BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB [Buffalo NY]
July 9, 2025
By Aidan Joly
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A group of Western New York parishioners have sued the Buffalo Diocese seeking to stop the diocese from using parish funds towards the $150 million settlement with hundreds of child sex abuse survivors.
The suit, filed Tuesday in State Supreme Court, is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent pastors from paying the diocese by the July 15 deadline.
The parishioners named in the lawsuit attend Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda, Our Lady of Peace in Clarence, St. Bernadette in Orchard Park, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga and St. John XXIII in West Seneca. All of those churches were set to be merged with other area parishes under the diocese’s restructuring plan.
The mergers are on hold while the Vatican looks at appeals seeking to prevent them.
The diocese has asked parishes contribute a combined $80 million towards the settlement using unrestricted cash and investments. The suit states that if parishes comply, it “would be catastrophic and likely would severely, if not fatally destroy and parishes” and that “severe and irreparable harm would be inflicted” on the parishes. Merging and closing parishes, including the five named in the lawsuit, are being asked to pay 80% of their funds by July 15, even if they are still in the appeal process.
The diocese used the following formula to calculate what percentage of its unrestricted cash each parish should to contribute toward the fund:
- Less than $250,000 unrestricted cash: 10%
- Less than $500,000: 20%
- Less than $750,000: 45%
- Less than $1 million: 55%
- More than $1 million: 65%
- More than $3 million: 75%
- Merging/closing parishes: 80%
For example, the suit states that if forced to pay, Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda would likely have to close its daycare center that services 50 families, 180 families would lose food pantry access, those without personal transportation would have challenges going to church, and other community programs would be “restricted or eliminated.”
For St. Bernadette, the 80% assessment amounts to $723,666, which would have been used for maintenance issues.
The Buffalo Diocese did not comment on the suit and said that it is “committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct and will continue to cooperate fully with all legal processes as required.”
Attorneys James Myers and John Flaherty, who filed the lawsuit, did not provide a comment, saying the lawsuit’s “strong position speaks for itself.”
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.