This is a list of current and former Roman Catholic churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, US.
Buffalo Current churches NameImageLocationParish foundedChurch builtArchitectDescription/NotesAssumption435 Amherst St.18881914Schmill & GouldChronologically Buffalo's third Polish Catholic parish, Assumption was founded to serve the then-newly established Polish enclave in the eastern part of the Black Rock neighborhood, who felt unwelcome at the predominantly-German St. Francis Xavier and for whom the established parishes of St. Stanislaus and St. Adalbert were too distant. The interior features a painted wood ceiling and original artwork by Hungarian-born artist József Varga, and is also the site of the earliest American examples of the sgraffito work of Polish-born muralist Józef Sławiński, executed in 1960. Became home to the congregations of the former St. Elizabeth, St. Francis Xavier, and St. John the Baptist parishes upon their 2007 dissolution as part of the "Journey in Faith and Grace" consolidation program, leaving Assumption the only remaining Catholic church in Black Rock.Blessed Sacrament1025 Delaware Ave.1887; reconstituted 19761889; enlarged 1908Adolphus Druiding (original structure); Albert A. Post (1908 enlargement)Began as a chapel built in 1885 connected to new bishop's residence; services held there were well attended especially by German-Americans from the nearby neighborhood of Cold Spring who had no nearby Catholic church to attend; was made a parish in its own right two years later. Building was slated for a second expansion in 1912 when diocese announced plans to build new cathedral on adjacent lot, to accommodate which the building was lifted from its foundation and rolled 200 feet backward from its original position next to the street; at the time the largest brick church in the U.S. to ever be physically moved. Church is Gothic Revival in style and built of brick and Medina sandstone; interior contains stained glass windows crafted in Innsbruck as well as a pair of altars imported from Italy; one of marble salvaged from then-recently demolished Church of San Salvatore in Thermis, blessed in 590 AD by Pope Gregory the Great and containing a number of relics including pieces of the Holy Cross; the other dating to the 17th century and sourced from the chapel of a church in Rome. Parish dissolved upon completion of new cathedral in 1915 with church building serving as its chapel; reconstituted upon cathedral's demolition.Blessed Trinity317 Leroy Ave.19061928Oakley & SchallmoOriginally a mixed Irish and German congregation in a neighborhood then known as the Jammerthal ("valley of woe", so named for its rocky, impossible-to-cultivate soil), Blessed Trinity is most notable for its architecture, having been described as "the finest example of Lombard Romanesque architecture in North America", with multicolored brickwork, exquisite terra cotta ornamentation including 572 decorative corbels depicting "the vices, virtues, graces, sacraments and commandments of the Catholic faith", and an overall design inspired by Pavia Cathedral and the Church of St. Trophime in Arles. Accordingly, it was named a Buffalo city landmark in 1977 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary374 Dewitt St.19501956Mortimer J. MurphyUpper West Side parish whose territory was cleaved off that of Annunciation and Nativity; congregation met for six years in the former Ellen Terry Theatre on Grant Street before the dedication of their current church building. Spared from the spate of mergers that characterized the early-2000s "Journey in Faith and Grace" consolidation program due to its status as home of Western New York's Vietnamese Catholic community; Mass is still held in both Vietnamese and English.Corpus Christi199 Clark St.18981909Schmill & GouldThe seventh of what would ultimately be fourteen Catholic churches serving Buffalo's Polish-American community, founded due to the rapid population growth in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century; however, Corpus Christi's growth stalled in 1929, when 300 homes within the parish's boundaries were demolished to make way for the massive New York Central Terminal. Architecturally, the building is a fine example of Rundbogenstil-influenced Romanesque Revival architecture constructed with Hummelstown brownstone, but is most notable for the exquisite art and statuary in its interior: stained glass windows by Franz Mayer & Co. depicting Polish saints; six fresco paintings on the wall of the clerestory depicting Marian shrines in Poland; a reproduction of Raphael's Disputation of the Holy Sacrament in the semidome of the apse. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and is also a contributing property to the locally-landmarked Broadway-Fillmore Historic District, established in 2018.Holy Cross140 7th St.19141915; enlarged 1931 and 1938Pascal Cimini, George Dietel (1938 expansion)Parish founded due to northward expansion of Buffalo's West Side Italian-American community; congregation met in former home of West Side Presbyterian Church on Busti Avenue while present church was under construction on a plot of land formerly owned by the Sisters of Mercy. Church sports Gothic design elements typical of the architecture of the era; was dedicated by Father Nelson Baker. 