Susan Csizmar was worried about driving 10 miles in blustery, snowy conditions Sunday morning from Wheatfield to St. Andrew Church in the Town of Tonawanda.
But the church at the corner of Sheridan Drive and Elmwood Avenue has been her spiritual home since the early 1970s, and when it was announced Friday that it would be closing at the end of June, Csizmar just knew she had to join her longtime parish family for worship.
The diocese said it made the decision with parish leadership to close the church and St. Andrew’s Country Day School, at Sheridan Drive and Elmwood Avenue, because they “have been plagued by financial challenges over the last few years.”
“When I looked at the snow, I said, ‘Somehow, I’m going to get there,’ ” she said.
Csizmar was among 200 parishioners in the pews for 9 a.m. Mass. Afterward, she gathered with a few friends to grieve the pending loss of a Catholic church and its grammar school, both of which have been mainstays in the Town of Tonawanda for many decades.
“We’re all heartbroken and shell-shocked,” said Csizmar, who joined the church with her husband shortly after they were married. She also taught at St. Andrew Country Day School for 27 years until her retirement in 2012.
The Diocese of Buffalo in a news…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply