BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV [Buffalo NY]
November 19, 2025
By Alissa Clausell
Court filings show St. Andrew’s set for $1.4M sale as advocates warn parish funds could be used in $272 million abuse settlement.
The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is moving toward the sale of three additional church properties as it works through bankruptcy and a tentative $272 million settlement with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, according to documents recently submitted in state court.
One filing details an agreement to transfer the former St. Andrew Church site in the Town of Tonawanda to Child and Family Services for $1.4 million. The campus includes multiple buildings once used by the parish.
Elizabeth McPartland, the organization’s president and CEO, said the location would become part of the Stanley G. Falk School system, which serves students with special education needs across more than 50 Western New York districts.
“We are here to serve the western New York community. Our services have changed over the years. They have grown based on community need. So we’re really excited to take this beautiful location and these buildings and really serve the community and do what it needs us to do,” McPartland said.
Two other former parish sites are also under contract. St. Anthony in Lackawanna is expected to sell for $550,000, and Our Mother of Good Counsel in Blasdell for $630,000. Those properties involve different buyers and are not connected to Child and Family Services.
The transactions surface as the diocese continues operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a process that began after hundreds of abuse claims were filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.
Mary Pruski, a member of Save Our Buffalo Churches — a group pushing back against widespread parish closures — said the timing of the sales reflects the diocese’s long-term plan.
“Along we knew it was their strategy to take parishes and sell them and use the money for the bankruptcy. They were clear in their decrees when they stated this was their intention,” Pruski said.
A diocesan spokesperson disagreed with that assessment and said the restructuring predates the bankruptcy filing. In a written statement, the spokesperson said, “This process began even before the Diocese filed for Chapter 11 status following passage of New York’s Child Victims Act.”
The spokesperson added that, “proceeds from parish real property sales will be held in escrow in the parish’s name and may be used for settlement purposes related to a parish’s Child Victims Act (CVA) liability.”
Pruski said her group remains concerned that the funds generated from parish properties could ultimately be diverted toward the diocese’s legal settlement.
“We are amazed that they were that forthcoming in saying we’re going to use the profits from these sales towards the bankruptcy settlement,” she said during an interview.
She added that the group plans to keep tracking the sales closely, “That money has to be for the parish so we have to be watchkeepers.”