File photo by Tom Rivers: The Barre water tower is pictured on Sept. 6, 2017 with a rainbow. Barre will be billed more for water from the Village of Albion beginning on June 1.

ALBION – The Village of Albion is raising the water rates charged to towns from $2.94 to $3.34 per 1,000 gallons.

That 13.6 percent increase is effective June 1.

The village directly bills the towns of Carlton, Gaines, Barre and Albion. (Most of Albion’s water however comes through Barre’s water system and Barre bills most of the Town of Albion.) Village water also goes to portions of Ridgeway and Murray, going through the Town of Albion system, with Gaines sending some village water to Murray.

The village pumps about 1.45 million gallons a day on average and the towns and prison account for about 60 percent of that usage.

The Village Board approved the rate hike on Wednesday evening, with trustee Chris Barry casting the lone no vote.

The $3.34 rate for the towns compares to a $3.39 rate charged to the water users inside the village.

The board on Wednesday also voted to increase the penalty for about 20 village water customers who have not allowed the village to put in new water meters. Those meters are put in at no cost to the water customers.

The board voted to increase the penalty by $25 per month to $65, or $195 every quarterly billing cycle.

There are about 2,000 water customers in the village and a small percentage, about 1 percent, continue to hold off on swapping out their old water meters.

Simboli puts emphasis on positivity with new cabaret show

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Gary Simboli, a retired music teacher and theater director for Albion Central School, performed his new show on Saturday, called “Accentuate the Positive.”

Simboli took people through his ABCs of positivity, and shared songs and reflections about joy and seeing good in the world.

He encouraged people to look at situations from more than one viewpoint to try to get a deeper understanding of others and complex issues.

Simboli also shared photos of hopefulness, including this one of a baby. He also has large images of a double rainbow, and a tiny plant growing in a crack of concrete.

The concert at the First Baptist Church in Albion was fundraiser for the church’s Major Projects Fund. Simboli also is the organist at the historic site that was built from 1860.

Marsha Rivers, the church’s pastor, also was in the theater program led by Simboli when she was a high school student in 1989 to 1992. She did a cameo during the Simboli concert on Saturday, performing, “Broadway Baby.”

The First Baptist Church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The congregation wants to be a good steward of the building, including the large stained-glassed windows.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A new fundraiser for the Albion band program was a sell-out today with all 300 dinners gone.

This photo show Scott Mann, left, of Mann vs. Food working with Albion band students and adults involved in the marching band, including Jon Trembley, second from left, who is the percussion instructor.

The meals included the pulled pork, potatoes, cole slaw, a roll and a cookie. They were served from the High School FFA.

Press Release, Catholic Charities

ALBION – Catholic Charities has moved the office down the street and is now housed at 106 S. Main St. inside the Holy Family Catholic Church office.

Services offered at the Albion site include emergency assistance, friendly phones, home visitation, and the Our Kids parent education and awareness program.

Catholic Charities is unable to accommodate walk-ins at this new site. Those in need of assistance should call 585-343-0614 to schedule an appointment.

Priest served Holley and Kendall Catholic churches for 7 ½ years until 2018

Photos by Tom Rivers: Father Mark Noonan is the new pastor of a Family of Parishes that includes Catholic churches in Albion, Holley, Kendall, Medina, Lyndonville, Barker and Middleport. He is shown outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Albion today. He and two other priests will serve the Family of Parishes.

ALBION – This weekend is the start of big changes for Catholic churches in Western New York, including in Orleans County and eastern Niagara.

The Diocese has grouped 161 parishes into 36 Families of Parishes. The five churches in Orleans County and two in eastern Niagara are in family No. 11. They are led by pastor Mark Noonan, a priest who previously served for 7 ½ years at St. Mark’s in Kendall and St. Mary’s in Holley. He also was a seminarian at St. Joseph’s in Albion in 2006.

Father Noonan and two other priests will serve the seven churches. (St. Joseph’s in Lyndonville currently is closed after a devastating fire at the church on Feb. 28.)

