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Twenty-Third Sunday of the Year
8 September 2007
Dear Friends in Christ,
Back in June, when Father Smith was transferred and not replaced, I explained that the absence of a parochial vicar would inevitably lead to changes in the sacramental schedule, and the first of those was the alteration of hours for Confessions. In the three months since then, we have made every effort to leave everything else in place, but it is now clear that the weekday Mass schedule must also be changed.
Effective immediately, there will not be a Mass at noon at St. Mary’s until a new parochial vicar is assigned to the parish. We will celebrate Mass at 7 am each weekday from Monday through Friday, and on most Wednesdays while school is in session, we will have a second Mass at 8.30 am. Please consult the bulletin or the website to be certain of the schedule for school Masses. Mass intentions which have already been assigned to a previously scheduled noon Mass will be re-scheduled for the first available 7 am Mass.
The only exceptions to this weekday schedule will be for funeral Masses at noon and for Holy Days of Obligation, usually celebrated at 7 am, noon, and 7 pm.
I realize that this change is a great disappointment to the many people who regularly attend the noon Mass at St. Mary’s, but for many years we have been talking about the practical effects on the life of the Church of the diminishing number of priests. And now we are beginning to feel those effects here at home.
Given that the Diocese of Charleston is now a vacant See and that it will probably be many months before our new bishop is installed, we should anticipate that St. Mary’s will not receive a parochial vicar during this interregnum. I am deeply grateful for the generous assistance to the parish provided by Fr Bart, Fr Longenecker, and Fr Cheverria, but we must remember that their principal duties lie elsewhere and that they are not canonically assigned to St. Mary’s. This means that I am the only priest assigned full-time to what is now the third largest parish in the diocese, and there are naturally consequences to this change.
In addition to advising you back in June about the likely changes in the sacramental schedule, I also told you to anticipate that it would be increasingly difficult for me to respond to your requests for appointments, meetings, information, etc. And that is coming to pass: every day I must leave essential things undone simply because there are not enough hours available to do everything which must be done. I ask again for your patience, even as I pledge again to do the best I can to serve all of you.
Father Newman