Sacred steeples sold to sound a different call as bishop redefines evangelism
The diocese of Buffalo, New York, which is in the process of shutting down approximately half of its churches, has sold another historic sanctuary at a bargain-basement price.
The scandal-plagued diocese, which has been buried under an avalanche of clerical sex abuse lawsuits, has traded its historic Gothic St. Ann’s Church and Shrine for $250,000 to Buffalo’s Muslim community, for conversion into a mosque and an Islamic Center.
CATHOLIC BACKLASH
Catholics reacted with outrage after well-known Catholic priest, Fr. Ronald Vierling, drew attention to the sale on Monday. Vierling’s post on the social media platform X has attracted over 10 million views at the time of writing.
“No anger should be directed against the Islamic community,” wrote Vierling. “No doubt the changing demographics of the area and the inability to financially support the complex made the continuance of St. Ann as a viable parish impossible.”
“This scenario is being played out in once large, urban dioceses across the country,” the priest warned.
“Terrible. I know a dozen Catholics who would have pulled together to buy the building instead of letting it get sold off,” Catholic award-winning radio show host David J. Reilly replied, adding: “Sometimes the diocese chooses to not sell to certain groups like the SSPX & FSSP.”
“Muslims get a church for $250k but I can’t buy a house in a decent neighborhood for less than $500k,” a Catholic lamented.
Saint Ann’s Church, built by German immigrants in 1886, had fallen into disrepair and was decommissioned in 2013. Bishop Richard J. Malone – who in 2019 resigned as head of the diocese over allegations of sex abuse cover-up – had slated the building for demolition, as the diocese had estimated repairs could cost at least $12 million. Malone, however, changed his mind and said that the new plan was to put the property up for sale.
The Downtown Islamic Center, which purchased the property from the diocese through its affiliate Buffalo Crescent Holdings, said it would spend the millions of dollars necessary to renovate the historic structure.
“We’re looking to put several million dollars into this in the next year, in the church alone,” Talha Bakth, president of the Downtown Islamic Center, told the Buffalo News. “The space will be able to be used for worship within a year or two.”
Buffalo Crescent Holdings is also purchasing a former rectory at the complex that had been converted to apartments in a separate transaction, the media added.
QUEEN OF PEACE CHURCH CONVERTED TO JAMI MASJID
In 2007, the diocese sold the Queen of Peace Church for $300,000 to the Muslim Society of Buffalo, which converted the building into the Jami Masjid (mosque).
Since Islam prohibits the depiction of a human or living being in sacred iconography, Muslim volunteers painted all the Catholic murals sky blue, removed statues at the altar, and replaced the church’s well-preserved stained-glass windows with plain, frosted glass.
The main altar was removed entirely and replaced by a carpeted space for reading. The church’s former apse, the area behind the main altar where the choir would sing, has been screened off as a prayer space for women.
Today, the Jami Masjid has Turkish carpets instead of pews and Arabic calligraphy adorns the Gothic brackets. The orientation of prayer has changed so the imam stands along the eastern wall of the building, so that when worshippers can face Mecca when they offer their prayers and bow.
ST. AGNES CHURCH CONVERTED TO BUDDHIST SHRINE
In 2009, the Buffalo diocese sold St. Agnes Church to the International Sangha Bhiksu Buddhist Association for conversion to a Buddhist temple and meditation center. The historic church, which was consecrated on December 9, 1883, had served German and Italian immigrants for over a century.
The church closed its doors on October 21, 2007, and remained empty for two years before Vietnamese monk Thich Minh Tuyen bought it in 2009 for $250,000. It reopened in 2012 as a Buddhist temple after the iconography, including the crucifix and images of the Stations of the Cross, was removed.
The Buddhist occupants also added three 2,000-pound sitting Buddhas shipped from Canada, and six standing Buddhas, that cluster around a shrine in the narthex. The monks also replaced six pews with carpets for worshippers, but left the remaining pews intact for those who cannot sit on the floor.