The three priests will be on a rotation leading Mass at the churches. Father Noonan is joined by Father Jan Trela and Father Richard Csizmar. Father Csizmar retired on Wednesday but will continue as an active priest until a parochial vicar is named to Orleans and eastern Niagara.

“The process we are entering will be a good one, but not without some bumps,” Father Noonan said during an interview on Friday in Albion. “I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The Diocese Road to Renewal plan is in response to a declining number of priests – and parishioners. The number of active priests is down from 179 in 2011 to 144 in 2019. Attendance at Mass dropped 41 percent during those 8 years. The decline is more pronounced in the 8-county Diocese going back to 2012 when attendance was 155,000 for weekends. Now it is about 60,000.

Father Noonan wants to welcome people back to church who haven’t been recently. And he wants to encourage others to be open to attending services.

“Our goal is real renewal,” he said. “We want the church to be really alive, and a source of light an strength in the whole community.”

This week is the temporary start of the new Mass schedule.

• Circuit 1: Father Jan Trela this weekend, includes Saturday at 4 p.m. at St. Mary’s in Holley, and 5:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s in Kendall. Sunday includes 8 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s in Albion, and 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s in Holley.
• Circuit 2: Father Mark Noonan this weekend, includes Saturday at 4 p.m. at St. Mary’s in Medina, and 5:30 p.m. at St. Joseph’s in Albion. Sunday includes 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Stephen’s in Middleport, and 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph’s in Albion.
• Circuit 3: Father Richard Csizmar this weekend, includes Saturday at 4 p.m. at St. Patrick’s in Barker. Sunday includes 9 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s in Barker and 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s in Medina.

The priest in circuit 1 will do circuit 2 the following week, and then circuit 3 after that.

The three active priests assigned to the family of parishes in eastern Niagara and Orleans County is down one priest from before the new alignment.

Father Dick Csizmar is keeping a full schedule until a new parochial vicar is assigned to the family of parishes. Csizmar retired on Wednesday, but is keeping a busy schedule as a priest for now.

Father Mark Noonan has scheduled the following listening sessions at 6:30 p.m.: March 13 at Holy Family in Albion, March 14 for St. Josephs in Lyndonville (to be held at Lyndonville High School library on Housel Avenue), March 16 at St. Mary’s in Medina, March 20 at St. Patrick’s in Barker, March 21 at St. Mary’s in Holley, Mark 27 at St. Mark’s in Kendall, and March 28 at St. Stephen’s in Middleport.

The listening sessions are a chance for Father Noonan to share more about the Families of Parishes process and hear thoughts from parishioners.

Father Mark Noonan is back in Orleans County. He previously was a seminarian at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in 2006, and then was the priest for 7 ½ years at St. Mary’s in Holley and St. Mark’s in Kendall until 2018.

Father Noonan likes the move to group nearby parishes as a family.

“We really are one Catholic community,” he said. “We can live out our Catholic faith in a broader way and see our mission in a broader way. Our goal in this is to pray together and grow together.”

Noonan, 46, is a Cheektowaga native. He most recently served as priest for seven months at a parish in Dunkirk. Before that he spent two years in Detroit, Michigan at a Spanish-speaking congregation.

He has become bilingual and wants to do more outreach with the Spanish-speaking community in Orleans and eastern Niagara.

How to connect with that population will be among the priorities for Father Noonan and the Family of Parishes. He said it will be among six pillars to be discussed among the local parishes in the next six months. Those pillars include liturgy, spiritual life, outreach and “in-reach”, Catholic education/faith formation, stewardship and administration.

The priest said the focus will be on helping to foster a deep spiritual life among the new Family of Parishes.

“Everybody on Earth is looking for happiness,” Father Noonan said. “That’s what is found in God, a happiness that never goes away. People want joy. We all have burdens and challenges that will always be there. But our happiness is grounded in something that is everlasting.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Kamryn Simmons plays the role of King Louie in the Albion Middle School production of “The Jungle Book.” Louie, an orangutan, is leader of a gang of monkeys and sings, “I Wanna Be Like You.”

