St. Stephen’s congregation gives farewell with appreciation to church in Middleport

Photos by Tom Rivers

MIDDLEPORT – Father Mark Noonan, pastor of the St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in the ONE Catholic family of churches, walks down the center aisle of St. Stephen’s at the beginning of Mass today. The 8:30 a.m. Mass was the final Catholic service at the church.

Joe Gagne greets attendees at St. Stephen’s this morning. Gagne was at the welcoming people for the service at 21 Vernon St.

The church was an emotional finale for many of the attendees.

“It’s sad, but we will move to a new building,” said David Monti, a lector who has attended St. Stephen’s since 1986. “We are one parish and a community.”

Next Sunday on Jan. 19 the 8:30 a.m. Mass will move to St. Mary’s in Medina.

There was a large crowd in the sanctuary of about 200 people. The Sunday service typically has about 75 people. This photo shows people kneeling in prayer during the service.

Bishop Michael Fisher of the Diocese of Buffalo announced in September that St. Stephen’s would close as part of a restructuring of churches in the 8-county Diocese. The Diocese is closing some churches due to a declining number of priests and attendance.

Some candles are lit in the sanctuary of the church during the final Mass at St. Stephen’s this morning.

St. Stephen’s is part of ONE Catholic that includes churches in eastern Niagara and Orleans counties. The bishop also announced St. Mark’s in Kendall would close but a final Mass date hasn’t been announced for St. Mark’s.

St. Joseph’s in Lyndonville also is in ONE Catholic but that church was badly damaged in a fire on Feb. 28, 2023 and later razed. Barker’s church also is in ONE Catholic but that one will be aligned with a family of churches closer to Lockport.

ONE Catholic said the music crew from St. Stephen’s will continue to provide music at St. Mary’s, and others from St. Stephen’s will be lectors, eucharistic ministers, greeters and ushers at St. Mary’s.

The St. Stephen’s building will be sold and the religious sacred items will be deconsecrated, Father Noonan said after the service today.

Father Mark Noonan acknowledged today is an emotional and difficult day for parishioners in the church. He said many in the parish and community no doubt are feeling “a sense of bewilderment and loss,” with the closing of St. Stephen’s.

“We recall the great many blessings that have come into our lives and community from this church,” Father Noonan said.

The church was the site for more than a century for baptisms, weddings, funerals, communions and confessions.

Noonan urged today’s attendees to feel appreciation for the church’s long home for Catholics.

“We give thanks to God for all of the many wonderful blessings,” Father Noonan said. “Gratitude is a good way to live, to move our heart ina  world that is imperfect to see the beautiful things that God has given us.”

He shared home his own home church, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga, also will be closed by the Diocese.

“It is sorrowful when a religious order or a parish comes to an end,” Father Noonan said. “It came into existence for a purpose and maybe it has fulfilled its purpose.”

After the service today Chris Horgan took photos of the stained-glass windows at the altar. Horgan, a Medina resident, grew up in the church at St. Stephen’s and was an altar boy, and as an adult taught confirmation classes. He said he has fond memories serving as altar boy during midnight Mass. He later went to St. Bonaventure University.

“It was an essential part of my life growing up,” Horgan said about St. Stephen’s. “It is a beautiful church inside and out.”

This stained-glass window in honor of Stephen, the first martyr for Christianity. He was stoned to death after angering Jewish authorities in synagogues, according to the Book of Acts. The window depicts Stephen holding rocks.

The cornerstone block acknowledges an earlier building before the Medina Sandstone edifice was constructed in 1908.

This photo is looking from the altar to the back of the church after Mass this morning. The religious artifacts will be inventoried and deconsecrated.

The Catholic church building on Vernon Street has been a landmark in Middleport for more than a century.