This year’s spate of weather-related closings and the shortage of available priests to assist when a parish priest is absent have led to misunderstandings regarding daily Mass and Mass intentions.  At St. Brigid and at St. James, we have a long tradition of offering daily Mass on Monday through Friday.  Daily Mass was once a norm in every parish, but the clustering of parishes and the reduced availability of priests to assist when the parish priest is absent has caused many parishes to offer Mass only on certain days rather than daily.  We will continue to strive to offer Mass at each parish Monday through Friday, and our full Saturday and Sunday weekend schedules.

Priests have four weeks of vacation, and retired priests have flexibility about when and how often they assist.  Additionally, priests are required to have a five-day retreat every year and one week devoted to continuing education.  With fewer priests, there are times when we offer Mass at only one parish each day.  We try to keep our public worship calendar on the website up-to-date, and it is easy to check. 

Canon law allows each Mass to have a particular intention.  When a person requests a Mass intention for a loved one (living or deceased), we check for available dates and times.  In the event of a weather-related closing or a priest’s not being available, we contact the person and work with them on rescheduling the intention.  These situations are unavoidable especially with the reduced number of available retired and religious order priests. 

When a Mass intention is recorded in the appropriate parish register and the Mass occurs, the Mass is offered for the specific intention.  This is true even if the name is not said out loud, pronounced incorrectly, or even if another name is accidentally read.  This is true if the bulletin or the online calendar has a different name.  These accidents have upset some who come to Mass or view the Mass online.  I understand the upset and the disappointment, but the reality is accidents happen, and more important the intention has been offered.  We will try to do our best to meet expectations and to work with our people to reach a satisfactory resolution.   In the meantime, pray for more priests so that the legitimate needs of the people can be met.

           Fr. Gary