The new owners also hung Buddhist banners alongside the intact stained glass windows, intending to combine Buddhist iconography with the existing Catholic themes.
‘CHURCHES ARE NOT POKER CHIPS’
Attorney Brody Hale, co-founder and president of the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project, which works to preserve Catholic churches for sacred use, lamented the sale and conversion of churches into non-Christian places of worship.
“A church as defined by canon law is a sacred edifice,” he told FrontPage Magazine. “Churches as sacred buildings have fundamentally more protections under canon law than parishes.”
“This is not what churches are supposed to be used for according to canon law. Churches are not poker chips a bishop can use to cash out when he’s in a bind,” Hale stated.
MILLIONS SPENT ON CLERICAL SEX ABUSE SCANDALS
Earlier in May, the Buffalo diocese announced plans to merge approximately 34% of the 160 parishes across Western New York and reduce places of worship by 38%.
Bishop Michael Fisher said the mergers were due to financial pressures brought about by the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, after scores of clerical sex abuse lawsuits were filed under the Child Victims Act; as well as a priest shortage, aging congregations, and declining Mass attendance.
The consolidation would bring the number of parishes from 160 to a projected 106, and the number of worship centers from 196 to a projected 121.
Last year, the Buffalo diocese offered $100 million, in addition to any insurance funds, to settle 891 clerical sex abuse cases. The diocese said it would sell its 795 Main Street headquarters, the former Christ the King Seminary campus, and other “non-essential” property to cover half the settlement.
More than $15 million has already been paid to attorneys for the diocese in its bankruptcy and the state Attorney General’s investigation.
DIOCESE FAILS TO EVANGELIZE THE LOST
Interestingly, the diocesan website has a drop-down menu titled “How We Evangelize” on its opening page, but the word “evangelization” seems to be re-defined with no mention of any attempts to reach people of other faiths or no faith.
Instead, the subcategories under the menu lists buzz phrases such as “Cultural Diversity,” “Catholic Education,” and the controversial “Catholic Charities,” with events like a diocesan “Multicultural Mass” and an annual “Cultural Diversity Celebration Dinner.”
Editor’s note: To learn how Catholicism prevented Islam from taking over Europe, check out our book selection by clicking here.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral. This articles is cross-posted with the author’s permission from Souls & Liberty.
Steve Brown says
One can but hope that the state of the building will ensure its imminent collapse, hopefully whilst occupied by the death cultists.
Barbara says
What is wrong with these bishops. They are giving away valuable property. I not referring to the property being a church, the land by itself is worth more than what was paid.
It feels like these clerics are anit Catholic.
rick says
What a stupid diocese of Buffalo for selling a property that could easily be sold for much more for only $250K which is less than a private home goes for in that community and for a Muslim mosque no less. Apparently, the Church has sold other of their properties to the Muslim entity that buys property on behalf of Muslims at cut rate prices as early as 2007.
Why is the Muslim entity so cash rich? Is the Muslim community that wealthy and the Catholic community so poor in Buffalo? And all because of the reprehensible child sex abuse cases that has bankrupted the Church in Buffalo which had to settle 891 separate case of child sex abuse by its clergy. But for the Muslim community to be the winners here adds insult to injury. At least the sale to a Buddhist group showed respect for the existing Christian themes as they hung Buddhist banners alongside the intact stained glass windows, intending to combine Buddhist iconography with the existing Catholic themes.
Did the Diocese consider at the very least removing the strained glass windows before the sale to the Muslim entity?
The new Muslim owners painted all the Catholic murals sky blue and replaced the church’s well-preserved stained-glass windows with plain, frosted glass. What did they do with the stained glass windows? That shows how little the Diocese considered how the church would undergo the changes which possibly verged on desecration or the act or state of treating something sacred or holy with disrespect or contempt. The party most responsible for that desecration is the Diocese itself.
