Last March, Fr. Bakke added the 6 p.m. Mass to the St. Joseph parish schedule to see how it would be received. He added it to take some of the pressure off of the 10 a.m. Mass, which routinely had crowds overflowing into the gathering space.
The 6 p.m. Mass had seen robust attendance as a once-a-month liturgy featuring the young adult Mass Band and Fr. Bakke thought it would be a natural slot for an added Mass. Once it became weekly, however, the numbers that used to attend the monthly Mass were never sustained. We’ve been consistently seeing between 110 and 130 people. In addition, it has been very difficult to recruit ushers, Eucharistic ministers, sacristans, musicians, etc. for the 6 p.m. Mass.
There is no doubt the parish needs four Masses. The 6 p.m. Mass did take pressure off the 10 a.m. Mass but we continue to grow as a faith community. We’re now at 1169 families. The increasing membership will only begin again the pressure on the 10 a.m. — the most popular Mass. I believe I must adjust the schedule to try to more evenly distribute the numbers.
Beginning with Easter our Mass schedule will be 4 p.m. on Saturday and 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday — although on Easter Sunday only, the 10:30 a.m. Mass will be at 10:45 a.m. to allow more time for the 9 a.m. crowd to disperse.
I understand from talking to many of you that this new 7:30/9/10:30 Sunday morning schedule will be a return to what you were used to a few years ago.
I hope this means you will approach these changes with nostalgia and not resentment. I realize that for a core of people the 6 p.m. Mass worked very well and I’m sorry for any difficulty this causes them.
In the process of making this change, I presented it to both the Finance Council and the Pastoral Council to see whether there were any violent objections from your representatives. While there was a concern or two expressed, the members of those councils decided that I should be able to give this plan a try.
In a couple of weeks, you’ll begin to see some activity in the sanctuary as we begin to renovate the reredos. The renovation will involve scaffolding being set up all around the altar with a little gap to allow access to the tabernacle. The work will take two weeks and only one weekend Mass schedule should be affected. The renovation, which will cost $25,000, is made possible by a very generous donation from a parish family.
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