Click to read Archbishop Schnurr’s letter here.

Please also visit the USCCB’s site on how the Bishops plan on fighting this mandate at this link. 

Daily Mass:  Wednesday through Saturday, 7:30AM

Sunday Mass:  5:15pm Saturday, and 10:30AM Sunday

Confessions are 4-5:00 Saturday, and 9:45-10:15 Sunday

A PDF Version of the letter is available here.

A Letter from Fr. Angelo Anthony, C.PP.S., Pastor

The season of Advent is a good metaphor for life.  All of life is an advent, a waiting for something that is to come.  We wait for true peace, for true love, for the birth of a child, for the right job, for that day of retirement, for an end to pain and ultimately to be with the Lord forever.  All the while we are aware of God’s mysterious presence molding us, guiding us along the way.

For many years the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been preparing us for a future in which we will have fewer priests to pastor our parishes.  In the 1980’s Archbishop Pilarczyk introduced “For the Harvest” a program within the archdiocese that promoted lay involvement within the catechetical and sacramental life of the church.  If parishes were to remain strong and vibrant they needed to have sufficient catechists to pass on our religious beliefs, lay ministers to assist at Mass and care for the needy of the parish, active pastoral commissions, as well as financial resources to keep the buildings in good working order.

In the 1990’s Archbishop Pilarczyk developed the “Ministry 2000” program to encourage the sharing of ministries and programs between parishes as it was obvious that each parish would not be able to have a resident pastor.  Most recently, in the past decade, we have seen the development of the “Futures Project” which asked the various deaneries of the archdiocese to develop guidelines for the development of Pastoral Regions.  One guideline that the Archdiocese set was that each Pastoral Region would have one pastor for 2,500 families. The three parishes of Emmanuel, Holy Trinity and St. Joseph’s were put together as Dayton Region 7 with the work of the Regional Planning Committee which is comprised of members from each parish beginning around 2006.

For many years we have been preparing for this day when the Regions 7 parishes of Downtown Dayton would share two priests, a pastor and a parochial vicar.  There will come a time when there will be just one priest as pastor to serve all three parishes.  The vision of Archbishop Pilarczyk as well as our current Archbishop Schnurr is to keep the parish communities strong and vibrant while at the same time recognizing the changing needs of our parishes and their changing sizes.

Comparing the seating capacity of our three churches with the number of registered parishioners shows that each parish can easily fit their parishioners into two Masses with adequate seating for hundreds of more new parishioners to join us.  The Liturgical norms direct that each Mass gather as many of the parishioners together in one Mass as possible, adding additional Masses if necessary.  Also, church law states that “A priest may not licitly celebrate or concelebrate Mass more than once a day except on those occasions when the law permits it.” (Can. 905, 1) If there is a scarcity of priests, the local Ordinary may allow priests to celebrate mass twice a day for a just cause; in pastoral necessity he can allow priests to celebrate Mass even three times on Sunday and holy days of obligation. (Can. 905, 2)

Therefore, the decision has been made to reduce the number of Masses within our pastoral region from nine to six weekend Masses and from three to two daily Masses as of January 7, 2012.  In discerning the new Mass schedule I have taken into consideration the work of the pastoral planning committee, the input from surveys, parish commissions and individuals.  Other determining factors that went into this decision include the following:

• There needs to be at least 90 minutes between Masses for the priest to finish Mass at one site and then travel to the other parish site.
• The data of the Mass attendance for a four week period and offertory collection for that same period was analyzed.
• Church facilities including parking and air conditioning.
• Parish activities and functions that occur on Sunday.
• A reasonable schedule that doesn’t burn out the priest.
• Attendance and schedule of the weekday Masses.
• Archdiocesan policy which states that “pastors are urged to examine any Mass which utilizes less than 50% of the seating capacity of a church facility” and consolidate Masses.

There are some who have suggested the use of foreign born priests to help with our Masses.  This is not an ideal situation because there are tremendous needs within the home countries of the foreign born priests.  Also, there are issues of visas, immigration regulations, cultural and ethnic division as well as the priest’s home bishop always having the option to call his priest home at any time.

When I encounter difficult decisions I often think of a quote from Fr. Jim Willig which goes like this: “We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds our future.”  As we continue to wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we recognize that there is going to be change.  Fr. Ken and I understand that this is an emotional decision but feel it is better to reduce Mass schedules than to close one of the parishes in the Pastoral Region.  We know that God is walking with us as He has so generously in the past.  Who knows, there could be a turn-around in the number of vocations and the number of people joining our parishes.  When that time comes we can easily increase the number of Masses to respond to this growth.

I believe this consolidation of Masses can serve to strengthen the life of our parish communities.  Jesus teaches us that new life comes from our sacrifice.  The celebration of the Mass will have fuller participation.  There are benefits that can come from our working together in an intentional way that will strengthen our efforts to build the Body of Christ in the Dayton area.

The new Mass schedule for Region 7 will be posted on the cover of each of the parish bulletins.  If you attend Mass at one of the other Region 7 parishes you can place your offertory envelope in the regular collection and it will be forwarded to your parish of registration. The week day Mass schedule leans in the direction of the two parishes that have the strongest daily Mass attendance.

Let us continue to pray for one another through this time of change.  The new Mass schedule will begin the Weekend of January 7-8, 2012 for both weekend and weekday Masses.

Weekend Masses

Holy Trinity:
Sunday, 8:30am & 11:30am
Confessions at 8:00am Sunday

St. Joseph:
Saturday, 4:30pm, Sunday, 10:00am
Confessions at 4:00pm Saturday                                     

Emmanuel:
Saturday, 5:15pm, Sunday, 10:30am
Confessions at 4pm Saturday and 10am Sunday

Weekday Masses:  

 7:30 a.m.    Monday & Tuesday: Holy Trinity

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Saturday:  Emmanuel

12:00 Noon  Monday through Saturday:  St. Joseph  (Confessions 11:30 daily)

(The weekday schedule will be evaluated after 6 months)

Altar Server Schedule 2011

Please click here to access the bulletin archive page.