BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- The state is helping a landmark church on Buffalo’s East Side return to its former glory.
Illuminated arches and century old stained glass windows used to draw crowds to Corpus Christi but now there are fewer parishioners.
A group called Friends of Corpus Christi hopes a $50,000 grant from New York Empire State Development will help breathe new life into both the church community and the neighborhood.
“We hope and we believe that this grant will be good for that new generation,” said Father Michael Czyzewski.
Fr. Czyzewski said Friends of Corpus Christi wants to transform the five building campus into a place for workforce development and recreation. The church already has a bowling alley in one of its buildings that used to be an athletic club.
“This building was built for the Polish immigrants and of course this is not just for the Polish people, we are open for any nation, we are open for any religion,” said Fr. Czyzewski.
Friends of Corpus Christi has to come up with a master plan for the community center. They expect to use most of the grant money for the design costs.
“We view it as seed money to help them get up and running,” said Sam Hoyt, the regional president of Empire State Development. “Ultimately, if that plan is completed, it could completely transform a pretty significant area of the East Side of Buffalo.”
He told News 4 they urge the Friends of Corpus Christi to re-apply for additional funds once the master plan is finished.
This project was selected as one of the top 27 priority projects by the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council.
Buffalo Common Council Member David Franczyk said parishioners have been persistent for years.
“Hopefully some of that spills off to get the Diocese to renovate Saint Ann’s, which is about a mile and a half to the west,” said Franczyk. “People need to see good things are happening on the East Side where they thought only bad things were happening and if they thought that, they’d be wrong.”
Friends of Corpus Christi told us they don’t have a timeline for the project yet.
