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Credo Catholic
Member
| Joined: | Sat May 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Greenville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 1212 |
| First Name: | Marsha | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2007 11:20 pm |
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| I have a need to whine a little tonight, and this is as good a place as any, since no one at home will listen! Our pastor announced recently that we will no longer have daily mass at noon. I am devastated. Although I like the 11:00 a.m. mass on Sunday with all the "bells and smells" going on, I depend on the daily mass to get me through the week. I don't attend every day, but I usually go a couple of times each week. Some people go during their lunch break from work. Sometimes homeless people drift in. It was explained that since our Parochial Vicar was transferred and hasn't been replaced, and won't be anytime soon since our bishop has also been transferred, there isn't enough manpower with the priests we have. Only the pastor is fulltime, the others (3) have other jobs as chaplains. I know people say all the time that priests are busy, busy, busy. But I don't understand what makes a 30 minute mass too hard to do each day. That's the main reason we are catholic, right? We do have a daily mass at 7:00 a.m. but I can't make that on a regular basis, and I know of others who can't either. Has anyone else experienced a big letdown at their parish like this?
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JillD
Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Visalia, California USA |
| Posts: | 600 |
| First Name: | Jill | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | heathen, EvFree, Messianic, LC-MS, Catholic 2007 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 20th, 2007 01:06 am |
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We usually just have a deacon do our one daily 8 AM Communion Service. He's great, but he is occasionally gone. Like today, the priest who came celebrated the Mass in Spanish. (Our parish is primarily Hispanic with 2 English Masses and 3 in Spanish as well as services at 2 other Spanish-speaking parishes.) Our poor pastor is so overworked and so underappreciated. This is one of my pet peeves. It's traditional, a cultural thing, for the people to give ONE DOLLAR in the offering at Mass. ONE DOLLAR! No matter how much money they make, they put in one dollar. So, our priest's salary is $12,000 a year. I don't know how he takes it! We barely have enough money to pay the electric bill. I don't know our priest well enough to know why he doesn't do the daily Mass sometimes. I know he's often up late visiting people in the hospital and is reportedly not a morning person. Frankly, I don't know if we deserve much more out of him.
That's our parish's story, anyway...
Jill
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"The alternative to obedience is to turn the conversation into a cacophony of Christians making it up as they go along." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus
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Ali
Member
| Joined: | Sat Jan 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 622 |
| First Name: | Ali | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | JW, finally fully Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Sep 20th, 2007 08:24 am |
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That's to bad  Our parish doesn't offer one, either. But our "sister" parish in the next little town over does. We share one priest between us. I imagine it's hard for the priests to balance their schedule.
Ali
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NanaR
Member
| Joined: | Sat Jun 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Kentucky USA |
| Posts: | 141 |
| First Name: | Ruth | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Born JW, born-again Catholic (Tiber Swim Team 2008) |
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Posted: Thu Sep 20th, 2007 08:32 am |
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Credo Catholic wrote: I have a need to whine a little tonight, and this is as good a place as any, since no one at home will listen! Our pastor announced recently that we will no longer have daily mass at noon. I am devastated. Although I like the 11:00 a.m. mass on Sunday with all the "bells and smells" going on, I depend on the daily mass to get me through the week. I don't attend every day, but I usually go a couple of times each week. Some people go during their lunch break from work. Sometimes homeless people drift in. It was explained that since our Parochial Vicar was transferred and hasn't been replaced, and won't be anytime soon since our bishop has also been transferred, there isn't enough manpower with the priests we have. Only the pastor is fulltime, the others (3) have other jobs as chaplains. I know people say all the time that priests are busy, busy, busy. But I don't understand what makes a 30 minute mass too hard to do each day. That's the main reason we are catholic, right? We do have a daily mass at 7:00 a.m. but I can't make that on a regular basis, and I know of others who can't either. Has anyone else experienced a big letdown at their parish like this?