During WW II in Europe, churches removed the stained glass windows in many churches and inserted plain frosted glass ones. The stained glass windows were preserved in the basement and re-inserted after 1945.
somehistory says
‘culture’ seems to be the all-important thing these people promote.
If they ever knew, they have forgotten what the Christian Church is all about.
Perversion by those who were pretending to be shepherds of the flock, and too many of them making a financial profit from being in positions of authority, has led to this disgusting situation.
Jesus said, “You received free. Give free.”
the mozlums buying these buildings and property see it as a big victory for islam….islam is taking over in these areas and the so-called “shepherds” are enabling them by their wrong practices.
FYI says
Christianity is due back:Matthew 24 v 30
The vatican I believe is contaminated by ecclesastical freemasonry which was predicted a long time ago-:so no surprise about all these lazy idiotic bishops.
Linda says
Not only the Stainglass windows, but the statues this bishop is a selfish person. He is not taking care of the sacred at all what a weasel we have so many bishops that have no backbone and far from being Holy and why aren’t these buildings offered to private citizens or group besides Muslims?
We have righteous anger and I am angry. I read this all the time lately. This needs to stop. People need to stand up to these bishops that do not have the sacred in mind to protect because he’s a bishop doesn’t give him the right to abuse he’s not infallible
Condor says
What do you expect when the Jesuit Pope acts like the False Prophet of Revelation?
“… We would say that, through some mysterious crack—no, it’s not mysterious; through some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church of God. There is doubt, uncertainty, problems, unrest, dissatisfaction, confrontation.
“The Church is no longer trusted. We trust the first pagan prophet we see who speaks to us in some newspaper, and we run behind him and ask him if he has the formula for true life. I repeat, doubt has entered our conscience. And it entered through the windows that should have been open to the light: science.”
“… It was thought that, after the Council, sunny days would come for the history of the Church. Nevertheless, what came were days of clouds, of storms, of darkness, of searching, of uncertainty … We tried to dig abysses instead of covering them …” — Pope Paul VI, 29 June 1972.
That has become one mighty big “crack”!
GE says
So sad—
But a bright spot—growth of Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. I know ours is teeming with young families and kids. One reason imo is that we stick to our traditions and aren’t into the “Catholic Lite”
practices of some Roman Catholic parishes.
https://cnewa.org/diversity-in-new-membership-enriches-eastern-churches/
(Hope this pastes correctly)
Troybeam says
In different terms of the church selling their churches to Islam are really supporting the Islam and helping to have American conquest much like what is and has been happening in the UK and around the world.
True they could have sold the church for more money but in the long run the catholic church as seriously lost its way with the current Pope.
Kepha says
One reason why Uncle Kepha doesn’t take Roman claims of semper idem seriously is because he’s seen what’s been happening since Vatican II. To move from confessional Reformed theology to today’s RC church would be like going back to Fosdick-esque theological liberalism.
By doing all the running they can do to remain a respectful five paces behind their cultured despisers (even though Uncle Kepha otherwise has little use for Schleiermacher), all Christian communions have done themselves great harm. And, as I muse on how theological liberals formerly loved to use the term “prophetic” to describe their stance, my own observation is that what the liberals have called on us to do isn’t so much “prophetic”, but a call to worship the Ba’alim of our age.
Hoi Polloi says
Many videos show muslims in the UK who’ve moved into former churches being allowed to abuse the neighborhood by parking anywhere they please, blocking emergency vehicles, and threatening people for walking dogs, or for the pleasure of being violent. Never allowed natives too park there. They knock down the headstones to park all over the graves. I’ve seen video of the facility dumping raw sewage onto the pavement. The buildings are listed, which should result in oversight and stringent regulations applied to alterations, but no.
Tatanka says
They should’ve dynamited the places or given them away to anyone for free but never ever sold to the minions of Satan. That is an insult to the Almighty God of the highest order.
Michael Skok says
Christian snipers are needed when Muslim worshippers gather on Fridays.
Michael Skok says
I was wondering if Robert Spencer would print that.