1930s-era expansions to building increased its capacity to 1,200 parishioners. Interior features numerous statues of the Madonna, many brought by immigrants from their former churches in Italy, as well as mural paintings by artist Luigi Avoglio.Holy Spirit85 Dakota St.19101930Edward J. TrautmanFirst parish to serve North Park section of city; congregation remained small initially, though shrine to Saint Rita installed in 1913 made it a notable local pilgrimage site; growth began in earnest at outbreak of First World War due to increased production at nearby automobile and airplane factories connected to war effort. Original frame church sold to Methodist congregation, who moved it to the corner of Delaware Avenue and Wilbury Place (still extant, now home to New Freedom Assembly of God); current building is Modernist in style with simplified Gothic Revival detailing. Linked with St. Margaret church in 2012 after retirement of the latter's priest; both remain independent parishes but now share the same priest.Our Lady of Charity1901 S. Park Ave. (Holy Family site), 260 Okell St. (St. Ambrose site and parish office)20101908 (Holy Family site), 1950 (St. Ambrose site); as home of their respective predecessor parishesLansing & Beierl (Holy Family site), Foit & Baschnagel (St. Ambrose site)Parish founded in 2010 from the merger of three South Buffalo parishes: Holy Family, St. Ambrose, and St. Agatha. Both of the former churches are still used for services; the St. Agatha complex was used by the parish for various purposes and once housed a Head Start preschool, but was sold to a private developer in 2018.Our Lady of Hope18 Greenwood Pl.20091901 (as home of predecessor parish Annunciation)Albert A. PostFormed from merger of three West Side parishes: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Loretto, and Annunciation. The parish conducts services out of the latter's Gothic Revival former home.Our Lady of Perpetual Help115 O'Connell St.18971900Lansing & BeierlThe third chronologically, and only remaining, Catholic parish in Buffalo's Old First Ward, carved out of the territory of St. Brigid and St. Stephen parishes due to persistent population growth in this working-class Irish-American community; many early parishioners worked as scoopers at the nearby grain elevators. Nicknamed "Pet's". Was for many years the traditional endpoint of Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day parade, as well as the first (temporary) home to Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School from 1946-48. A magnificent Gothic Revival building faced in Medina sandstone, with a cruciform floor plan and an imposing but steepleless tower on the west side of the façade (the original design called for one, but it was never completed).St. Anthony of Padua160 Court St.18881891; enlarged 1904Michael SheehanFirst Italian Catholic church in Buffalo, serving a community that began arriving in the 1870s, attracted by employment opportunities in waterfront industries on the Lower West Side of the city. The parish became the social center of the local Italian diaspora, and still hosts one Italian-language Sunday Mass a week. The Romanesque Revival style of the exterior contrasts with a Renaissance-inspired interior featuring fresco paintings and marble work by notable ecclesiastical decorator Cesari Antozzi. St. Casimir160 Cable St.18901929Oakley & SchallmoParish served initially small and isolated Polish community along Clinton Street near the city line which began to grow rapidly after turn of century; original frame church replaced consecutively by larger one in 1908 and even larger current building for which ground was broken in 1926; Byzantine Revival design inspired by Rev. Anthony Majewski's travels to the Near East and desire for church architecturally unlike any other in the diocese. Brightly-colored façade features ornate terra cotta detailing by associate architect Joseph Fronczak: relief sculpture above entrance depicting Saint Casimir distributing alms to the needy, painted statues of Saints Adalbert and Hyacinth below deeply recessed rose window, Christ the King flanked by angels at top of front gable; interior contains hand-carved statues of Twelve Apostles placed atop monumental columns and Botticino marble altar crowned by 65-foot arch. Merged with St. Bernard as part of 2000s-'10s parish consolidation program, and was used as an oratory "providing for the spiritual care... particularly those of Polish descent" within the congregation. Named a Buffalo city landmark in 1977. It was designated as a free-standing church within the diocese of Buffalo in 2011.SS. Columba-Brigid75 Hickory St.19872006George LukaszewiczFounded through the merger of St. Columba and St. Brigid parishes, the latter of whose church had burned in a 1968 fire; the merged parish met in the former St. Columba church until it, too, burned in 2004. Began sharing ministry team and pooling resources with St. Ann and St. Mary of Sorrows in 1992 as part of reorganization of "central city" parishes before ultimately absorbing both. Their current home is the newest Catholic church building in Buffalo; its construction was controversial given the then-ongoing trend of church closures and parish mergers throughout the city, leaving many architecturally significant buildings vacant and at risk of demolition. The merged SS. Columba-Brigid is notable as the home parish of Sister Karen Klimczak, co-founder of the Bissonnette House, a halfway home for former prisoners named after a Buffalo priest who was murdered by a vagrant in 1987, and who was herself murdered in 2006 by one of the house's residents.St. Joseph Cathedral50 Franklin St.18471855Patrick KeelyFounded in 1847 along with the Diocese of Buffalo itself, which was cleaved off the western portion of the territory of the Archdiocese of New York; construction work began in 1851 after Bishop John Timon's request to use St. Louis as the cathedral church was rebuffed on ethnic grounds (St. Louis's congregation was majority German-American, Timon of Irish descent), and concluded 1863. The building sports a French Gothic-influenced style; its carillon was produced by Bollée Brothers of France and was once considered among the world's best; the interior dates to a 1977 renovation and contains a 3,627-pipe Hook & Hastings organ originally displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Basement crypt serves as the final resting place of Bishop Timon as well as three of his successors in that office: Stephen Ryan, Charles Colton, and Edward Head. The building lost its title as seat o