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Newsletter June 9, 2025

The following are the meeting minutes from June 4, 2025, in which was discussed adopting a 501c3 for donations, among other topics.


St John’s 501c3 Meeting Minutes – 4 June 2025

MC: Dan Hinz

  1. Last SOBC Zoom & Updates

    1. Our Lady of Peace (OLP) – Salamanca

    2. Tom Brady – retired attorney from Salamanca

      1. Ellicottville was originally slated to merge with Salamanca

      2. The Diocese then changed course and issued a decree to merge OLP into Ellicottville (perhaps property value driven), at least partly due to OLV having only 47 years remaining on their lease with the Seneca Nation

      3. Senecas sent letter to church to say they consider OLV a prized building and institution in Salamanca have no concerns regarding the lease.  They want OLV long term

      4. Former parishioner from OLV is a canon lawyer/priest in Germany encouraged their appeal and guided them through th process.  Their appeal was accepted for review by the Dicastery

    3. Philip Gray has every expectation that all SOBC appeals will be accepted for review.  So far 16 have been accepted for review by the Dicastery

    4. We, St. John’s, have two appeals pending with the Dicastery.  The first is an appeal for suspension of the decree.  The 90 day timeframe for an answer from the Dicastery is end of June.  Our second appeal is for revoking the decree and the timeframe for an answer is end of July

    5. Should either appeal be accepted for review our status should revert back to the day the decree was issued.  This would reinstate us as a Parish and mean the merger into St Mary’s is no longer in place.

    6. SOBC group continue to discuss options with the diocese

      1. Per SOBC - Fr Brian has said publicly that secondary worship sites are still parishes and has said to others that they aren’t…

  2. Rebuilt Conference – This would be an alternate to Road to Renewal – Attendees from our Enchanted Mountain Catholic Community were – Father Chris, Father Greg, Jennifer Forney, Mary Cygan, Alex Payne, Doreene Carnicelli, Cathy Pressimone, Fran Tripodi and Dan Hinz

    1. Church of the Nativity – Timonium, Maryland

      1. They were struggling and nothing doing well – they created the Rebuilt model for addressing their struggles and turn things around.  This has been a huge success story.  They are growing, are financially sound and have a very active congregation.  They are making disciples through this transformation and the energy is incredible.

      2. 1800 of 4000 parishioners involved in small groups

        1. 92 women’s groups

        2. 45 men’s groups

      3. Massive theater for children’s liturgy

        1. Take 60 volunteers to run

      4. Young Adult Groups

      5. Rebuilt is based on 4 Anchors

        1. Weekend Experience that everybody loves

          1. Exceptional music, message, ministries

        2. Grow Deeply

          1. Clear discipleship path for all parishioners



        5. Grow Wider

          1. Inviting friends, cousins, etc.

          2. Expanding everything

        6. Leadership

          1. Priest that has been there for over 15 years

          2. Extensive full time staff

          3. High level professional staff – many years of success in the business world

          4. They don’t take a collection because they don’t need to

    2. 750 people at the conference

    3. We are reviewing what we can do with what we experienced at the conference through presentations and break out sessions.

  3. 501c3 – instead of traditional collections at Mass

    1. Concern about collections

      1. Will they go up or down if we implement this plan

      2. People who stopped giving have started again for the most part

    2. Endowment at Cattaraugus Regional Community Foundation (CRCF) started years ago

      1. Community Foundation technically owns the money, but the diocese doesn’t have access to it

    3. 501c3 type funds are common in Europe and fairly common in the US now

    4. EMCC would submit to the 501c3 an invoice, and the financial persons would approve funds and ask appropriate questions

      1. Instead of envelopes going in the Mass collections your contributions would go to the fund directly

      2. Funds can only be used for to support St. Johns or the local community

    5. In the event of St John’s closure

      1. Funds can only be used for grants for our community

        1. Grants approved by fund advisors who are members of St Johns

      2. Diocese is not legally entitled to any of the funds

    6. Establishing donation

      1. Seed money

    7. Name of the Fund

      1. SJTEO Fund

        1. St John The Evangelist Olean

    8. Purpose of the fund

      1. Grants to support parish operations, upgrades, etc.

    9. Contributions

      1. Irrevocable (no refunds)

      2. Spent only with approval of fund advisors who are St Johns parishioners – 3 Fund Advisors are required

    10. Instruments of the Foundation

      1. Fund is managed by policies and bylaws of CRCF Foundation

    11. Cost to run the Fund

      1. .05% of the 20-quarter balance each quarter

      2. 20 grants from the fund can be written each quarter

        1. Grant would pay the invoice from EMCC

    12. Separate accounting

      1. Comingled funds for investment but separate accounting for each fund

  4. Votes

    1. In favor

      1. 7

      2. Larry Pavlock, Dawn Pezzimenti, Pat O’Malley, Dennis Pezzimenti, Larry Sorokes, Mary Fofanah, Dan Hinz

    2. Those opposed

      1. 0

    3. Abstained

      1. 1

      2. Paul Bzdak

  5. Next Steps – Use Caution to avoid causing any negative impact to our current collections and financial position.  There is a Watch List meeting scheduled with  the Diocese on June 6 – Input from that meeting will be reviewed for potential impact to this planning

    1. Introduce to our parishioners and gage support

      1. Plan a meeting for parishioners

      2. Brainstorm dates

      3. Make a meeting plan

        1. Discuss finer points and differences between current collection process and Community foundation setup

        2. Bequeathments in will – change to CRCF to ensure money stays within St Johns and the community

Attendees - 8: Larry Pavlock, Dawn Pezzimenti, Pat O’Malley, Dennis Pezzimenti, Larry Sorokes, Paul Bzdak, Dan Hinz, Mary Fofanah

Absent: N/A

Additional Note: Father Chris advised at Masses this weekend that we continue to be a parish, and not a secondary worship site even though the decree date of 5/31 has past. This is based on the Diocese acknowledging that we have appeals in process, so they pause on the decree until the appeal process is concluded. For clarity, this does not mean the Dicastery has responded to our appeals, but confirms that the Bishop has consistently said that in the event of appeals, all decree actions will be suspended.


Please consider respectfully writing to the Bishop, showing your support for keeping St. John’s as a parish.  The address is Most Rev. Michael Fisher, Bishop of Buffalo, Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, 795 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203.  Please copy Dan Hinz with any letters sent.


"Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' " ~ John 20:21


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Sincere thanks for everyone who has provided their valuable time, effort, and prayers.  Community support is important, and we know the power of prayer!

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