I started receiving emails yesterday that Saint Ann’s is going to close after its 10am Mass on Sunday. A letter from Bishop Kmiec is supposed to be read at the Mass on Sunday outlining the reasons.
I contacted Buffalo Diocese spokesperson Kevin Keenan who would only say that the diocese won’t release any info on such matters until the parishioners are told first.
This was posted on an internet forum:
Well the news is out and all over town. Kmiec sent a letter to the pastor of St. Ann’s who’s notified some parishioners who in turn have let the word out. Citing “structural issues” the final Mass for an undetermined/indefinite amount of time will be this Sunday at 10 AM when the announcement will be read. No doubt the real issue is the unrelenting dedication and success of the small but strong lay committee which has done an outstanding job at running the day-to-day operations of the parish since the Jesuits left in ’07. The celebrant’s homily at last Sunday’s German Mass praising the beauty of the church and the hard work of so many over the past 154 years (with over 600 in attendance) probably had something to do with it too. Spies sent from 795 had to have been present. Just like the closure decree came last May signed by Kmiec only days after he himself celebrated the church’s 125th anniversary of consecration, this time around shows the DOB’s two-faced, malicious hypocrisy even more. Poor Saint Ann’s and poor parishioners who’ve worked so hard to maintain their beloved, historic church and shrine.
This confirmed what I was hearing all day.
Words can’t express what I am feeling right now.
Saint Ann’s has stood at Broadway and Emslie in one form or another since 1854. Its life and its soul is about to be extinguished.
I am going to the Mass on Sunday. It may be the last time Mass is ever celebrated in this Buffalo treasure.
The neighborhood is about lose another grand church. How this can happen is beyond me.
Come to the Mass!!!