The show opened on Friday and returns today with shows at noon and 7 p.m. at the Albion Middle School Auditorium. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.

There are 75 students in the cast and crew. This is the 52^nd musical directed by Carrie Kozody at the middle school.

She said the program is returning to full strength after being limited during the Covid pandemic. “This show has brought a lot of enthusiasm from our students,” Kozody said. “This is our first full-length story line (since Covid).”

Yaritza Fernandez Perez is Rashka the Mother Wolf, holding the baby Mowgli. The baby is found in a basket in the deep jungles of India. Mowgli will be raised by wolves.

Ayme Vallejo Morales is Kaa, a python that sings “Trust in Me” to Mowgli, played by Sophie Kozody. The snake has powers to hypnotize.

Mowgli, “The Man Child,” prefers life in the jungle and doesn’t want to go back to the village with other humans.

Liam Leader plays the role of Akela the Father Wolf who is the chief and leader of the wolf pack. Cerenity Johnson is Bagheera, a black panther who is one of Mowgli’s protectors.

Sophie Kozody as Mowgli and Aubrielle Barry as Baloo perform “The Bare Necessities.” Baloo, a fun-loving bear, becomes a good friend to Mowgli and vows to not take him to the “man-village.”

ChrisJen Winters is Shere Kan, a dangerous tiger that is determined to destroy Mowgli, fearing the human will bring guns and fire into the jungle.

Carley Smith, center, is Colonel Hathi, leader of the elephant brigade. Hannah Olles, left, and Lily Brigham are part of the group. Hathi gets the elephants in line for their patrol.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Representatives from the Holy Family Parish in Albion today presented $1,267 to the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen at Harvest Christian Fellowship.

Holy Family did a collection on Super Bowl weekend, Feb. 11-12, and parishioners donated $1,267, about double what is normally given for the “Souper Bowl” collection. The parish in Albion does the collection for the kitchen each weekend during the Super Bowl because people tend to indulge in snacks and food during the big game.

Pictured from left include Father Dick Csizmar, Father Jan Trela, Agnes Piskorowski (holding the check), Faith Smith of the OK Kitchen, Carolyn Budynski, and Father Mark Noonan.

Trela and Noonan started on Wednesday as priests in a family of Catholic churches in Orleans County and eastern Niagara. Noonan was a seminarian in Albion in 2006 and served at St. Mark’s in Kendall and St. Mary’s in Holley for 7 ½ years until about five years ago.

Volunteers from the Holy Family Parish in Albion are making beef stew for the OK Kitchen today. In front chopping carrots and onions include Gina Boothby at left and Elaine Kovaleski at right.

ALBION – Bullard Park would become an even bigger community asset with courts for volleyball, bocce and pickleball, the Village Board was told on Wednesday.

John Grillo, the village’s long-time recreation director, said those courts wouldn’t cost much to put in and maintain.

He has heard from community members asking for those courts at Bullard. Some people also would like to see a horseshoe playing area.

Grillo said the park has been busier since the new splash park and playground equipment were installed about two years ago. Last year’s summer park’s program averaged 70 kids a day, Grillo said.

The village Department of Public Works will be putting in a disc golf course in the spring with baskets and tee-off areas.

Grillo said he would like to see the bocce, pickleball and volleyball spaces ready by summer. The pickleball could perhaps go where there was a former pavilion near the old bathrooms. That spot still has the asphalt on top of a concrete base. The asphalt would likely need to be removed with new asphalt put down, said Village Trustee Tim McMurray.

The ideas are in the discussion stage right now, Grillo said.

He told the board there is also interest and support in the community to bring back the July 3^rd fireworks show which was at Bullard Park.

In other action at Wednesday’s meeting:

• The Village Board appointed Chris Kinter as a part-time code enforcement officer at $25 per hour, not to exceed 1,040 hours in a year.

Kinter was a member of the Albion Planning Board and also works at the Town of Albion code officer.

Trustee McMurray abstained from the vote, saying the village should have posted the position and better advertised it.

Mayor Angel Javier Jr., Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley and Trustee Zack Burgess voted for Kinter.

