr. John Neumann. The first church, a log structure, was dedicated on December 30, 1849. That was followed by a brick church, which serves the parish to this day. It was dedicated on December 2, 1855. On August 28, 1859, the hitherto nameless parish was finally given its name. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Augustine Church in Clarence Center was merged into Good Shepherd. St. Augustine was used for regular masses until 2025 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was closed.
Sacred Heart		Portville	1882	Southern Tier East	Established in 1882, Sacred Heart became an independent parish in 1909. In 2007, Sacred Heart was merged into St. Mary of the Angels in Olean and retained as an oratory.
St. Patrick		Randolph	1853	Southern Tier West
Immaculate Conception		Ransomville	1891	Niagara Orleans
Our Lady of Peace formerly Holy Cross		Salamanca	1893	Southern Tier East	In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Holy Cross was merged with St. Patrick in Salamanca to form Our Lady of Peace, utilizing the Holy Cross site. In 2014, St. Patrick in Limestone was merged into Our Lady of Peace. In 2025, Our Lady of Peace was slated to be merged into Holy Name of Mary in Ellicottville, remaining as a site for regular worship.
Holy Family		Sanborn	1891	Niagara Orleans	Located on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation
St. Cecilia St. John Neumann Parish		Sheldon	1848	Geneseee Wyoming	A mission in Sheldon was established by Fr. John Neumann, who said the first mass in Sheldon in 1837. The first church, constructed from logs, was built a year later, with Fr. Neumann officiating the groundbreaking. In 1848, a second church was built and the parish was organized under the name St. Cecilia. Construction began on the present church in 1889, and the first service was held on January 31, 1892. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Cecila was merged with St. Nicholas in Java, St. Patrick in Java Center, and St. Mary, Queen of the Rosary in Strykersville to form St. John Neumann Parish. St. Patrick was used as an oratory until 2017, and St. Cecilia and St. Mary continued to be used for worship until 2025, when St. Mary was closed under the Road to Renewal.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel		Silver Creek	1908	Southern Tier West	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Rose of Lime Church in Forestville was merged into Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with both sites used for worship until 2025, when St. Rose was closed.
St. Andrew		Sloan	1915	Buffalo	St. Andrew was founded in 1915 to tend to the spiritual needs of the Roman Catholic community in Sloan, which grew up around the rail yards and machine shops of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Then as now, most parishioners were of Polish ethnicity; many of them had been former members of St. John Kanty parish on the East Side of Buffalo. Dedicated in 1956, the current church building is the work of architect Joseph E. Fronczak and, with its straight lines and simplified forms and the flat roof and geometric ornamentation on the tower, exemplifies the Modernist style of architecture.
Christ the King		Snyder	1926	Northern Erie	Dedicated on October 27, 1929 - the feast of Christ the King, hence the church's name - this is a design in which Dietel & Wade employ a Tudor Revival style that fits like a glove with the upscale, countrified, somewhat rustic aesthetic that characterized the overall architectural ambience of the neighborhood at the time. It's a brilliant manifestation of the Tudor aesthetic, checking all the requisite boxes: a composite exterior comprising stone cladding, brick, and half-timbered stucco; an asymmetrical façade wherein the entrance is set off-center at the base of a stubby tower with crenellated parapet atop, which together embody the requisite bottom-heavy, sprawling massing; the trademark bluntly pointed arches and steeply pitched roof.
St. Vincent de Paul		Spring Brook	1850	Geneseee Wyoming
St. Aloysius St. Mary Parish		Springville	1853	Southern Tier East	Founded in 1853 by Buffalo bishop John Timon to serve a diminutive but bustling community of dairy farmers and small-town denizens, the ragtag early years of the parish saw Masses held in temporary spaces and helmed by travelling preachers dispatched from Buffalo, Ellicottville, and Java. The 1869 purchase of the former Old Congregational Church coinsided with the arrival of St. Aloysius' first resident pastor, one Rev. S. Ulrich, who stayed on the job for four years and whose successor, the Rev. Francis X. Fromholzer, oversaw the construction of its replacement in 1876. Of course, the steady growth of Springville's population over the following decades eventually made necessary the construction of an even larger replacement for the 1876 church, but it wasn't until September 1952 that architect Joseph Fronczak revealed his plans for the $300,000, 700-seat sanctuary that would eventually be built. The present church was dedicated in 1855. A school was in operation from 1879 to 2022. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Aloysius was merged into St. Mary Parish in Arcade, remaining open for regular daily and weekly masses.
St. Mary		Swormville	1849	Northern Erie	One of the oldest churches in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, St. Mary's (or, as it was originally known, St. Mary's of the Assumption) has a history that dates back to the 1830s and is closely tied up with that of the hamlet in which it's located: Swormville, a community straddling the Amherst/Clarence town line that was gathered around the tavern and general store operated by Bavarian immigrant Adam Schworm, and whose initially German, Alsatian, and French settlers were overwhelmingly Catholic and desirous of a house of worship to call their own. Father John Nepomucene Neumann (later Saint John Neumann, the first male American Catholic to be canonized by the Vatican) was a local representative of the Redemptorist order whose job it was to hold services for those scattered Catholic communities of rural Western New York that were too small to sustain full-fledged parishes of their own. Father Neumann held Mass and administered sacraments wherever he could: first at the homes and barns of local residents, then beginning in 1839 at a converted log cabin that served as St. Mary's first permanent home. After Neumann's move to Philadelphia the next year, services were held even less frequently, usually by priests who visited periodically from SS. Peter and Paul in Williamsville. With the continued growth of Swormville, however, Buffalo bishop John Timon reestablished St. Mary's as a full-fledged parish in 1849 complete with its own resident pastor, Rev. John B. Menauer. Sixteen years later came the construction of its second and current home, this simple but handsome brick church building in a vernacular Romanesque Revival style (note the round arches crowning the entrance and stained-glass windows as well as the raking cornel tabes underneath the eaves of the roof). This building served as the main church for the parish until 2010, when a modern church seating over 1,000 people was constructed. The 1865 structure continues to serve as a chapel.
Blessed Sacrament		Tonawanda	1929	Northern Erie	Blessed Sacrament's history stretches back to 1929, when a community of Catholics living in the Kenilworth section of Tonawanda petitioned Bishop William Turner for the foundation of a new parish. These people had heretofore attended St. Joseph's on Main Street but wanted to worship in a more convenient location closer to their homes. Bishop Turner assented, assigning Rev. Michael Fitzgerald to the role of pastor, and the first Mass was held on December 8 of that year in the Kenilworth Fire Hall. They would remain in that temporary home for the next ten months. The combination church and school building that was the congregation's first permanent home was dedicated in 1930 and served in that role for nearly three decades, after which time the postwar flight to the suburbs had swelled their ranks sufficiently that a larger building was deemed necessary. This second church, dedicated in 1959, was intended as a temporary structure that would fill the gap until a proper church could be built, but it wasn't until June 1978 when ground was broken for the latter. The $700,000 building was designed by Edward J. Trautman and was dedicated in April of the following year. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Blessed Sacrament was set to be merged into St. John the Baptist Parish in Kenmore, and its properties disposed of. However, the decision to merge Infant of Prague was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
St. Amelia		Tonawanda	1953	Northern Erie	St. Amelia's owes its existence to the wave of suburbanization that, beginning around the 1920s but especially after the Second World War, pushed America's affluent citizens outside the boundaries of cities proper. Bishop Joseph Burke of the Buffalo diocese recognized the need for new parishes to serve these newly minted suburbanites, and St. Amelia - which Burke founded in 1953, named after his mother, and staffed with his own secretary, Monsignor John Lodge McHugh, as head pastor - was among them. The first few Masses were held in donated facilities, such as the auditorium of Mount St. Mary Academy or outdoors on the grounds of Brighton Fire Hall - during the two years in which the original church (now in use as a gymnasium) was under construction. The school, too, was completed in 1955 and is seen at the right-hand side of the photograph. By 1960, Tonawanda had earned the distinction of being the first suburban community in the U.S. to surpass 100,000 in population, and growth of St. Amelia's parish was equally meteoric - the school building was expanded repeatedly on its way to the status as the largest one in the Buffalo Diocese, and when the second and current church building was completed in 1970, it too had the largest seating capacity of any in the diocese, with room for 1,500 congregants. The building's design was the work of architect Ed Egan, also a St. Amelia's parishioner.
