The Chapel gives second life to former catholic school

Dec. 17—NIAGARA FALLS — The former Niagara Catholic Junior-Senior High School has undergone a long process from a school into a new nondenominational church.

Now almost a year into running services at the site, new owners The Chapel already has a growing congregation, working on further renovations to its facilities, and is looking to expand its reach further into the Niagara Falls area.

Originating in its first location in Getzville, the Chapel operates four locations total, in Niagara Falls, Cheektowaga, and Lockport. It is a non-denominational Christian church with its teachings rooted in the Bible. Campus Pastor Jonathan Drake said their masses consist of singing three or four songs, with lyrics shown on TV screens and a 40 to 45 minute sermon, though communion like Catholic masses is only given five or six times a year.

The first Sunday service at the new location took place on Dec. 19, 2021, nearly a year ago, with their most recent services bringing in 250 worshippers. When it first arrived in Niagara Falls in March of 2019, the Chapel rented five theaters at the Regal Niagara Falls to hold worship services. That lasted for a year before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

With movie theater's shut down, the Chapel was without a Niagara Falls space for 15 months until June 2021, when they were able to return to the Regal.

Drake said having their own campus in the Falls was in their hearts for a very long time, as they looked at 40 properties across the area, mostly downtown, with none of them working out.

"We had a pretty good relationship with the (Buffalo) diocese," Drake said, with The Chapel previously buying some buildings from them over the years, including the former St. Mary's church on Walnut Street in Lockport where their Lockport campus is located. "They had heard about our interest in the Falls. and they say, 'well, the school closed, would you guys like to take a look at it?'"

Niagara Catholic Junior-Senior High School operated at 66th Street from 1975 until 2018, when it closed due to budget cuts in the Diocese of Buffalo. A number of other education organizations existed at the site before the 1970s.

While the Chapel initially passed on the site due to its location outside the city center, Drake said further talks among the staff convinced them this was the right move for them. The sale was complete in Nov. 2019 for $750,000. They are happy to keep this former Catholic school still in the faith portfolio.

"A lot of the alumni were relived that it wouldn't just sit empty, or be turned into something else," Drake said.

While the school building was in good shape when The Chapel acquired it, it was beginning to show its age. With 10 acres and 85,000 square feet to work on, a phased approach to renovating and utilizing spaces has taken place instead of finishing it all at once.

As of Dec. 2022, The Chapel is currently utilizing less than 20,000 square feet of this space. A new roof was put on, new sidings were put up to help preserve the exterior, and some false walls were put up to prevent people from going to non-utilized areas. Kids from age 0 to eighth grade have their own spaces for worship and fun and games while services go on.

Eventually, The Chapel expects to outgrow the current worship space it uses, which is why it is turning the school gymnasium into a larger Worship Center.

The Chapel's presence in this part of Niagara Falls has not been about acquiring and preserving this building, it has been having a permanent presence in the community. The former Niagara Catholic ran a vegetable garden, so some church attendees wanted to bring it back and were given permission to.

"From our vantage point, it's not an accident that we're here," Drake said. "So we're here in this neighborhood, how can we be a blessing to the neighborhood and not just, 'Oh, there's that church over on 66th?'"

Drake described the makeup of the congregation as from Niagara Falls and surrounding areas like Grand Island, Lewiston, Youngstown and Sanborn. Most of the stories they have shared to him were of wanting to get out of Niagara Falls, but God broke their hearts for the needs of the area and want to give back.

"We're definitely not looking to just move the sheep around from one church to another," Drake said, adding that Niagara Falls has plenty of people who have no affiliation with a particular church. "Who's never going to darken the doors of a church because they think they don't have the right clothes, or they don't know the vernacular, or they don't know the prayers? We want to reach those people. We want to say that tour doors are open."

There is no timetable in place currently for when all the work The Chapel wants to do gets done, with Drake saying they are going to be slow, good listeners to what the congregation wants.

"We're going to be paying attention to what we need to do to serve the people that are coming, and hopefully to reach more people that have no church connection, no church affiliation," Drake said. "So we'll take it in stride, one day at a time."