“He is a known quantity and he has served our community well,” Riley said.

• In another codes issue, the village’s other part-time code enforcement officer, Anne Podolak, requested that former code officer Ron Vendetti be retained as a consultant to share how handled court cases in the role, and also how he was able to generate so much in revenue for the office. Podolak said Vendetti generated more money for the village through the code office than his successors.

“I want to know his processes and procedures,” Podolak told the Village Board.

Riley, the deputy mayor, made a motion for Vendetti to be retained as a consultant for up to 20 hours in the next two months but no one else backed that motion.

“We’re not asking Mr. Vendetti to come back,” Riley said. “We’re asking Mr. Vendetti for his expertise.”

• Fire Chief Rob Conner informed the village he will be done as the Fire Department’s leader on May 1.

“He has done a yeoman’s job leading his men and making sure the village is safe,” Riley said.

• The board approved closing East State Street from Main to Platt on April 8 for the second annual Easter Egg Hunt, an event organized by the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries.

• The board also approved use of Mount Albion Cemetery on march 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the Wayne A. Burlison Colon Cancer Awareness Run. That 5K starts near the elementary school and goes along Route 31 for a loop in the cemetery and then heads back down Route 31 to the school.

Risen Café offers ‘safe place with no judgement’

Photos by Tom Rivers: The Risen Café opened on Tuesday the former Crooked Door Tavern at 469 East State St. Pictured from left include Sarah Ferguson, Terry Bryant and Jeannie Sullivan.

ALBION – Pastor Terry Bryant of God’s Voice Ministries wants to lead a 21^st Century church where he said everyone is welcome, and they don’t feel out of place if they aren’t familiar with hymns, Bible passages and the usual structure of a church service.

Bryant and the church members at God’s Voice have opened the Risen Café at the former Crooked Door Tavern at 469 East State St. They serve coffee and have a breakfast and lunch menu of soups and sandwiches. They are open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday.

“Cheers without beers,” Bryant said. “Everybody can feel comfortable here.”

However, their main goal is offering people a place to share prayer concerns and develop a deeper spiritual life.

“This is a place to connect with people,” Bryant said today at the café. “We want to reach people that wouldn’t come into a traditional church. This is a very nonthreatening environment.”

The church has been meeting out of Bryant’s home the past four years. It was meeting at a Best Western hotel in Lockport until Covid restrictions sent them to Bryant’s living room.

Two of the church members moved to Brown Road in Albion. Bryant was visiting them when he saw the former Crooked Door. He saw the building as a way to serve the community, giving the public another dine-in option for coffee and meals.

But he also sensed people who aren’t connected to a church might see the site as a place to get spiritual guidance.

The congregation has been meeting in the back side of the building since November for Sunday church services at 11 a.m. That space, with a capacity for 37 people, also is used for Bible studies and other gatherings for the church.

The former bar side of the building is the café, where Bible quotes are now on the walls.

Scripture is displayed on the walls at the Risen Café. There is also a prayer corner and a spot for people to submit prayer requests.

Sarah Ferguson of Lyndonville is one of the servers at the Risen Café. She also is the church’s associate pastor. She has master’s degrees in pastoral counseling and addiction recovery. She wants to lead a Christian-based Celebrate Recovery program to help people with addictions, and also direct them to other resources in the community.

“This is somewhere where I can talk about Jesus, learn about people and pray for people,” she said. “We are creating a safe place with no judgement.”

Bryant has worked as an IT systems administrator for about 30 years. He works out of the Larkin Building in Buffalo for Kaleida Health. In 2009, he said he lost feeling in his legs from symptoms of multiple sclerosis. But he said God restored his health and he has been striving to serve God since. He earned a ministry degree while working his other job in information technology.

Bryant initially pushed his ministry with his wife Denise. She contracted Covid and passed away on Dec. 20, 2021. Bryant said he misses his wife very much. He believes that difficult loss can help him relate to others enduring heartache.

“This can be a place where we can have uncomfortable conversations,” he said. “We want to love people where they are.”