About Queen of Angels · Lackawanna, New York
Queen of Angels is a Roman Catholic parish in Lackawanna, New York, part of the Diocese of Buffalo and rooted in the historic Polish-American community of the Southtowns. The parish serves its faithful at 144 Warsaw Avenue. In 2022 the Diocese appointed Father Robert J. Orlowski as parish administrator (in addition to his role as pastor of nearby Our Mother of Good Counsel in Blasdell). Under the Diocese of Buffalo's 'Road to Renewal' restructuring initiative (Family #26), Queen of Angels was recommended to merge with Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica in Lackawanna; the final diocesan plan retained Queen of Angels as a secondary worship site of the merged parish. The parish remains a small but active faith community offering weekend and weekday Mass and continuing a long Polish-heritage Catholic tradition on Lackawanna's east side.
- Patron
- Our Lady, Queen of Angels
- Rector
- Father Robert J. Orlowski (Parish Administrator, appointed May 1, 2022)
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo
Why belong here
Queen of Angels is a small, tight-knit Catholic parish that has served Lackawanna's Polish-rooted east-side community for generations. Worshippers who value a quiet, neighborhood-sized church with a strong Marian devotion — the parish is named for the Queen of Angels — and weekend and weekday Mass schedules will find a familiar, traditional home here. Today it is also a parish in transition, sharing pastoral leadership with neighboring Our Mother of Good Counsel, which means visitors and parishioners are welcomed into a wider Family #26 of Southtowns Catholic parishes under the Diocese of Buffalo's Road to Renewal.
Mass times at Queen of Angels
Weekly Mass schedule
Queen of Angels Parish — Overview
Queen of Angels is a Roman Catholic parish in Lackawanna, New York, in the Diocese of Buffalo, serving worshippers from 144 Warsaw Avenue in the city's historic Polish-American east-side neighborhood. The parish is named in honor of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, and its earliest records also invoke the Archangel Michael. As of 2022 it has been administered by Father Robert J. Orlowski, who simultaneously pastors neighboring Our Mother of Good Counsel in Blasdell.
- Parish name: Queen of Angels
- Diocese: Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo
- Location: 144 Warsaw Avenue, Lackawanna, NY 14218
- Phone: (716) 826-0880
- Administrator: Father Robert J. Orlowski (since May 1, 2022)
History and Heritage
Queen of Angels grew out of the Polish-American Catholic community that took root in Lackawanna in the early twentieth century, when immigration and the Bethlehem Steel plant drew thousands of Polish families to the Southtowns. The Bishop of Buffalo formally established the parish as a personal parish — that is, a parish erected to serve a particular language or nationality group, here the Polish faithful of Lackawanna. The parish's name and its early invocation of the Archangel Michael connect it to a strong Marian and angelic devotional tradition.
- Erected by the Bishop of Buffalo as a personal (Polish) parish
- Named for the Queen of Angels, with the Archangel Michael honored in early parish records
- Served generations of Polish-American families in Lackawanna
Road to Renewal — Family #26
In June 2024 the Diocese of Buffalo released its 'Road to Renewal' list of parish mergers and closures, placing Queen of Angels in Family #26. The initial recommendation was for Queen of Angels to merge with Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica in Lackawanna and close as a worship site. After the Diocese reviewed 52 counter-proposals from 30 parish families, the revised plan (announced in late 2024) retained Our Lady of Victory as the surviving parish and kept Queen of Angels as a secondary worship site for funerals, weddings, and other events. Mergers across the diocese were scheduled to begin in October 2024 and conclude by Pentecost 2025.
- Initial recommendation (June 2024): merge Queen of Angels into Our Lady of Victory and close
- Revised plan (late 2024): Our Lady of Victory survives; Queen of Angels retained as a secondary worship site
- Family #26 partners: Our Lady of Victory (Lackawanna), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Orchard Park), Our Mother of Good Counsel (Blasdell), St. Anthony (Lackawanna), Our Lady of Bistrica (Lackawanna)
- Driven by priest shortage, declining Mass attendance, and nearly 900 childhood sexual-abuse claims against the diocese
Clergy and Leadership
Effective May 1, 2022, Bishop Michael W. Fisher appointed Father Robert J. Orlowski as administrator of Queen of Angels Parish, while Father Orlowski continued to serve as pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Blasdell. This linked the two parishes pastorally in advance of the diocesan 'Road to Renewal' restructuring.
- Father Robert J. Orlowski — Parish Administrator (since May 1, 2022); concurrently pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel, Blasdell
- Bishop Michael W. Fisher — Bishop of Buffalo, appointed Father Orlowski
Sacraments and Devotions
Specific schedules for confession, Eucharistic adoration, and other devotions at Queen of Angels are not published online; visitors should contact the parish office for the current sacrament schedule.
- Confession times: not published; call parish office
- Eucharistic adoration: not listed online
- Baptism, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick: contact parish office at (716) 826-0880
Visiting Queen of Angels
Queen of Angels is located at 144 Warsaw Avenue in the City of Lackawanna, just south of Buffalo in Erie County, New York. As a small parish sharing clergy with Our Mother of Good Counsel, weekday Mass at Queen of Angels is limited to Thursday and Friday mornings. Visitors and returning parishioners are warmly invited to call ahead at (716) 826-0880 to confirm Mass times, especially during the diocesan 'Road to Renewal' transition.
- Address: 144 Warsaw Avenue, Lackawanna, NY 14218
- Phone: (716) 826-0880
- Diocesan page: buffalodiocese.org (Parishes outside Buffalo)
- Directory listings: catholicmasstime.org, catholicchurch.directory, discovermass.com, catholicdirectory.com
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Robert J. Orlowski2022–present
Appointed administrator of Queen of Angels by Bishop Michael W. Fisher effective May 1, 2022, while continuing as pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel, Blasdell.