Dear Friends,
It is now seven months into the life of our new parish of the Precious Blood, created from the merger of the former St. Mary’s Parish and St. Agnes’ Parish. Some aspects of parish life have remained essentially the same, others have seen some changes. A new Pastoral Council convened in November and a new Finance Council did likewise in December. We have had several social activities which served the purpose of helping us to get to know each other.
Now it is time to announce the revised Mass schedule which will be implemented the irst weekend of January next year, namely January 5 - 6, 2019. This revised schedule is the fruit of careful study and somewhat broad consultation. Throughout the months of July through October of last year, a careful count of Mass attendance was taken at every Mass in both churches. These results were studied, averages for each Mass determined, and then they were presented to the Pastoral Council at its November meeting with the directive that two schedules should be drawn up, each of them having one less Mass on Sunday morning in both churches. The two schedules were produced and then they were placed before the people of the parish for their input. Schedule A received considerably more votes than did Schedule B by a ratio of two to one.
Thus, I announce the following Mass schedule and other changes to the parish schedule effective the first weekend of January next year:
SATURDAY VIGIL MASSES
4:30 PM at St. Mary’s
5:00 PM at St. Agnes’
SUNDAY MASSES
8:30, 10:00, 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM at St. Mary’
7:30 and 10:30 AM at St. Agnes’
CONFESSIONS
Saturdays from 3:30 - 4:30 PM at St. Agnes’
Mondays from 6:00 - 7:00 PM at St. Mary’s (except on holidays)
The changes are really “tweaks” with the Saturday vigil Mass at St. Agnes moving back by a half hour, the elimination of the 7:00 AM Mass Sunday morning at St. Mary’s and the combining of the 10:00 and 11:30 AM Masses at St. Agnes into one Mass at 10:30 AM. The change in the confession schedule allows us to schedule weddings as late as 2:30 PM on Saturdays at St. Mary’s, which might be desirable for some couples. It also adds an additional hour of confessions each week on Monday evenings.
Change is not easy, but it is an essential part of life. I know that some will not be very happy with the new schedule, but I ask that everyone cooperate and adapt to the changes. The future of our parish is bright and I thank you for your support and understanding.