On Sunday the Buffalo Diocese's bishop Edward Kmiec announced his latest plans for downsizing and streamlining churches in his district. Among the closings slated to occur: St. Mary's, Gasport's ONLY catholic church.
The church will merge with St. John the Baptist of Lockport, with the buildings and property in Gasport never being used again. It is unknown exactly when this will occur. The complete closings and merging list can be read at the Diocese website here:
This is tragic. Gasport is a loving, close-knit community and the Catholics in it have always relied on St. Mary's not only as the venue to share their religion but also as an outlet to positively affect the community with fundraisers, dinners, outreach, clothing drives, food drives, scout meetings, and more.
This sort of thing, though well-intentioned, further adds to the erosion of small town America.
