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Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels Catholic Community
"Let the Church always be a place of Mercy and Hope, where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven."
--Pope Francis
Welcome! And if you've been away for a while from the Catholic Church, Welcome Home! You've been missed. We invite you to get reacquainted with your Catholic family.
The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels Catholic community--more than 1,350 families strong-- is a vibrant center of worship in the southern region of the Diocese of Buffalo. If you have been away from the Catholic Church for a while, or are thinking of joining us or are a Catholic looking for a home parish or just want to come to worship with us, let us share a little about who we are, why we're here and how we may be of service to you and your family.Our mission
to lead people to the kingdom of God
by living and nurturing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Although nestled in the quiet, unassuming city of Olean in a rural portion of New York State, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels serves as the diocese’s most significant anchor in the region for Catholic sacramental life, liturgy, formation and culture.
Our parish has maintained this distinction since 1852, first as a Diocesan mission eventually under the care of the Franciscans at St. Bonaventure's College in 1856 and later as a diocesan parish in 1876. This parish nurtures its heritage of rendering ministry to the poor, to immigrants, to families struggling to keep faith alive in their homes, to individuals searching for a deeper relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's really what we are about. The physical building is a manifestation of the Church’s mission to invite people to cross the threshold of our doorway and ask Jesus into their hearts. This invitation is extended to everyone, no matter what your situation is in life.
The basilica's' remarkable history is one of an extraordinary church in rural America which has drawn to its doors thousands of people just like you--some even ended up being significant spiritual figures in our American Catholic history.We strive to continue our ancestors' legacy of love and perseverance—despite challenges of the day— in dispensing Word, Sacrament and Service to the People of God in a world hungry for these gifts.
Are you hungry for these gifts?
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels offers you and your family opportunities for:
- a vibrant devotional life - helps you to enrich your experience of prayer and connection with God
- rich sacramental life - offering you genuine engagements with Christ through His Church. Each of the sacraments helps us to encounter the Incarnate Lord Jesus and to enter into the effects of His saving passion, death and resurrection. Nothing is more significant to what makes us Catholic than our sacramental life.
- splendid liturgies - offering you the best of the rich traditions handed down from the Church's 2,000-year history; we strive to give the finest worship we can offer to God
- Catholic education- giving you a valuable, irreplaceable choice for your children and a solid foundation of faith upon which they can build a life God intends for them--"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." ( John 10:10).
youth ministry (with participation numbers on par with other diocesan parishes five times our population) - enabling your children to have significant experiences of faith and fellowship with their peers in a safe, nurturing, faith-filled environment. Over the years these youngsters and teens have developed life-long friendships. Some have gone on to do amazing things in the name of Jesus Christ. Read their stories here!- dynamic catechetical program including RCIA (initiation journey into the Catholic Church) and Confirmation classes in the region - Enriching the faith life of young and old alike, helping them to become all that God wants them to be.
- year-round activities and special events - because life in the Spirit is not just found in a church building.
- exquisite artistic offerings- Indeed, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels is the venue of choice for a variety of sacred and secular musical concerts in the region, just as it is serves as host for numerous significant community religious events.
- outreach ministries we either operate or sponsor—To receive mercy, we must also give it. The Basilica ofSt. Mary of the Angels offers ways for you to give mercy to others less fortunate in our community. Our most significant event of this nature is our annual Christmas day dinner feeding more than 900 in the community. In addition to this work of mercy, the parish contributes more than $300,000 in services and monetary donations to charitable and educational outreach programs each year.
And beyond this, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels is a place of pilgrimage. As Thomas Merton discovered more than 75 years ago, the landscape of tranquil rolling hills—little changed since his time in the cabin on the hill behind St. Mary’s—is conducive to quiet reflection and soul searching. The jewel in the valley is this splendid gothic church containing the heart, the precious treasure found in the search.
The parish community has zealously maintained its tradition to restore, renew and update its magnificent 100-year-old church building for its present and future needs. It does this not to preserve a museum, but to continue the dialog not only with its past but its present and its future in leading people to the kingdom of God by living and nurturing the Good News of Jesus Christ.