St. Andrew Kim		Tonawanda	2001	Northern Erie	In 2001, after meeting in borrowed spaces for 26 years, Buffalo's Korean Catholic community built a small church of their own adjacent to Cardinal O'Hara High School. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, the parish was slated to close.
St. Christopher		Tonawanda	1935	Northern Erie	In 1928, St. Christopher began as a mission of St. John de LaSalle in Niagara Falls. By 1935, the mission grew into a full parish, with Fr. Bertram Trautman serving as the first pastor. The first church, built in 1928, burned down in 1988. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Edmund Parish, also in Tonawanda, merged into St. Christopher and closed. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Jude the Apostle Parish in North Tonawanda, merged into St. Christopher and closed.
St. Timothy		Tonawanda	1960	Northern Erie
St. Joseph St. John Neumann Parish		Varysburg	1910	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Joseph was founded in 1910. In 1911, the present 200-seat English Gothic church was built. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph merged with St. Vincent de Paul in Attica to form SS Joachim & Anne Parish, utilizing both sites for worship. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, SS Joachim and Anne was merged into St. John Neumann Parish, with both sites remaining in continuous use.
St. Michael		Warsaw	1858	Geneseee Wyoming	St. Michael was founded in 1858 as a mission of Assumption Church in Portageville. The first resident priest, Fr. John Fitzpatrick, was appointed in 1869. The carpenter gothic church building was dedicated in 1888. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Isidore Parish, comprising St. Joseph Church in Perry and St. Mary Church in Silver Springs, was merged into St. Michael, with both sites of St. Isidore closing.
Immaculate Conception		Wellsville	1851	Southern Tier East	Mass was first said in Wellsville in 1850, and Immaculate Conception was established as an independent parish by 1860. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, the neighboring parishes of SS Brendan & Jude in Alfred and Almond, Blessed Sacrament in Andover, Holy Family in Belmont (with oratory St. Joseph in Scio), St. Mary in Bolivar, and Our Lady of the Angels in Cuba were merged into Immaculate Conception.
St. James Major St. Dominic Parish		Westfield	1860	Geneseee Wyoming	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. James Major was merged with St. Thomas More in Ripley and St. Patrick in Brocton to form St. Dominic Parish.
St. George oratory of Immaculate Conception Parish		West Falls	1912	Geneseee Wyoming	St. George was established in 1912 as a mission of Nativity of our Lord Church in Orchard Park. Their first church building, later called the Memorare Chapel, was dedicated in the same year. In 1942, St. George became an independent parish, with Fr. Herald Gonter serving as the first pastor. In 1958, a larger church building was built behind the Memorare Chapel. On June 7, 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. George was merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in East Aurora, with the 1958 church building closed and set to be sold. The Memorare Chapel was retained as an oratory of Immaculate Conception and is used for weekday masses.
Queen of Heaven		West Seneca	1955	Southern Erie	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Catherine of Siena, also in West Seneca, merged into Queen of Heaven, with the St. Catherine property disposed of. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Fourteen Holy Helpers and St. John XXIII in West Seneca, and St. John Vianney in Orchard Park were set to be merged into Queen of Heaven, with only Fourteen Holy Helpers remaining open as a secondary worship site. However, St. John Vianney and St. John XIII are appealing the merger to the Vatican, and any merger remains on hold until all appeals are exhausted.
St. John XXIII formerly St. William		West Seneca	1926	Southern Erie	In 1925, a census undertaken by the diocese found a severe deficit in catechetical instruction among Catholic children in the Winchester neighborhood, which underscored the need for more parishes in the area. Cleaved off the massive territory of Fourteen Holy Helpers in nearby Gardenville, St. William was established the following year, with founding pastor Fr. William Bernet holding Mass on a temporary basis at the Winchester Fire Hall until their first permanent church building, a simple wood-frame structure located on the same site as the present one, was completed the following year. Financial problems brought on by the onset of the Great Depression, which led to the closure of the parochial school and led many to fear the parish would become insolvent and close, were staved off through the heroic efforts of Rev. Bernet's successor, Rev. Francis Growney, who served as pastor for nearly forty years. The parish's resumption growth after the twin challenges of the Depression and World War II led to the need for a new and larger building, which was constructed at a cost of $400,000, consecrated on August 11, 1957 by Bishop Joseph Burke. In 2008, as a part of the Journey in Faith and Grace consolidation program, St. William merged with the neighboring parish of St. Bonaventure. The new parish's name, Blessed John XIII, was chosen by Buffalo's then-bishop Edward Kmiec from a list of 35 suggestions proffered by parishioners. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John XXIII was slated to be merged with Queen of Heaven, and then close. However, the decision to merge St. John Vianney was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during the appeals process.
SS Peter & Paul		Williamsville	1836	Northern Erie	In 1834, land was donated to build a Catholic church in Williamsville. In 1836, only the walls were completed when Fr. John Neumann arrived as the first resident pastor, saying his first mass in the roofless, floorless building. Neumann departed in 1840, but the parish continued to grow and, in 1866, the current building was dedicated.
Our Lady of the Rosary St. Brendan on the Lake Parish		Wilson	1920	Niagara Orleans	Our Lady of the Rosary was founded in 1920 and moved into a former Presbyterian building in 1931. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of the Rosary merged with St. Bridget in Newfane and St. Charles Borromeo in Olcott to form St. Brendan on the Lake. As part of the Road to Renewal, a reduction decree was promulgated effective January 7th 2025. That decision was appealed to the Vatican, and the church remains open during that appeal process.
St. Bernard St. Peter Parish		Youngstown	1946	Niagara Orleans	Founded in 1946, St. Bernard merged into St. Peter in Lewiston in 2016. It continues to operate as a worship site of St. Peter.

Closed churches

The year of closure is the year the last mass was celebrated.

Name	Image	Location	Founded	Closed	Description/Notes
St. Mary of the Assumption		Albion	1891	2007	In 1891, Fr. Bartholomew Swinko established St. Mary as a personal parish for Poles in Albion. A brownstone church was built at the corner of Brown and Moore Streets in 1892. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary merged with St. Joseph in Albion to become Holy Family Parish. St Mary was used as an oratory for a time. The building was sold in 2011 to Light of Victory Church.