Reziac says
Yep. After all, one need merely ask oneself: What would Muhammad do??
Reziac says
Remember, folks… mosques are only incidentally houses of worship. They are first and foremost symbols of conquered territory.
Stewart Davies says
This is an inevitable consequence of the unprecedented apostasy of our times, that is greatly exacerbated by the predominant and utterly societally destructive influence of cultural Marxism. Evict Jesus Christ and His most holy Mother, and the rabid and ravenous forces of diabolic Islam will fill the vacancy. With a vengeance!
Bret says
The Catholic Church is part of the New World Order. They are guaranteeing themselves an elite’s position when it finally happens. Power corrupts and the Catholic Church is deep in the trenches, and they see Islamics as a friend towards this goal. Anyone or any group that the leftist sees as anti American or anti constitution is an ally. This sale at that price is a favor to Muslims, expecting support in return. The New Yorkers are waking up to the influx of illegals, unfortunately after it’s too late , and they will do the same here , after they become third class citizens. Muslims see the people of NY leaving and are happy to fill the void.
Nabil Bissada says
So sad to sale church who is the place that spread and teach love and peace. To a mosque who is the place who spread and teach terrorist, haters, murder, rapping, thieves et. against non-Muslims.
President El Sisi of Egypt, warning before the western countries concerning the dangerous of the Mosques. All savage crimes, murders, rapping, kidnaping, suicide bombers against the citizens are coming out from the mosques.
The Vatican is very reach and own hundreds of billions of dollars, shame to sale churches. Or they can sell it too different other churches by giving them facilities of payment.
To buy a church the price is coming from the believers.
To buy a Mosques the price is coming from the Muslims countries. The country who pays, the cost of the mosques will be part of the embassy of this country.
In majority of the Muslims countries is forbidden to build a church. In different other Muslims countries, it’s very hard to have permission from the government, to build a church and it’s taken a few years.
To have a mosque is to have an armory, each Muslims believers could be a timing bomb at any time.
May God open the vision to whom who sold church to understand the danger to have a mosque.
Not all Muslims are a terrorist. But all terrorists are a Muslim
James Lincoln says
Years ago, my father – a devout Catholic – had told me that if enough people stop going to mass, the churches will be taken over by other religions, real estate developers, etc.
He was proven right.
Kevin Kraemer says
One word comes to mind, “chrislam”. Muhammadism is diametrically opposed to any religion. They only believe in another false religion themselves. Deceived in their beliefs. The catholic church has become apostate. The end times are upon us and the people of GOD are.still asleep.
OLD GUY says
Way to go Buffalo.
Michael Skok says
I’m from Buffalo. I left Buffalo back in 1992 when blacks were moving in and whites were moving out. The young whites all left for the suburbs. The old whites who remained lived in fear. There were break ins. One old man had all his money, furniture and valuables taken away on a truck. He feared for his life, and he watched as the thieves trucked everything away. I recently took a drive through my old street near Bailey Avenue. Many houses have been torn down. My house use to be the fourth house from Hazel. Three houses are gone. So now my former home is the first house from Hazel. We had a picture window in the front. The glass is now all gone. The window has been boarded up. I saw nice-looking houses with absolutely no windows. The school and church (Holy Name) where I use to go to were closed up. Needless to say, the value of those houses and property dropped to almost nothing. Nobody wants to move into that neighborhood. It is unfortunate that our enemies (remember 9/11/01?) are the only ones who are interested in buying anything there.
OLD GUY says
vary sad and our political leaders are the reason these things happen. maybe we need to go back to the old west, shoot first ask question later.
Blougeoisie says
The good news for Catholics is that the Palestinians have halaized going back on land sales and using BAMN.
This will be funny in 25 years when they will complain about Muslims being on stolen land.
Spiro says
what were the bishops doing
sitting in their fancy office in their fancy robes holding meetings with important people using their well educated vocabulary over special meals while the flock moved on leaving them behind
Jesus said feed my sheep
these Shepard’s can even find the sheep