Two churches — one Episcopal, the other formerly Catholic — are the latest buildings in Western New York to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Main Street in Buffalo and Holy Trinity Church in Niagara Falls, now home to Niagara Heritage of Hope and Services, a nonprofit performance hall and cultural center, were added to the register in June.

They join 208 previous register listings in Erie and Niagara counties and more than 80,000 nationwide.

The designation opens the door for federal preservation grants, federal investment tax credits and other potential tax and grant benefits.

Both properties could use the help.

The churches are in good condition, but they also are expensive to maintain and have small groups of people struggling to provide support for their upkeep.

Last July, Niagara Heritage of Hope and Services purchased the Holy Trinity church complex at 1419 Falls St., which includes a school, rectory and convent, for $125,000. Holy Trinity Parish was closed in a 2008 merger.

The organization is run by three board members and supported by a core group of 25 to 30 volunteers.

“The people who are involved are very passionate about that complex. They love it, and they work really hard to do whatever they can to maintain it,” said Rick Paolini, a board member.

St. Andrew’s continues as an active Episcopal parish, but membership has dwindled dramatically since the heyday of the congregation. Fewer than 50 people are active members of the parish, which has sold off valuable artwork and other items to raise funds. Parishioners also began worshipping in the undercroft during winters to save money on heating the main sanctuary.

The National Register designation gives the parish “new life” in determining the future mission of the property, said the Rev. Sarah Buxton-Smith, St. Andrew’s rector.

The congregation wants to continue using the space for worship while also opening it up for other uses in collaboration with community organizations, she said.

The Neo-Gothic stone church at 3105 Main St. in University Heights was completed in 1927 and dedicated as a memorial to the Rev. Charles Henry Brent, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York and one of the leading international religious figures of the early 20th century.

Brent’s connection to the church — he was priest-in-charge when St. Andrew’s was being developed as a mission of St. Paul’s downtown, and he was rebuked by the bishop at the time for placing candles on the altar—was a primary reason for its listing on the register.

Even as bishop in Buffalo, Brent traveled the world trying to bring Christianity’s many denominations together and became known as “the spokesman of the conscience of mankind.”

Time magazine featured Brent on its cover Aug. 29, 1927, when it ran a story explaining how the prelate had turned down episcopates in Washington, D. C., and New Jersey “to preserve for his world ministry the freedom of action he enjoys at Buffalo.”