St. Brendan		Almond	1949	2025	In 1949, St. Brendan was established as a parish of the Rural Missionary Apostolate. It established a chapel in Alfred, St. Jude, in 1959, which would later become an independent parish. In 1970, St. Brendan received its first pastor and, in 1992, was merged with St. Jude to form SS Brendan & Jude, utilizing both sites for worship. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, SS Brendan & Jude was merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellsville, and St. Brendan was closed.
Blessed Sacrament/ St. John		Andover	1854	2025	Mass was first said in Andover in 1850. In 1852, St. John was formed, and a church was completed in 1855, costing $500. That church was never dedicated, but was expanded in 1864 and served the parish until 1885 when a new church, costing $12,000, was completed. It was dedicated as Blessed Sacrament a year later. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith in Grace, St. John of the Cross in Whitesville was merged into Blessed Sacrament. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Blessed Sacrament was merged into Immaculate Conception in Wellsville and closed.
Sacred Heart		Angelica	1848	2007	Founded in 1848, Sacred Heart's church (pictured here) was built in 1851. Variously an independent parish and a mission over its 150 year history, Sacred Heart was merged with St. Mary in Belmont and St. Joseph in Scio in 2007 as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. The new parish, Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph did not use Sacred Heart Church and it was closed for masses. It was retained by the pasish as a mission of mercy.
St. Anthony		Batavia	1908	2012	In 1908, St. Anthony was established as a personal parish for the Italian community in Batavia. Fr. Hyacinth Ciabbatoni served as the first pastor. Mass was initially said in a social hall, and then in a converted house. A second church was in use from 1920 to 1953, when the final church building was constructed. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Anthony was merged with Sacred Heart Church to form Ascension Parish. St. Anthony was used for regular worship by the parish until 2012, when it was sold.
St. Mary		Batavia	1906	2024	St. Mary began in 1906 in a temporary chapel on Ellicott Street. The permanent church, designed by architect John H. Coxhead and built from Medina sandstone, was opened in 1907. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with St. Joseph Church to form Resurrection Parish. St. Mary was used for regular worship by the parish until 2024 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was closed.
Sacred Heart of Jesus		Bennington Center	1872	2024	In 1872, Bishop Ryan dedicated a new Catholic church in Bennington Center to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A school was operated from 1873 to 1970. In 2008, Sacred Heart of Jesus was merged with Our Lady of Good Counsel in Darien Center and Our Lady Help of Christians in East Bennington to form Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. Sacred Heart of Jesus continued as a worship site of the merged parish. In 2024, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish was merged into St. John Neumann Parish, and Sacred Heart of Jesus was closed.
St. Mary		Birdsall	1850	1959	Always a rural mission church, St. Mary, located on Jersey Hill Road, was never large, and never had a resident priest. Towards the end of its existence, mass was only celebrated during the summer, and the church was attended by only 40 families. Given its size, the reason St. Mary has not slipped into obscurity is because it was the church that was "demolished by accident." In 1959, a contractor had been given the salvage rights to a disused Methodist church on a hill, and proceded to demolish the wrong "church on the hill." The church was half demolished by the time Msgr. John Neylon arrived, and the contractor finished the job and gave a $500 donation to the parish. St. Mary was never rebuilt, and the remaining fixtures of the church were put to use at Sacred Heart Church in Angelica.
Our Mother of Good Counsel		Blasdell	1905	2025	Founded by Fr. Nelson Baker in 1905, Our Mother of Good Counsel competed its first building, a combination church/school, in 1906. A purpose built church, which served the parish for the remainder of its existence, was dedicated in 1953. A school was operated from 1906 to 2004. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Mother of Good Counsel was merged into Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and closed.
St. Joseph		Bliss	1907	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged with St. Joseph in Perry, St. Stanislaus in Perry, Assumption in Portageville and St. Mary in Silver Springs to form St. Isidore Parish. St. Joseph was not utilized by the merged parish and closed.
St. Mary		Bolivar	1882	2025	In 1882, a church was built in Bolivar and dedicated to St. Mary. A second church was built in 1905. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary was merged into Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellsville and closed.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel		Brant	1906	2008	2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was merged into St. Anthony in Farnham and closed. The building now houses the Parish of Our Lady, a parish of the Polish National Catholic Church.
St. Patrick		Brocton	1922	2025	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged with St. James Major in Westfield and St. Thomas More in Ripley to form St. Dominic Parish. St. Patrick was used for regular worship until 2025 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was closed.
St. Peter		Carrollton	1883	1996	In 1996, St. Peter, which had already been operating as a mission of St. Patrick in Limestone for some time, merged into St. Patrick and closed.
Immaculate Conception		Cassadaga	1940	2012	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Immaculate Conception was merged into St Anthony Parish in Fredonia and used for weekend masses until it closed in 2012.
St. Mary		Cattaraugus	1863	2025	On December 12, 1863, St. Mary was incorporated. Mass was held in homes and storefronts until 1886, when a church was built on Mill Street. In 1948, St. Mary was made the headquarters of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, which seeded more than a dozen parishes in the Southern Tier. A new church was dedicated in 1950 on Washington Street. In 1995, St. Isidore Church in East Otto merged into St. Mary and became an oratory. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary in Little Valley was merged into St. Mary and closed, and St. Isidore was closed. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary was merged into St. Joseph in Gowanda and closed.
Most Holy Redeemer		Cheektowaga	1913	2008	Most Holy Redeemer was founded in 1913 to serve a German-American community which at the time was expanding steadily eastward past the Buffalo city line and into the suburban Pine Hill section of the neighboring town of Cheektowaga. The original church building was erected in 1914 on the plot immediately west of the present-day building (to the right from the perspective of this photo; it's now the church's parking lot). The second and final church for the parish was dedicated in 1932. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Most Holy Redeemer was merged into St. Lawrence in Buffalo and closed. The church was purchased by True Vine Christian Center, a Pentecostal congregation.
Mother of Divine Grace		Cheektowaga	1946	2009	Mother of Dicine Grace is one of three parishes (the others were Infant of Prague and Queen of Martyrs) that trace their history back to May 1946, when they were founded simultaneously by Buffalo bishop John O'Hara to serve the Catholic residents of what was then a rapidly growing suburban community, founding pastor Rev. James Lucid held Mass in the community hall of the adjacent Tiorunda housing project while a permanent building was under construction. (A proposal by the Buffalo Common Council to sell them the mess hall of the then-city owned Municipal Airport for $1 was scuttled when it was discovered that the law prohibited the transfer of public property by any means other than auction.) Mother of Divine Grace used the building for worship continually until their merger with the aforementioned Infant of Prague in 2009 as part of the "Journey in Faith and Grace" parish consolidation program. Cedar Grove Baptist Church then purchased it from the diocese and has continued to hold services there ever since.
St. Elizabeth		Cherry Creek	1939	1992	St. Elizabeth was the first parish established as part of the Rural Missionary Apostolate. Already in 1991, St. Elizabeth, which counted 35families in its parish, was sharing a pastor with St. Joan of Arc in Perrysburg and St. John Fisher in South Dayton. It was closed in 1992.
