Road to Renewal welcomes new staff members

The Road to Renewal effort is one of the largest projects within the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo ever, and, obviously, the amount of effort to heal, enhance and renew every aspect of our Catholic experience is significant undertaking.

To help bolster the effort are several recent hires that are in large part, or solely, assigned to the Road to Renewal effort supporting the work of Father Bryan Zielenieski.

As director of Organizational Development and Strategic Planning, Deacon Greg Moran will be working with Father Zielenieski’s Renewal team.  Deacon Moran, who began Sept. 13, is one of the founding members of Via Fidei, a group begun in 2020 by four diocesan deacons to guide and strengthen parishes in the wake of the clergy abuse crisis. The group expanded with additional deacons and lay parish members and is now assisting Father Zielenieski with the Road to Renewal efforts at the parish level. Deacon Moran will be assisting in the overall strategic planning and implementation of this multi-year effort.

He is located on the third floor of the Catholic Center and his contact number is 716-847-5514.   Deacon Moran holds a bachelor’s degree from the University at Buffalo and master’s degrees from both Canisius College and Christ the King Seminary. Most recently he worked in the organizational development department at HealthNow New York, now known as Highmark BlueCross Blue Shield of Western New York.

Ted Musco is the diocese’s Renewal Mission and Development Director who started on Oct. 18.  He will oversee the Renewal implementation teams and be responsible for training them and their pastoral plan.

Musco has specific experience with youth and young adults, faith formation on all levels and evangelization, and has authored two diocesan programs for youth and young adult engagement. Father Zielenieski cited studies that show young people tend to leave the church early (11 to 13 years old) at the onset of traveling youth sports leagues. Musco has expertise in youth issues that the diocese can benefit from in responding to this trend. He has extensive experience in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn serving most recently the secretary for Evangelization and Catechesis. He was responsible for overseeing the pastoral reconfiguration of parishes as well as faith formation, youth and young adult ministry, adult faith formation and lay leadership. He is based on the third floor of the Catholic Center and his contact number is 716-847-8374. He holds both bachelor and master’s degrees from Fairfield University, as well as various certificates.

Sara Kota is an administrative project coordinator working on the Renewal Team who began on Oct. 18. Her responsibilities include handling many of the day-to-day activities of the Road to Renewal effort such as, communication with facilitation and project teams, meeting and guiding volunteers, scheduling and follow up. She is also based on the third floor of the Catholic Center and may be reached at 716-847-8738. 

Most recently Kota was a secretary IV in the Patient Experience Department at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She has a bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Geneseo.

Joe Martone rounds out new staff supporting the Road to Renewal effort. He was named communications manager with the diocese and began Sept. 13. In addition to helping to manage the day-to-day communication activities within the diocese, he’ll serve as the point person of Renewal communication. He has more than 30 years of marketing communication experience primarily with large Western New York nonprofit organizations. Most recently he was a business development officer with Stewart Title and holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Bonaventure University. He is located on the Catholic Center’s third floor and may be reached at 716-847-8743.