Formed in 2022 as a Pilot Family for the Diocese of Buffalo’s Road to Renewal, the Beloved Disciples of Christ the Lord Roman Catholic Family of Parishes is comprised of 6 Parishes in Central Erie County. With Parishes from Bowmansville, Depew, Cheektowaga, and Lancaster, they have been working to better understand what it is to work together as a Family and help pave the way in the process of building a Family of Parishes as it begins to spread to more areas in the Diocese.

Basing their new calling on a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, the BDCL Family will be focusing on not only bringing the Good News to their current Parishioners, but is excited to find new ways of reaching out to those in our communities to bring the Word to them as well. Through working together and sharing resources better, our Family of Parishes hopes to strengthen our bonds, renew our connections with each other and our Faith, and to bring others to the Faith.

What Parishes are in your Family?

Original – Our Lady of Pompeii Parish (Lancaster), Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish & Diocesan Shrine (Bowmansville), St. Martha Parish (Depew), St. Mary of the Assumption (Lancaster), St. Philip the Apostle Parish (Cheektowaga), & St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish (Depew).

During the Road to Renewal updates that were announced in September 2024, St. John the Baptist Parish (Alden) would be added to our Family. As of October 15th, 2024, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish transferred to another Family and St. John’s was officially added. This made our Family: Our Lady of Pompeii Parish (Lancaster), St. John the Baptist Parish (Alden), St. Martha Parish (Depew), St. Mary of the Assumption (Lancaster), St. Philip the Apostle Parish (Cheektowaga), & St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish (Depew).

St. Martha Parish is under recourse currently to challenge the decision of the Diocese to close that Parish. Currently, they are still a full Parish within our Family. Should the decision from the Vatican agree with the Diocese, they will merge into St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and close.

Our Lady of Pompeii Parish became a Secondary Worship Site of St. Mary the Assumption Parish as of the beginning of June 2025. These buildings are now Our Lady of Pompeii Campus, with the original St. Mary’s buildings being termed “Hill Campus. Our Lady of Pompeii Campus will be finishing their transition of business to St. Mary’s in the near future, officially closing the Parish itself.

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish had their final Mass on Sunday, June 8th, 2025 and are now officially closed as a Parish. Their Parishioners have filed recourse with the Vatican to challenge the sale of the property. Until that decision is reached, the buildings and grounds cannot be sold. St. James Church will still be available for limited private Masses and will hold two Masses every year. One on the Feast Day of their Patron Saint, St. James the Lesser on May 3 and one on their day of Dedication, June 14.

Why Beloved Disciples of Christ the Lord as your name?

The name all began as an attempt to try and represent all of our original Parishes. With many attempts to try and find saints or special Biblical places as a centerpiece for our name, the idea of taking the initials of each of our original cities or towns and trying to create a phrase out of those seemed more and more promising. Bowmansville, Depew, Cheektowaga, Lancaster… BDCL – Beloved Disciples of Christ the Lord. After much thought, the phrase finally became clear and once a round of voting occurred to get our Parishioner’s input, the official Family name was chosen.

This term “Beloved Disciple” is most known as coming from the writings of St. John the Evangelist. In his Gospel, he often writes of the Beloved Disciple as being especially close to Christ. It is often assumed that the this is John, though scholars are quick to point out that no one is ever named. There are many possible reasons for John to be regarded as such, but several years ago a different possibility for not identifying the Beloved Disciple was noted.

Some scholars have suggested that each person reading or listening to the Gospel is a Beloved Disciple and can place themselves into the Gospel story. When the Beloved Disciple reclines next to Jesus at the Last Supper, it is YOU who is sitting next to Jesus as He gives us Himself in the Eucharist. When Jesus sees the Beloved Disciple with His Mother, Mary, at the foot of the Cross and He gives her to the Disciple, He is giving Mary to YOU to be your mother as well. We are all Beloved Disciples and that title becomes an appropriate name as we begin our new existence to help remember that every individual is important.

We will not be updating this name as the Parishes in our Family change.

Why a lily as your logo?

The lily we use as our logo has many levels of meaning for our Family of Parishes. On this lily there are six petals, one for each of our Parishes. These petals come together to represent us coming together as a Family and in the center of the flower are three stamen to represent the Trinity and our Faith. The lily itself is a symbol for Mary, who many of our Parishes are dedicated to. It also stands for renewing social connections, hope, faith, renewal, transitioning, remembrance, and the beauty experienced when we seek to renew spiritual relationships. As our Family works towards coming together, we hope to remember our individual pasts and transition into creating a brighter future together. Together, we grow.