St. Augustine		Clarence Center	1949	2025	In response to a petition from Catholics living near Rapids, Bishop John F. O'Hara organized St. Augustine Parish in 1949. Their only church building was dedicated in 1950. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Augustine was merged into Good Shepherd Parish in Pendleton and operated for the next seventeen years as a secondary church of Good Shepherd Parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Augustine was closed.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart		Colden	1912	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart merged with St. George in West Falls and closed. The building us currently utilized as the Bread of Life Outreach Center,
St. Francis Cabrini		Collins Center	1955	2006	Established as a parish of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, St. Francis Cabrini merged with St. Martin in Langford and St. Mary of the Assumption in New Oregon in 2006 to form Epiphany of Our Lord Parish in Langford. St Francis was closed and sold.
St. Francis of Assisi		Corfu	1898	2024	St. Francis was founded in 1898, and its church was built that year. In 1920, the building was moved away from an area prone to flooding. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Francis of Assisi was merged with Holy Name of Mary in East Pembroke and St. Patrick in Crittenden, becoming St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in 2009. St. Francis continued to be used for regular worship in the merged parish. St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish itself was merged into Resurrection Parish in Batavia as part of the Road to Renewal in 2024, with St. Francis of Assisi closing at that time.
St. Patrick		Crittenden	1857	2007	In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged with Holy Name of Mary in East Pembroke and St. Francis of Assisi in Corfu to form St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish. St. Patrick was no longer used and was sold in 2008 to be used as a private residence.
Our Lady of Good Counsel		Darien Center	1911	2024	In 1910, land was purchased to build a church in Darien. It was dedicated in 1911, and Fr. Emil Deck said the first mass at Our Lady of Good Council. A school was operated from 1912 to 1969. In 2008, Our Lady of Good Counsel was merged with Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bennington Center and Our Lady Help of Christians in East Bennington to form Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. Our Lady of Good Council continued as a worship site of the merged parish. In 2024, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish was merged into St. John Neumann Parish, and Our Lady of Good Counsel was closed.
St. Paul of the Cross		Dayton	1861	1988
Blessed Sacrament		Delevan	1947	2007	Established in as part of the Rural Missionary Apostolate of the Diocese of Buffalo. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Blessed Sacrament was merged with SS Peter & Paul in Arcade and St. Mary in East Arcade to form St. Mary Parish. Blessed Sacrament was closed and sold.
St. Augustine		Depew	1902	2008	Established in 1902 as a Polish parish, St. Augustine completed its building in 1909, which would remain in use for the parish for 99 years until 2008, when it was merged with nearby St. James Church to form Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish and closed. The building was sold to a Wesleyan Church.
St. Barnabas		Depew	1960	2011	Founded in 1960 and boasting a stunning postmodernist church, St. Barnabas was, in 2011, merged with Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, one mile east on George Urban Boulevard, to form St. Martha Parish, using only the Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament site. St. Barnabas was sold to the Cantalician Center for Learning, a Catholic school for those with developmental disabilities.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta/ St. James		Depew	1897	2025	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. James was merged with St. Augustine in Depew to form Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish, using only the St. James site. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mother Teresa was merged into St. Mary of the Assumption in Lancaster and closed.
SS Peter & Paul		Depew	1896	2009	The first of what would become many Catholic churches in Depew, SS Peter & Paul was established by Buffalo bishop Stephen Ryan in 1896 as the spiritual home of a Polish-American populace that had been attracted to the village by easily available jobs on the railroads (a total of three separate lines, running roughly parallel to each other, pass through town) and in ancillary businesses. Soon enough, explosive population growth required the subdivision of the parish, with St. James and St. Augustine both cleaved off its territory within the next dozen years. SS. Peter & Paul would remain predominantly Polish in ethnic constitution for the entirety of its existence. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, SS Peter & Paul was merged into Our Lady of Pompeii in Lancaster and closed.
Sacred Heart of Jesus/ St. George		Dunkirk	1857	1975	In 1857, a group of German Catholics from Dunkirk desired a parish of their own. In 1858, a church was built and dedicated to St. George. In 1876, a new church was dedicated and the parish was renamed to Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1975, Sacred Heart was sold to the Dunkirk Urban Renewal Agency and the parish was merged with St. Mary in Dunkirk to form St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, using the St. Mary property.
St. Hedwig		Dunkirk	1902	2025	In St. Hedwig was established as a personal parish for Poles in Dunkirk who lived south of the Lake Shore Railroad tracks. A temporary church was dedicated in 1903 and a more permanent church/school combination building was dedicated July 4, 1904. That structure did not last long, however, as fire destroyed it on December 29, 1905. A third St. Hedwig Church was dedicated on June 9, 1907. Designed by E.J. Bailey, this structure was unique in that the school was on the first floor and the church on the second. This would prove to be problematic as the congregation aged and, in 1973, a fourth church was dedicated. In 2008, St. Hedwig was merged with St. Hyacinth Church in Dunkirk to form Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska Parish. Both sites were used for daily and weekly masses. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Blessed Mary Angela was suppressed into Holy Trinity Parish in Dunkirk. St. Hedwig closed in 2025.
Our Lady Help of Christians		East Bennington	1848	2008	In 2008, Our Lady Help of Christians was merged with Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bennington Center and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Darien Center to form Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. Our Lady Help of Christians was not utilized, closed, and sold in 2010 to a private business.
Immaculate Conception		East Bethany	1953	2025	In 1953, Immaculate Conception was born as a parish of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, which gave birth to many rural Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo during the early to mid 20th Century. The first mass was held in the Bethany Town Hall on May 30, 1954, and the new church was dedicated in October of that same year. In 2010, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Immaculate Conception was merged with St. Mary in Pavilion to form Mary Immaculate Parish. Immaculate Conception continued as an active church of that parish until the Road to Renewal in 2025, when it closed.
St. Isidore		East Otto	1955	2007	In 1955, Fr. Daniel Szostak of St. Mary in Cattaraugus rented a storefront in East Otto to establish a Catholic mission. 26 people attended the first mass. St. Isidore was established as an independent parish in 1957, but the storefront was used as the parish church until 1962, when it burned down. In 1963, a parish church was built. In 1995, St. Isidore became an oratory of St. Mary, and was closed in 2007.
Our Lady of Fatima		Elba	1947	2025	In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Fatima was merged with St. Cecilia in Oakfield to inform St. Padre Pio Parish. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Padre Pio was merged into Resurrection Parish in Batavia, with Our Lady of Fatima closing.
Our Lady of Loreto		Falconer	1912	2025	Established as a personal parish for people of Italian descent living in Falconer, a church was erected and dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto in 1912. The first resident pastor, Fr. Peter Lozza, was appointed in 1920. In the 1920s, Our Lady of Loreto was converted into a territorial parish and a school, (which operated until 1969) convent and rectory were built. In 1951, a new church was dedicated. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of Loreto was merged into St. James Parish in Jamestown and closed.
St. Anthony of Padua		Farnham	1904	2025	Established in 1904 by Bishop Charles Colton, St. Anthony served the mainly Italian population around Farnham. Its territory was taken from Most Precious Blood Parish in Angola. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Brant was merged into St. Anthony. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Anthony was merged back int Most Precious Blood in Angola and closed.
St. Rose of Lima		Forestville	1861	2025	Land was purchased in 1860 to build a church in Forestville. In 1861, the first church was completed. Another plot was purchased in 1872, and this new church was named St. Rose of Lima. In 1931, the parish received its first resident priest and the church was moved to Center Street. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Rose was merged into Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Silver Creek, and was retained as a site for regular worship. On January 5, 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Rose of Lima hosted its last mass. After that mass, a petition was filed with the Vatican to prevent the closure and sale of St. Rose. However, no further masses have been held in the church.
