A controversial proposal to relocate a massive Buffalo church to Georgia got a publicity boost Thursday with front-page coverage in USA Today.

Under the headline, “How to save a N. Y. church: Move it 900 miles south,” the article chronicles the continued efforts of a Norcross, Ga., parish to have St. Gerard Catholic Church at Bailey and East Delavan avenues deconstructed and then shipped and rebuilt down South.

The Rev. David M. Dye, pastor of Mary Our Queen Parish in Norcross, first proposed the novel plan more than a year ago.

The parish has since hired a public relations firm and created a Web site to raise awareness and money for the dramatic project, which is expected to cost upward of $15 million.

While supported by the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Buffalo as “preservation by relocation,” the plan is getting mixed reactions among preservationists in Buffalo and nationwide.

Fundraising is being left to the parish, which has hired the Ledlie Group of Atlanta to help market the effort.

“We’re still in the hope-it-will-happen stage. They need another $10 million. It is a matter of raising the funds,” said Pat Chivers, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The archdiocese consists of 99 parishes, more than half of which need additional space, and it is not in a position to help fund the Buffalo-to-Norcross project, Chivers said.

The parish has raised at least $3 million toward the proposed move.

The basilica-style church, modeled after St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome, seats up to 900 people and has stood at the Bailey- Delavan intersection since 1911. It was closed following a final liturgy on New Year’s Day 2008.

St. Gerard’s was one of 71 worship sites in the Diocese of Buffalo targeted for closure over the last three years because of shrinking attendance at Mass, declining numbers of priests and shifting demographics. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Atlanta has experienced tremendous growth — counting 850,000 Catholics now, up from 311,000 a decade ago.

Some parishes have to offer as many as 10 Masses on the weekends to accommodate the number of parishioners, Chivers said.

“We have a lot of needs in our facilities just to keep up with that growth,” she said.