May 12, 2002 • The Feast of Easter!

Changing Times

As the diocese faces the annual experience of the transfer of priests, quite a number of parishes are being asked to down-size the number of priests who live and work in the parish. We are going to face this issue for sure since Father Victor is finishing his sabbatical with us at the end of June. He will then return to India and there is no other priest available to come in his place. A few weeks ago we were informed that the diocese was also considering moving another priest from here since other parishes don’t have as many priests as we do. (We are making a strong case to keep our priests, but the real possibility of downsizing is here and if it doesn’t happen this year, it’s likely to happen next year.)
So we are trying to face the challenge of a weekend mass schedule with 13 masses (not to mention weddings, baptisms & funerals) and fewer priests. For several weeks our parish staff has been considering countless possibilities. We’ve spoken with a group of parishioners who attend the different masses and now we’re considering revising the Sunday schedule so that we can offer masses at a variety of times to meet the needs of our community and yet still consolidate masses in the face of the downsizing.

We also want to respect the needs of the Haitian community which seeks to start the Kreyol Mass earlier than their current time of 3:15. We can understand that this afternoon time certainly affects family time at home and the proposals we are considering are trying to respect these needs.

To come to a consensus we looked at mass attendance (which has been recorded at intervals over the past two years as part of a diocesan study). According to these record, the 6:30am, 7:30am, 9:00am and 10:15am masses regularly have around 200 or less people in attendance. (Of course attendance increases at holidays.) The 1pm mass fluctuates greatly depending on the weather, time of year, and whether we schedule a special liturgy at that time. But I’m told that often it is hard to get enough people to sign up for different ministries at that mass.

We realize that if we change the mass schedule it can affect the comfortable routines that people settle into on a Sunday. Combining masses will mean that people who serve in various ministries at these masses will share their ministry time with others. And of course it will also mean that people who sit in their “regular” seat, may find a new “neighbor” in the vicinity.

St. Brigid’s has a proud tradition of celebrating Sunday Eucharist in a variety of languages and respecting a variety of cultures and needs. We have masses that praise God in Spanish, Italian, Kreyol and English. We have masses that focus on children and their families (though children are welcomed at all masses), the rock mass, masses with music of different kinds (and even a mass without music.) We express a vitality in how we pray together and people often come from miles around to be part of this community. We don’t want to lose any of these blessings in considering changes in the schedule.

Where do we go from here? I’d like to share with you two different scheduling possibilities that we are considering. Each of them allows us to consolidate the mass schedule but in different ways. We’ll need to decide which of these models would be the best response for the future and we’d begin to put one of these schedules in effect in September. (We’ll go to our regular summer schedule in July and August.)
So I invite you to take a look: (note: the masses marked “Chapel” are in the school):

Next, I invite feedback. Since you're online, the easiest thing to do is to send an e-mail shepherd@saintbrigid.net I'll share your input with our staff so that we can make an appropriate decision. We're in this together and together we can face our future through communicating our hopes and concerns. I wish this wasn’t a concern we’d have to face, but I’d rather talk about it as we look ahead, rather than react to something that becomes a “crisis.”