St. Joseph		Fredonia	1898	2024	Taking its Fredonia territory from St. Mary Church in Dunkirk, St. Joseph was established in 1898. Its church building was completed in 1900, and a school was operated from 1914 to 1989. In the 1940s, it was the first headquarters for the Rural Apostolate, which created over a dozen parishes. In 1951, it established the Newman Center at SUNY Fredonia, which operated until 2018. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Trinity Parish in Dunkirk, erstwhile a personal parish, was transformed a territorial parish, and St. Joseph was merged into it. The last mass was held at midnight on Christmas, 2024.
Our Lady of Victory		Frewsburg	1941	2025	Established as part of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, Our Lady of Victory first met for mass in a converted Swedish Covenant church. In 1950, Our Lady of Victory received its first resident pastor, Fr. John Smith and, in 1960, a purpose built church was dedicated. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Victory was merged into St. James Parish in Jamestown and retained as an oratory. In 2025, Our Lady of Victory was closed.
Sacred Heart		Friendship	1890	2007	In 1995, Sacred Heart became a mission of Our Lady of the Angels in Cuba. It merged into Our Lady of the Angels in 2004, and was retained as an oratory until 2007, when it was closed.
St. Mary		Gasport	1858	2008	A 30x40 foot church was erected in 1858 to serve Catholics in Gasport. Priests were shared with Barker, Newfane and Middleport for the next 90 years until 1968, when Fr. Arnold Schneider was appointed. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged into St. John the Baptist Parish in Lockport and closed. The building was sold in 2009 to Heartland Bible Church.
St. Helen		Hinsdale	1947	2009	In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Helen was merged into St. John the Evangelist in Olean and closed. It was purchased by the Town of Hinsdale to be used as a museum.
St. Rocco		Hulberton	1906	2007	St. Rocco was established in 1906 to serve the Italian community at Hulberton. In 1991, it was noted that 50 families were registered in the parish. By 2007, it was an oratory of St. Mary in Holley, and was closed and sold during the Journey in Faith and Grace. The building was sold in 2009 to Cornerstone Community Church.
St. Joseph		Jamestown	1927	1971	Located at 1159 Main North Street, across the street from SS Peter & Paul School, St. Joseph was merged into SS Peter & Paul Parish and closed.
St. Patrick		Java Center	1838	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged with St. Nicholas in North Java, St. Cecilia in Sheldon, and St. Mary of the Rosary in Strykersville to form St. John Neumann Parish. St. Patrick was initially retained as an oratory but saw little use and was relegated to profane use in 2017.
St. Mark		Kendall	1984	2025	As part of the Road to Renewal, merged into St. Mary in Holley and closed in 2025.
Sacred Heart		Knapp Creek	1896	1989	At an elevation of 2,400 feet, Sacred Heart was the highest church in the Diocese of Buffalo. Never large - it was attended by 14 families at the time of its closure - Sacred Heart was staffed by Franciscan friars from St. Bonaventure for many decades. The retirement of Fr. Maurice Scheier spurred the merger of Sacred Heart into St. Mary of the Angels in Olean in 1989. The church was demolished later that year.
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary		Lackawanna	1918	2006	Established as a personal parish for Hungarians living in and around Lackawanna, Assumption's founding relieved Hungarians from traveling to Black Rock in Buffalo to attend St. Elizabeth Church there. Its founding core was 75 families who had been attending St. Charles Church on Ridge Road. By the 1950s, as demographics in the First Ward were changing, homilies in Spanish were added. In 2006, the parish, served by two octogenarian Piarist Fathers, was closed, having dwindled to only 20 families, with an average mass attendance of 12.
Queen of All Saints/ St. Charles		Lackawanna	1903	1998	St. Charles was established in 1903 as a territorial parish for residents of Lackawanna living west of the railroad tracks. In 1932, the Black Apostolate was established in Lackawanna by Fr. Nelson Baker and a mission church, Queen of All Saints, was started, in the St. Charles building. In 1949, the two churches merged, taking the name Queen of All Saints and assuming the territory of St. Charles. By the 1960s, the parish was ethnically diverse, with black, white, and Hispanic parishoners. By 1998, when it merged into St. Lawrence, an Italian personal parish that subsequently assumed Queen of All Saints' territory, the parish was largely Hispanic. Its building was demolished soon after its closure.
St. Anthony		Lackawanna	1917	2025	Established in 1917 as a personal parish for Italian Catholics in Lackawanna, St. Anthony built its first combination church/school building in 1919. In 1964, a new church was dedicated, which served the parish until its closing. In 1998, Queen of All Saints, a territorial parish, was merged into St. Anthony, with St. Anthony taking on the territorial designation once employed by Queen of Angels, as well as their Spanish masses. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Anthony was merged into Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Orchard Park and closed.
St. Barbara		Lackawanna	1903	2008	Established in 1903 as a personal parish for 250 Polish families in Lackawanna, St. Barbara's first building, a combination church/school was built two years later. In 1929, an Art Deco church, designed by Joseph E. Fronczak, was built. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Barbara was merged with St. Hyacinth and St. Michael the Archangel in Lackawanna and Our Lady of Grace in Woodlawn to form Queen of Angels Parish, using only the St. Michael the Archangel site. St. Barbara was closed and, after proposals in which it would replace an orange building sometimes dubbed "the ugliest building in the world" as Lackawanna's city hall, it was demolished in 2011.
St. Hyacinth		Lackawanna	1910	2008	On August 10, 1910, Bishop Charles Colton of Buffalo decreed "This day is officially organized the Parish of St. Hyacinth, Lackawanna, NY, for the use of the Polish people of that city living west of the Lake Shore Railroad tracks. The Rev. Constantine John Sliszewski is hereby appointed rector. Stephen Ryszka and Julius Pastorczyk, trustees." St. Hyacinth continued until 2008 when, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Hyacinth was merged with St. Barbara and St. Michael the Archangel in Lackawanna and Our Lady of Grace in Woodlawn to form Queen of Angels Parish, using only the St. Michael the Archangel site. St. Hyacinth was sold to the Community Action Organization of Erie County in 2012, which continues to operate St. Hyacinth Head Start in the former church.
St. Joseph		Le Roy	1907	2012	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged St. Peter in Le Roy, St. Anthony in Limerock, and St. Michael Church in South Byron to form Our Lady of Mercy Parish. St. Joseph became an oratory of the merged parish and was closed in 2012.
St. Christopher		Lime Lake			Attested to in a 1960 Lime Lake directory.
St. Anthony		Limerock	1907	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Anthony was merged with Sts Joseph and Peter Churches in Le Roy and St. Michael Church in South Byron to form Our Lady of Mercy Parish. The church was sold in 2008 to a Protestant church.
St. Patrick		Limestone	1867	2014	Fr. George Zurcher was appointed in 1878 to serve as the first resident pastor of St. Patrick, a parish started in 1867. In 1893, a permanent church was built. Missions in Chipmunk and Vandalias were started. In 2014, St. Patrick was merged into Our Lady of Peace in Salamanca and closed. 50 families attended the parish at the time of its closure.