Marsha:
Our Parish has two priests. We also have a Catholic School that runs through grade 8. During the school year, under ordinary circumstances, we have a daily Mass at 8:00 am Monday - Saturday. We have noon Mass on Tuesday and Thursday, and a 7:30 pm Mass on Wednesday. We have Saturday evening Vigil Mass, and two Masses on Sunday. In addition, our pastor presides at a 7:30 am Mass for our Mission Church in the neighboring county.
During the summer, morning Mass is sometimes cancelled because the priests do some travelling, attend retreats, etc.
When one of our priests is ill or out of town, noon Masses are generally cancelled and the Wednesday night Mass may be cancelled. The early morning Masses are kept most of the time during the school year, but sometimes we only have them on three days rather than the usual six.
A priest's schedule can be really hectic. Last weekend, one of our priests went out of town to help with a teen retreat. The Pastor who remained in town said Mass for the Saturday Vigil, three Sunday Masses, then did a baptism and a funeral. And in between the Saturday Vigil and the 7:30 am Sunday Mass, he spent four hours at the hospital with a parishoner and the family. He got very little sleep!!
I see you live in South Carolina. The situation there may be much like the situation where I am in Kentucky. We have Parishes that cover a large geographic area, and some priests must serve more than one Parish. We consider ourselves VERY FORTUNATE to have two priests for our two-county Parish.
Perhaps the cancellation of noon Mass will turn out to be temporary. If you know someone on the Parish Council, you might ask them if it would be possible to have the early morning Mass on some days and the noon Mass on other days (with still only one Mass per day) so that folks with differing schedules can attend. If your Church serves a school, though, this may not be an option.
Ave Maria,
Ruth
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When you bend down to help someone up, that is the best exercise for your heart. -- Fr. Noe, 2007
http://nanaruthann.blogspot.com
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Annie
Member
| Joined: | Wed Feb 14th, 2007 |
| Location: | Columbus, Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 718 |
| First Name: | Annie | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | nothing, Quaker, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Sep 20th, 2007 10:10 am |
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Wow, my old parish had daily (one) Mass with only one priest and no deacons or assistant priests. 2400 families.
Is there simply a scheduling problem that could be fixed? Maybe having Mass at another time during the day?
Last edited on Thu Sep 20th, 2007 10:11 am by Annie
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Annie
Ora et labora
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Daffodil
Member
| Joined: | Sat Apr 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 78 |
| First Name: | Daffodil | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | not attending church, New Age, Episcopalian, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Sep 20th, 2007 05:30 pm |
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It must be hard to stop attending Mass as often. *hug* How blessed you are to have the flexibility of schedule to be able to attend daily!
I will pray for your priest, and for more vocations.
Last edited on Thu Sep 20th, 2007 05:31 pm by Daffodil
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My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior....
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beachmoss
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 13th, 2006 |
| Location: | Simpsonville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 270 |
| First Name: | Beth | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Catholic (raised Baptist) |
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Posted: Fri Sep 21st, 2007 01:28 am |
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Marsha,
You can always come over to SEAS! We have a 12:10 daily mass that I never can make because my daughter gets out of school at noon across town.
I loved our parish in Hanahan! Father had daily mass on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8 am and for those (like me!) who couldn't make mornings he had Tuesday's and Thursday's daily masses at 7 pm.
Beth
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Credo Catholic
Member
| Joined: | Sat May 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Greenville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 1212 |
| First Name: | Marsha | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Fri Sep 21st, 2007 01:58 am |
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| Thanks Beth, I could do that at SEAS. I've just gotten to feel "at home" at St. Mary's, but I need some weekday masses. I have been reading a book about St. Bernadette. In France at the time she was growing up, she was only allowed to receive Holy Communion every other week. After the apparitions at the grotto at Lourdes, the local priest allowed her to receive once a week, which was an exception. I wonder why this was so limited at a time and place when nearly everyone was catholic. Oh well, I shouldn't complain. At least I have a good number of parishes close by to visit.
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