Mass schedule comments
I am attaching some of the comments from the survey for your information.
posted by Father Patrick @ 7:42 AM
Monday, August 07, 2006
About Me
- Name: Father Patrick
- Location: Plain City, Ohio
I was ordained a priest in 1975. I have served as an assistant pastor, pastor, military chaplain, prison chaplain, and a hospital chaplain. I have celebrated Mass on six of the seven continents, including at the South Pole.
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- Building Together
- CCD Times and Mass Schedule
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- Mass Surveys
- Breakfast and Bible
- Mass Times Comments
- Building Update
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- Mass Schedule
14 Comments:
Supposedly when the PAC was built it was to take care of "overflow" not take the place of the Church building. What happened? Most parishes don't have two hours between Masses and they have choir practice during the week. As for socials, who is to say what the best time is? Since you've been here and added the 11:30 (Children's Mass) the social have pretty much ceased. Also don't you think expecting the little ones to sit through a Mass and then have CCD is going to be a little much? Some of the younger children are really going to have a lot of difficulty which in turn will cause difficulty for parents and the children.
These times (5:00 and 6:00 PM) are too late on a Sunday between dinner and getting ready for a new week. Not everyone will have Monday off to receover from the weekend. I feel that all Masses should be at the Church, except in special cases such as First Communion, etc. As a parent, I am not going to spend 2 1/2 HOURS AT THE pac FOR ccd AND mASS. i WILL GO TO A DIFFERENT mASS, IF NOT A DIFFERENT PARISH.
PAC was built to take care of overflow. However, it would not be wise to not use it to address other concerns. If CCD is still to be on Sunday morning, it makes sense to have a Mass there rather than transport the children back to the Church where there is limited parking. Second, several seniors have asked for a Mass in the PAC because they can't get to the restrooms at the Church and there is rarely parking close. As pastor I consider their need to be important.
The two hours is between starting times and that is normal and recommended by the diocese. When I came 9 years ago, there was a Sat 4:30 Mass and a Sunday 10:00 Mass. Socials were easy to do. With the expanded schedule there has been no time between masses because of parking limitations.
See my blog about CCD and Masses
We offer support for home study CCD for those who find the scheduled times difficult. This represents no substantial change to what we have been doing for several years, CCD at 9:15 and Mass at 11:30.
See my blog on CCD and Masses for further comments
Can we combine all CCD on Wednesday Night?
To schedule all CCD at the same time would be difficult. With six classrooms and a library available we could offer Grades 2 to 8.
Preschool, Kindergarten and First Grades would have to be some other time (Saturday morning?)
Give Father Sunday Evenings off
Sunday evening Mass would depend upon attendance. It we do not get 80 people, we would drop it.
Church seats 150. Four Masses gives capacity of 600 people. Last October we averaged 440 per weekend. 75% capacity.
One Mass in PAC with Sat 4:30 and Sunday morning (8 or 8:30) would also be capacity of 600. We would not need a Sunday Evening Mass. However if we add an evening program afterwards it might be worth the effort.
The longer break between morning Masses and only two of them is all the refresher I need.
So is CCD the problem? It appears to be. Have anyone looked at having CCD another time? Do we need a pre-k class? I have sent my kids to pre-k and I don't think I would have done it had I known how rough it would be for them, waking up early and dragging them to class, then making them sit through mass. Looking back, I don't think they had a very good experience and I regret putting them through that. I don't want them to have this memory of CCD. I think homeschooling would have been a better option for me.
About Saturday's , we would prefer to have the PAC for activties such as wedding receptions, communion parties, card parties, any social event. No mass on Saturday's at PAC so the center can be used for others in the parish.
I would like to CCD classes not on Sunday.
Addressing the first anonymous's comments. We do have choir practices during the week. However, the choirs still need time to set up with instruments, keyboard, what have you, not to mention warm up their voices. I have sung in three separate church groups at three different parishes in the diocese, and we ALWAYS had practice before mass to warm up, AS WELL AS a weekly practice.
On another note, stop pinning blame on Fr. Pat. He is an awesome pastor, and the reason he has this blog, is so people (like yourself) can post opinions. If he did not care, he would just make the decision on his own, and not give two cents what the "people" would need. I think people need to remember that other people have feelings, and need to stop being so "angry" sounding in their blogs.
Remember, we are supposed to be God's children, peacemakers and Christians!
Thank you.
If I may make a suggestion to any who have issues with the proposed schedules.
If you feel that a proposed schedule will not work for you, please offer an alternative (specific) suggestion to remedy the situation that you have issues with.
When alternative suggestions are presented, it will make Father Pat's and the many parish volunteers' jobs of developing a new schedule far easier.
With the change in mass schedules, I have noticed that we now are "over crowded" at 8:30 AM mass with a number of folks needing to stand in the back. Is consideration being given to moving this mass to the PAC? Just curious. We got out of the house a bit late yesterday morning and ended up sitting in the front. I didn't mind it and my son behaved pretty much so it wasn't too embarrassing!
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