St. Mary		Little Valley	1874	2008	In 1874, a church was built in Little Valley to serve eight Catholic families. Priests came from Cattaraugus, Salamanca, St. Bonaventure, and Randolph to say mass at St. Mary. For most of its history, priests from Cattaraugus served Little Valley. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged into St. Mary, Cattaraugus, and closed.
St. Anthony		Lockport	1928	2008	Created as a response to population growth on the west side of Lockport, St. Anthony's building was completed in less than six months in 1928. St. Anthony was decreed to be merged with Sts. Joseph, Mary and Patrick Churches in Lockport to form All Saints Parish, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. The final mass was held in 2008 and the building was sold. It was sold in 2010 to Latter Rain Cathedral, an Church of God in Christ congregation.
St. Mary		Lockport	1859	2011	Situated immediately south of the Erie Canal, St. Mary served a predominantly German population. Finding their first home in a converted Episcopal church, St. Mary was dedicated in 1859 as a personal parish for German Catholics. Their purpose-built church was dedicated in 1886. St. Mary was decreed to be merged with Sts. Anthony, Joseph and Patrick Churches in Lockport to form All Saints Parish, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. St. Mary parishioners objected, and the merger was put off until 2011, when St. Mary was merged into All Saints and became an oratory. No further mergers took place, and St. Mary was sold to a Wesleyan congregation in 2016.
St. Joseph		Lyndonville	1962	2023	As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, merged in 2008 with St. Patrick in Barker to form Our Lady of the Lake Parish, utilizing both sites. St. Joseph burned down in 2023 and was not rebuilt.
Holy Family		Machias	1949	2008	Founded in 1949, Holy Family is referred to as St. Mary in a report on the Rural Missionary Apostolate. It was merged into St. Philomena in Franklinville in 2008 and closed.
Sacred Heart of Jesus		Medina	1962	2008	Established as a personal parish for Polish people living around Medina. Fr. Stanislaus Bubacz celebrated the first mass in 1909. The parish was formed in 1910, and the church was dedicated the same year. As school was operated from 1926 to 1969. As part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, merged with St. Mary in Medina and St. Stephen in Middleport to form Holy Trinity Parish. Sacred Heart was not utilized and closed.
St. Stephen		Middleport	1854	2025	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, merged with St. Mary in Medina and St. Stephen in Middleport to form Holy Trinity Parish. St. Stephen continued as a worship site of Holy Trinity Parish until 2025, when it was closed as part of the Road to Renewal.
St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception		New Oregon	1858	2006	In the 1850s, the nearest Catholic Church was in East Eden, a distance of over seven miles (11 km). New Oregon Catholics wanted a church nearby and adapted a wood frame building with a dirt floor. The priest from East Eden would minister in this church. The first Mass was celebrated on January 1, 1858, with the parish named Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. In 1866, the parish purchased the New Oregon Methodist Church building and made additions. In a 1944 history of the parish, it was noted that "the late Mr. Nicholas Schmitt and many other deceased parishioners, rendered faithful, untiring, noncompensating (sic) assistance in laying the cornerstone and general construction." In the fall of 2006, the parish merged with Saint Martin and Saint Frances Cabrini to form Epiphany of Our Lord Parish in Langford, and the New Oregon Church was closed. In 2007, the buildings were purchased and now operate as the Marienthal Inn./>
Divine Mercy/ St. Stanislaus Kosta		Niagara Falls	1917	2024	In 1917, St. Stanislaus Kosta was established as a personal parish for Polish people living around Niagara and 24th Streets. Mass was said at Our Lady of the Rosary, a territorial parish just one block from where St. Stanislaus Church would be built. The first church building, a combination church/school, served the parish from 1919 to 1966 when a new, modernist building designed by Gerard M. Zimmerman was dedicated. A school was operated from 1917 to 1989. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Stanislaus was merged with Holy Trinity, Our Lady of Lebanon, Our Lady of the Rosary, and St. George the Martyr at the St. Stanislaus site under the name Divine Mercy. Divine Mercy Parish continued until 2024 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was merged into Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Parish and closed.
Holy Trinity		Niagara Falls	1902	2007	Located in what was once a thriving immigrant community named "Tunnel Town" among whom Italians and Poles predominated, Holy Trinity was founded in 1901 by a consortium of 21 Polish-American families desirous of a place to celebrate Mass in their native language. Several years of worship in a small temporary church on 12th Street were followed by the construction and dedication of the present-day church in 1906, with convent, parochial school, and other outbuildings following over the next half-dozen years. At its height, Holy Trinity was the second-largest Polish-American parish in the diocese, behind only St. Stanislaus on Buffalo's East Side; a highlight of its history was a 1976 visit by then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, during a tour of Western New York. However, the ensuing decades saw changing neighborhood demographics and urban decline take over the neighborhood, and the parish population diminished accordingly; the school had already closed by the time of Wojtyla's visit. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Holy Trinity was merged with Our Lady of Lebanon, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. George, and St. Stanislaus Kosta at the St. Stanislaus site under the name Divine Mercy. The last Mass at Holy Trinity was held on Easter Sunday of 2008. The building was bought by Niagara Heritage of Hope and Service, a non-profit, in 2010 and is operated as an historic site. Holy Trinity was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
Our Lady of Lebanon		Niagara Falls	1914	2008	Our Lady of Lebanon was established in 1914 as a Maronite Catholic Church. After the founding priest died, no other Maronite priest could be found to staff it, and the church was absorbed into the Diocese of Buffalo as a personal parish for those of Lebanese descent. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Lebanon was merged with Holy Trinity, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. George, and St. Stanislaus Kosta at the St. Stanislaus site under the name Divine Mercy. Our Lady of Lebanon was sold in 2011, with the intended use of a chocolate factory and museum.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel		Niagara Falls	1949	2025	Our Lady of Mount Carmel was established in 1949. The combination church/school building was dedicated the next year. A school was maintained by the parish from 1950 until 2010. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Mount Carmel merged with St. Joseph to form Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Parish. Both sites were used by the merged parish until 2025 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was closed.
Our Lady of the Rosary		Niagara Falls	1906	2007	A territorial parish established in 1906, Our Lady of the Rosary experienced financial difficulties during its final years, and operations were suspended in 2007. In 2008, Our Lady of the Rosary was merged with Holy Trinity, Our Lady of Lebanon, St. George, and St. Stanislaus Kosta at the St. Stanislaus site under the name Divine Mercy. Our Lady of the Rosary was sold in 2010 to Christ Redemption Tabernacle, an African American congregation.
Sacred Heart/ St. Raphael		Niagara Falls	1854	2008	Sacred Heart had its origins as St. William, a mission established in 1854. When the first church was consecrated in 1856, the parish was consecrated as St. Raphael. In 1888, the church burned down and was rebuilt, consecrated as Sacred Heart Church in 1890. A parish school existed from 1860 to 2001. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, it merged with St. Teresa Church at the St. Teresa site. The merged parish took the name St. Raphael, the original name of Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart Church was alienated and, in 2010, was sold to True Bethel Baptist Church.
St. Ann		Niagara Falls	1935	1936	A short-lived parish for French speaking Catholics, St. Ann used the original home of St. George the Martyr as its church for its entire existence.
