Area Catholics have become accustomed to shutting down old church buildings and schools in recent years.

Sunday, more than 500 of them got an opportunity to celebrate the opening of a brand-new place of worship in the Diocese of Buffalo.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec was on hand to bless the $2.7 million Newman Center facility on Skinnersville Road in Amherst, just off the University at Buffalo’s North Campus.

The bishop often has been the bearer of bad news to area Catholics, many of whom mourned the closing of more than 65 beloved churches over the last two years.

But he was able to share in the joy that abounded during the dedication Mass.

In his remarks, Kmiec acknowledged the sadness that comes with closing churches. The closures, though, were necessary as part of a massive reconfiguration of parishes aimed at matching diocesan resources with where Catholics now live.

The new Campus Ministry Center, he added, “is also a configuration for our times. It’s the happy end of it.”

The center includes a main chapel and multipurpose space with seating for 380, a side chapel, offices, classrooms and a kitchen.

Members of the Newman Center previously worshipped in two places — a Lutheran chapel on Frontier Road and the Social Hall on the UB campus — and its offices were located at a third spot, in the Commons at UB.

The project had some detractors, including diocesan priests, who contended that few students are involved with the Newman Center community. Opponents of the building plan also said that members of the permanent Newman Center community who aren’t affiliated with the university can be served at established parishes.

Supporters believe, however, that the new space will be the centerpiece of expanded ministry to UB’s Catholic students, a population some consider essential to building the faith.

“We have this place where people can have a conversion,” said Monsignor J. Patrick Keleher, longtime director of Catholic campus ministry at UB. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a new way of being present to the university family. It’s a new way of being present to the diocese.”

The Newman Center, he added, was part of “being a church for the new century.”

Indeed, for Catholics accustomed to traditional church buildings, Sunday’s Mass inside the new facility would have seemed unusual.

Instead of pews and kneelers, there were movable cloth seats, set up in a semicircle surrounding a centered altar. Large, clear panes of glass, as opposed to stained-glass windows, allowed an easy view of rows of trees outside.

After the Mass, a kitchen counter opened to the worship space, allowing refreshments to be served.

“This is very contemporary. Especially in a university community, there is this kind of informality,” Kmiec said.

The bishop acknowledged that some Catholics “will say, ‘I don’t like this.’ ”

But he noted that there was great life and enthusiasm in the congregation, and ministering to a growing UB student body was essential to the future of Catholicism.

“They are away from home, and as we all know, it’s a challenging time. For them to walk through their faith is difficult,” Kmiec said. “You just can’t abandon them and say they’re a lost generation. That’s the future of the church.”

The new facility had been discussed for decades. A weathered metal sign, placed in front of the altar Sunday, told that story.

The sign had stood on the Skinnersville property since about 1967 and finally was taken down when work began last spring. It reads, “Future site of the Newman Chapel.”