Bishop Edward U. Kmiec stepped down from the altar and unfolded a No. 13 jersey from the Buffalo Sabres with his surname in capital letters. He leaned against a pew near the 64 teenagers getting set to be confirmed, pointing out that the “C” on the jersey stood not for captain, but for chaplain.
Then he cracked a joke, seizing on the precarious state of the Sabres’ chance of making the playoffs — on the minds of more than a few hockey fans in attendance that evening in early April.
“If they lose, I’ve got another Confirmation later in the week,” Kmiec cracked. “And I’ve got a Bisons shirt.”
The walls of St. Joseph-University Church on Main Street echoed with a burst of laughter.
These days, just about wherever he goes, Kmiec relies on gentle humor and a plain-spoken easiness to win over an audience. And he almost always cajoles a chuckle, no matter how corny or repetitive the joke.
Yet Kmiec’s tenure as Buffalo’s 13th Catholic bishop — the reason for the number on his hockey jersey — has been no laughing matter.
In just three years, Kmiec is responsible for shutting down more Catholic churches in the diocese than any of his predecessors, resulting in a trail of heartache from the hills and valleys of rural Allegany County to the urban cores of Niagara Falls, Batavia, Lackawanna, Lockport and, of course, Buffalo.
If the amiable bishop had a honeymoon after his installation in October 2004, it quickly ended when he began announcing church closures.
Kmiec regularly takes a verbal beating in the Internet’s free-flowing, nameless blogosphere. Some parishioners have complained that he seems out of touch and unconcerned. And, in recent interviews with The Buffalo News, some priests, albeit anonymously, say they feel disenfranchised by the downsizing and question Kmiec’s leadership skills.
But the bishop also has received strong support from other priests and laypeople who say he is tackling a difficult and thankless job that will reap spiritual benefits for Catholics years from now.
“I think he often feels a great deal of anguish,” said the Rev. Peter J. Drilling, chairman of the diocesan Council of Priests. “He’s feeling that pain with us, but he also knows that he simply has to make some of these decisions. I think he grieves that so many churches have to be closed or be realigned.”
Through the rough chop, which has included some health problems and the death of his brother, Henry, his final surviving sibling, Kmiec keeps an even keel — a trait perceived by his detractors as indifference and by his supporters as calming pastoralism.
He admits that mistakes were made in the handling of the “Journey in Faith & Grace,” the diocese’s moniker for the restructuring process.
“It’s a learning experience here, too,” he said.
‘Spirit of altruism’
Some decisions about what churches would close and which ones would stay in a particular area “are arguable,” he said, and came down to a judgment call of the planning commission that Kmiec appointed in 2005.
“I do know this much: The work was done with a true spirit of altruism. People weren’t sitting in the room with all kinds of agendas,” the bishop said. “We’re human beings, and we try to do the best we can, with the best motivation, with the greatest honesty and integrity.”
Kmiec, who turns 72 in June and recently celebrated 25 years as a bishop, has at least three years remaining in his tenure in Buffalo. Bishops must submit a resignation letter to the pope when they turn 75, although many stay on past that date until their successors are named.
No matter how long he’s here, the diocese that Kmiec leaves behind will look radically different from the one he greeted upon his arrival.
When his episcopacy began, 275 church sites in the diocese’s eight counties offered weekend liturgies.
The diocese at the time was the nation’s 24th-largest in Catholic population but had the seventh-most parishes. By comparison, the Diocese of Galveston- Houston, with a Catholic population of a million and a geographic area of 8,880 square miles, had 117 fewer parishes than the Buffalo Diocese, which has about 700,000 Catholics and spans 6,357 square miles.
So far, Kmiec has announced that more than a quarter of the area’s parishes — 71 churches — no longer will offer regular worship. Some churches already have been closed and sold. More changes are expected to be announced in May for South Buffalo and other parts of Erie County.
Some parishioners and priests have speculated on the extent of Kmiec’s involvement in the restructuring process and aimed their criticism equally at Sister Regina Murphy, the diocese’s chief strategic planner.
