Kasia November 2nd, 2008
Paraphrased: “Would some of you PLEASE stop coming to Mass?”
OK, that’s not quite a fair paraphrase. But it’s not TOO far off. If you changed it to “to THIS Mass…and go to one of the other Masses instead,” it would be about right.
In Chatham, Canuck and I generally go to one of the two parishes that are closest to Chez Mere de Canuque: Blessed Sacrament or St. Agnes. The two were clustered together last summer under a new pastor, Father Daniel, who’s really good and has been a real breath of fresh air here.
However, with that event, they (naturally) had to collapse two parishes’ weekend Masses into a schedule one priest can manage. Apparently the Diocese of London only allows a priest to say three Masses in a twenty-four hour period. Maybe that’s a larger norm. I don’t know. Fr. Daniel is saying four: two vigil Masses and two Sunday Masses.
Still, the 9:30 Mass at Blessed Sacrament is always packed to the rafters. I suppose it’s a combination of early-Mass St. Agnes, early-Mass Blessed Sacrament, and other-Mass Blessed Sacrament-who-don’t-want-to-go-to-a-different-parish.
Apparently one or more parishioners called the city to complain about the crowds at the 9:30 Mass. Turns out it violates fire codes to (a) set up additional chairs, or (b) let people stand in the back.
Father Daniel, as the pastor, is the buck-stops-here guy. As such, he is liable to arrest if he lets it happen again.
So, with much regret (and it was pretty obvious that it was sincere regret), he asked if some of us could either go to a different Mass within the cluster, or go to another parish in town. He also joked that it was no wonder his hair is gray: the diocese says he doesn’t have enough people, and the city says he has too many.
I can’t fault the city – they’re acting on complaints made and are following the law. And the law is there for a reason. I will say I don’t understand why people can’t stand in the back. The chairs, I understand. But OK.
I can’t decide whether I’m more disgusted with the anonymous complainants for phoning it in to begin with, or the diocese for not giving him the flexibility to find another solution. I know there aren’t a lot of priests to go around, but why are you hamstringing the ones you do have and making their jobs even more stressful?
Sigh – it looks like we’re about to become Vigil Mass attendees.