St. Charles Borromeo		Niagara Falls	1943	2008	Founded in 1943 as a mission of Prince of Peace, St. Charles became an independent parish in 1970. Never large, it was merged into St. John de LaSalle in 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace and closed. The former church was owned by St. John de LaSalle until 2021, when it was sold to a Muslim group, who converted it into Masjid Al Ibrahim.
St. George the Martyr		Niagara Falls	1915	2008	In 1902, the St. George Benevolent Society was established by Lithuanian immigrants, with the intent of forming a church in Niagara Falls. The first church, a small frame building, was built in 1917, and was later used for the French-speaking St. Ann Parish. The second church, a brick building designed by Henry G. Mess, was built in 1927. Throughout its history, St. George was always staffed by religious order priests and existed as a personal parish for people of Lithuanian descent. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. George was merged with Holy Trinity, Our Lady of Lebanon, Our Lady of the Rosary, and St. Stanislaus Kosta at the St. Stanislaus site under the name Divine Mercy. St. George was sold in 2010 to the Independent Anglican Church Canada Synod, which operates it as St. George Cathedral.
St. Raphael/St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus		Niagara Falls	1930	2025	In 1930, St. Teresa was founded in the DeVeaux neighborhood of Niagara Falls. The first church was built in 1931, and the second in 1967. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, it merged with Sacred Heart Church and took the name of St. Raphael, the original name of Sacred Heart. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Raphael was merged into St. Peter Parish in Lewiston and closed.
Holy Spirit		North Collins	1952	2025	Holy Spirit was formed in 1952 as the merger of St. John the Baptist and Sacred Heart Parishes, both in North Collins. The site of Sacred Heart was initially used. In 1958, a new church and school was opened at a different location within North Collins. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Holy Spirit was merged into Immaculate Conception Church in Eden and closed.
Sacred Heart of Jesus		North Collins	1907	1958	Founded in 1907 as a church for Italian Catholics, Sacred Heart was incorporated as a parish in 1918. In 1952, Sacred Heart merged with St. John the Baptist to form Holy Spirit Parish. From 1956 to 1958, Sacred Heart was the sole church for Holy Spirit Parish. It closed in 1958 with the opening of the new building. Sacred Heart of Jesus is unrelated to the current Sacred Heart of Mary Church in North Collins, which is an independent Anglo-Catholic church unaffiliated with any denomination.
St. John the Baptist		North Collins	1902	1956	St. John the Baptist was established for English-speaking Catholics living around North Collins. A church was completed in 1904. In 1952, St. John merged with Sacred Heart to form Holy Spirit Parish. St. John was used as a church in the merged parish until it was closed in 1956.
St. John the Baptist		North Evans	1853	2011	The earliest antecedents to St. Vincent were founded in 1853, when a church was built in North Evans. Served by visiting priests for over 60 years, St. Vincent was established as an independent parish in 1914, and Fr. George Zucher was appointed as the first resident pastor. The 1853 building burned down in 1931, and brick church was built the next year. A school was operated from 1946 to 1983. In 1968, a new, larger church was built. In 2011, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Vincent de Paul was merged with Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Lake View to form Blessed John Paul II Parish (Later St. John Paul II), using only the Our Lady of Perpetual Help site. St. Vincent was sold, and is now used as a Wesleyan Church.
St. Nicholas		North Java	1890	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Nicholas was merged with St. Patrick in Java Center, St. Cecilia in Sheldon, and St. Mary of the Rosary in Strykersville to form St. John Neumann Parish. St. Nicholas was not utilized by the merged parish, closed, and sold in 2011. It has reopened as St. Nicholas Parish, of the Polish National Catholic Church.
Ascension		North Tonawanda	1887	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Ascension merged with St. Albert the Great to form St. Jude the Apostle, using only the St. Albert site. Ascension was closed and sold.
St. Joseph		North Tonawanda	1947	2008	Tracing its history to June 1947, St. Joseph grew as the Tonawandas grew. A predominantly Polish parish, the building seen here, which operated as a combined church/school, was completed in 1948. In 1966, a second, purpose built church, was completed. A school operated from 1948 to 1990 and in 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged into Our Lady of Czestochowa in North Tonawanda. St. Joseph was closed and sold off in pieces; the school to Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Nigerian Pentecostal congregation, and the church to Payne Avenue Christian Church, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation.
St. Jude the Apostle/ St. Albert the Great		North Tonawanda	1967	2025	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Albert the Great merged with Ascension Church in North Tonawanda to form St. Jude the Apostle, using only the St. Albert site. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Jude the Apostle was merged into St. Christopher Parish in Tonawanda and held its last mass in 2025.
Transfiguration		Olean	1947	2009	In 1902, under the leadership of Fr. Ladislaus Hordych, Transfiguration was established as a Polish personal parish in Olean. In 2009, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Transfiguration was merged into St. John the Evangelist in Olean and closed. In 2011, it was occupied by St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church, after its building burned down, leaving it as the only former Latin Rite building in the Diocese of Buffalo to still be used by a church in communion with Rome.
Our Lady of the Snows		Panama	1946	2025	Established in 1946 as part of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, Our Lady of the Snows was known as St. Rose of Lima for the first two months of its existence. In November of that year, a home was puchased and remodled into a chapel. In 1948, Our Lady of the Snows became an independent parish. A purpose built church was dedicated in 1956. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of the Snows was merged into Sacred Heart Parish in Lakewood and retained as a site for regular worship. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, Our Lady of the Snows was closed.
St. Joseph		Perry	1879	2024	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged with St. Joseph in Bliss, St. Stanislaus in Perry, Assumption in Portageville and St. Mary in Silver Springs to form St. Isidore Parish. St. Joseph was used as one of two churches for the merged parish. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Isidore was merged into St. Michael Parish in Warsaw and St. Joseph was closed.
St. Stanislaus Kosta		Perry	1910	2008	St. Stanislaus was established in 1910 as a personal parish to serve a growing Polish community in Perry. Fr. Joseph Rudzinski said the first mass in a rented building on Water Street. In 1912, a permanent church was built, which served the parish for the rest of its existence. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Stanislaus was merged with St. Joseph in Bliss, St. Joseph in Perry, Assumption in Portageville and St. Mary in Silver Springs to form St. Isidore Parish. St. Stanislaus was no longer used was closed and sold to a Spanish speaking Protestant church.
St. Joan of Arc		Perrysburg	1950	2007	St. Joan of Arc was established in 1950 as part of the Missionary Apostolate. By 1991, it was noted that there were only about 35 families registered in the parish. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joan of Arc was merged into St. Joseph Parish in Gowanda and closed. The building was sold for use as a private residence.
Assumption		Portageville	1847	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Assumption was merged with St. Joseph in Bliss, St. Joseph in Perry, St. Stanislaus in Perry, and St. Mary in Silver Springs to form St. Isidore Parish. Assumption was not utilized by the merged parish, closed, and sold in 2008 to serve as an inn and banquet hall.
St. Thomas More		Ripley	1941	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Thomas More was merged with St. Patrick in Brocton and St. James Major in Westfield to form St. Dominic Parish. St. Thomas More was not utilized by the merged parish, closed, and sold to a Menonite congregation.
St. Peter	St. Mark		Rushford	1948	2024	In 2012, after the retirement of Fr. Francis Jann, St. Mark was merged into St. Patrick in Belfast and maintained as a summer oratory. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mark was closed.