Murphy keeps tabs on the stark economic realities facing churches, while also projecting how many priests will be available to staff parishes five, 10 and 20 years from now.
“I think he listens to what she says should be closed and just does it,” said Buffalo Common Council President David A. Franczyk, a fierce critic of the downsizing effort, which so far includes 20 city churches. “What I do not see is a proper enlightened compassion for the city in this process.”
Ultimately, though, critics of the church closures say the buck stops with the bishop.
“I think he was here on a mission,” said Mae Trapasso, a longtime parishioner of St. George Church in Niagara Falls, which closed in March. “Yes, I am angry with him. I don’t think he’s got the faith he should have. I don’t think he’s the servant he should be.”
A few priests, too, expressed resentment about the bishop’s handling of the downsizing.
They spoke to The News with the stipulation that their names not be used, out of fear the bishop would retaliate.
“The consistent thing I hear is, ‘He’s just in retirement mode,’ ” said one veteran priest. “The bishop is not a leader, to be honest with you. He’s depending too much on his court circle, if you want to call it that.”
Some priests are disillusioned but are unlikely to make any waves about it, the pastor acknowledged.
Said another priest: “He’s so easy to talk to, but he’s absolutely impervious to any kind of real discussion. Nothing has an impact on him. What I think he does is he has three or four people that he listens to, that he has as his decision-making crew, and that’s it. The impression is that he doesn’t care.”
Work far from done
Kmiec doesn’t dispute the notion that he relies on others to help him make decisions. His conversations with priests and laypeople early on were what led him to launch the restructuring, he said.
“I feel I’m more of a participant. I’m not trying to say, ‘I just want it done this way,’ ” said Kmiec, whose rich baritone and measured cadence make him sound like Jack Nicholson.
Kmiec’s predecessor, Bishop Henry J. Mansell, promoted to archbishop of Hartford, Conn., in 2003, was known for his formal bearing and nonstop work ethic during his eight years in Buffalo.
He also kept churches open, no matter what the statistics showed. Mansell shelved efforts that began under Bishop Edward D. Head, and were led by Murphy, to bring parish numbers more in line with the diocese’s shrinking cadre of priests.
Some diocesan observers have speculated that Mansell, still mentioned as a possible successor to Cardinal Edward
M. Egan in New York City, couldn’t have church closings on his resume as he climbed the hierarchical ladder.
“The people around [Kmiec] are doing everything they can now to do what they couldn’t do under Mansell,” one priest remarked.
Kmiec had expected to retire in Nashville, Tenn., his previous diocese, and had no aspirations for higher office in the church.
“We could come here and just do nothing and say it’s OK,” Kmiec said. “It would probably be more comfortable for me, but I don’t think I could conscientiously let it happen that way. It is a duty to do.”
Contrary to what many believe, Kmiec said he reads all of his mail. He then embarks on a schedule of appointments often set weeks, if not months, in advance.
The Rev. G. Stanford Bratton, a Presbyterian minister and executive director of the Network of Religious Communities, the area’s largest interfaith group, has been trying for more than a year to book the bishop for a luncheon with other religious leaders.
Bratton and others had high hopes for greater dialogue with Kmiec, but so far the bishop has been too busy with the internal workings of his diocese.
“I think he’s personally open to that. His style is such. But there’s really been no time,” Bratton said.
At events where the two have met and Bratton requests Kmiec’s presence at the luncheon, the bishop “sort of agrees, and then his staff says, ‘You can’t do that; you don’t have time.’ ”
“The spirit is willing,” Bratton said, “but the realities are overwhelming.”
Nevertheless, Kmiec has been blasted for not visiting many of the churches he closed.
The bishop said his work is far from complete. Once all announcements of parish mergers are made, he plans to implement a healing and evangelization program and hopes to draw lapsed Catholics back into the fold.
The criticism hasn’t seemed to sour Kmiec, who maintains that’s he’s blessed by God to be in Buffalo and likes it here.
“He’s able to put it aside. He doesn’t allow it to eat away at him,” said the Rev. David G. LiPuma, the bishop’s secretary. “I think he must be able to unload it all in his relationship with God, because I think he’s at peace.”
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