St. Patrick/ St. John/ St. Joseph		Salamanca	1862	2007	Built in 1882, St. Patrick Church was the third church to serve the parish. The first, St. Joseph, a 32x50 foot frame structure, was built in 1862. The second, St. John, measured 34x72 feet. In 1882, the parish having substantially grown, St. Patrick Church was built. A mission was briefly operated in Killbuck. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged with Holy Cross in Salamanca to form Our Lady of Peace. St. Patrick was closed and sold.
St. Jude		Sardinia	1953	2024	Established as part of the Buffalo Missionary Apostolate, St. Jude Church held its first mass on December 6, 1953 in its purpose-built church. It hosted resident pastors starting in 1970. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Jude was merged into St. Mary Parish in Arcade, and the building sold to Seventh-day Adventists for $256,000.
St. Mary		Sardinia	1885	c. 1900	This small, simple church was located at the corner of Foote and Pratham Roads in the former community of Pratham, home to several Irish Catholic families. Clifford Furman was trustee, and masses were given by pastors from St. Aloysius Church in Springville. In the early 1900s, the building was taken up and moved to Glenwood, where it became home to a restaurant. A small cemetery by the corners is the only other trace of the church around today. St. Jude would later be established in Sardinia, lasting from 1953 to 2025.
St. Joseph		Scio	1843	2025	The oldest Catholic parish in Allegany County, St. Joseph boasted three churches; one built in 1846, the second built in 1878 (burned in 1904) and the third built in 1906. Throughout its history, St. Joseph never had a resident pastor. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Joseph was merged with Sacred Heart in Angelica and St. Mary in Belmont into Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Parish. The St. Joseph site was retained for worship until 2025 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was closed.
St. John Bosco		Sheridan	1946	2008	A chapel was built in Sheridan in 1946, as a mission of the Rural Missionary Apostolate. In 1949, St. John Bosco became an independent parish. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. John Bosco was merged into Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Silver Creek and closed. The building was purchased by the Town of Sheridan for use as a town courthouse.
St. Isaac Jogues		Sherman	1946	2025	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Isaac Jogues was merged with St. Matthias in French Creek to form Christ our Hope Parish. St. Isaac Jogues was retained for regular worship until 2025 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, it was closed.
St. Mary		Silver Springs	1892	2024	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with St. Joseph in Bliss, St. Joseph in Perry, St. Stanislaus in Perry and Assumption in Portageville to form St. Isidore Parish. St. Mary was used as one of two churches for the merged parish. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Isidore was merged into St. Michael Parish in Warsaw and St. Mary was closed.
St. John the Evangelist		Sinclairville	1948	2007	Established as part of the Rural Missionary Apostolate, St. John was never large. Indeed in 2005, on the eve of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Sunday masses were cancelled and parishoners petitioned Bishop Edward Kmiec to close the parish after some masses were attended by only one person. In 2007, St. John the Evangelist was merged into St. Anthony Parish in Fredonia and closed.
St. Michael		South Byron	1892	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Michael was merged with Sts Joseph and Peter Churches in Le Roy and St. Anthony Church in Limerock to form Our Lady of Mercy Parish. The buildings and property of St. Michael were sold in 2011 and are now a private residence.
St. John Fisher		South Dayton	1940	2008	Already in 1991, St. John Fisher, which counted 65 families in its parish, was sharing a pastor with St. Elizabeth in Cherry Creek and St. Joan of Arc in Perrysburg. In 2008, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John Fisher was merged into St. Joseph Parish in Gowanda and closed.
St. Mary, Queen of the Rosary		Strykersville	1885	2024	St. Mary was founded by German settlers in Wyoming County. The parish church was erected in 1886. In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Mary was merged with St. Patrick in Java Center, St. Nicholas in North Java, and St. Cecilia in Sheldon to form St. John Neumann Parish. St. Mary was used as one of two churches for the merged parish. In 2024, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Mary was closed.
St. Andrew		Tonawanda	1944	2024	St. Andrew was founded in 1944 with the Rev. James F. Donovan, formerly of St. Anthony's in rural Farnham, holding the first Mass in the chapel of nearby Mount St. Mary's Academy for a flock of 400 faithful largely hailing from the WWII-era Sheridan Parkside public housing development. Construction of a dedicated building, which normally would have begun more or less immediately, had to be postponed due to wartime construction materials rationing, so the flock continued worshipping in temporary locations (first Mount St. Mary's, then the Sheridan Parkside Administration Building) until 1949, when their first home, a combination church and school building facing Sheridan Drive just to the east of the present church, was completed. It became clear almost immediately, in the wake of a parish population whose sustained exponential growth came first from the return of overseas GIs and later through the postwar baby boom, that a larger building would soon be necessary; hence the current structure, whose construction began in 1960. Completed in 1962, the church served the parish until 2024 when, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. Andrew was merged into St. Timothy Parish and closed.
St. Edmund		Tonawanda	1965	2007	In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Edmund was merged into St. Christopher in Tonawanda and closed. The merger was met with a positive reception by the parishoners. The combination church/school is still owned by St. Christopher and is used as a community center.
St. John the Baptist		Vandalia	1900	2011	St. John the Baptist was established as a mission of St. Patrick in Limestone. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. John the Baptist was merged into St. Bonaventure Parish in Olean. Four years later, St. John was closed.
St. Elizabeth		Wanakah	1928	1939	This short lived mission church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lake View was presumably merged into the nearby St. Mary of the Lake Parish.
St. Bonaventure		West Seneca	1917	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Bonaventure was merged with St. William in West Seneca, to form Blessed John XXIII Parish. Only the St. William site was used, and St. Bonaventure was closed. The building now houses THE WELL, an evangelical congregation.
St. Catherine of Siena		West Seneca	1967	2008	Founded in 1967 to ease overcrowding at nearby Queen of Heaven, St. Catherine was merged back into Queen of Heaven in 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace. The building now houses Life Church, and Evangelical congregation.
St. John the Baptist		West Valley	1883	2025	Established in 1883 as a mission of St. Aloysius in Springville, St. John the Baptist's church was completed in 1885. A school was operated from 1906 to 1960. In 2025, as part of the Road to Renewal, St. John the Baptist was merged into St. Mary Parish in Arcade and closed.
St. Michael the Archangel		Weston Mills	1916	1983	This mission church was merged into Sacred Heart Parish in Portville in 1983
St. Patrick		Wheatville	1885	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, St. Patrick was merged into St. Cecilia Parish in Oakfield. The building reopened in 2013 as a gift shop.
St. John of the Cross		Whitesville	1949	2007	Established as a parish of the Rural Missionary Apostolate in 1949. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith in Grace, St. John of the Cross was merged into Blessed Sacrament Parish in Andover. St. John was closed, sold, and is now an historical museum.
Our Lady of Grace		Woodlawn	1940	2008	In 2008, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace, Our Lady of Grace was merged with St. Barbara, St. Hyacinth and St. Michael the Archangel in Lackawanna to form Queen of Angels Parish, using only the St. Michael the Archangel site. As all three Lackawanna parishes were Polish personal parishes, Queen of Angels became a both a Polish personal parish and a territorial parish, assuming Our Lady of Grace's territory while being physically outside Our Lady of Grace's parochial boundaries. 2025's merger of Queen of Angels into Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Orchard Park corrected this anomaly. The building now houses Holy Trinity, a parish of the Polish National Catholic Church.