Decision #8.4 - Final Sunday Mass Schedule
I have held Town Halls at all of our locations, offered multiple proposals (8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3), and read through various e-mail feedback. We seem to have exhausted all potential proposals, and it is now time to make a decision.
Final Schedule
This will go into effect the weekend of September 06/07.
By Date / Time
Bellingham
[Sat.] 5:00 pm - Assumption
8:00 am – Assumption
9:00 am – Sacred Heart
10:00 am – Assumption
11:00 am – Sacred Heart
1:00 pm – Assumption (Spanish)
5:00 pm – Sacred Heart (w/ WWU)
Northwest County
[Sat.] 5:00 pm - Blaine
8:30 am - Lummi
10:30 am – Ferndale
Sunday – North / East County
[Sat.] 5:00 pm - Lynden
[Sat.] 7:00 pm - Lynden (Spanish)
8:30 am – Deming
11:00 am – Lynden
By Priest
(The full priest rotation, including Fr. Moore’s bi-monthly visit to the other Masses, can be seen below.)
Fr. Moore / Fr. Stephan
[Sat.] 5:00 pm – Assumption
8:00 am – Assumption
10:00 am – Assumption
Fr. Stephan / Fr. Moore
[Sat.] 5:00 pm – Blaine
9:00 am – Sacred Heart
11:00 am – Sacred Heart
Fr. Tyler
[Sat.] 5:00 pm – Lynden
8:30 am – Deming
11:00 am – Lynden
5:00 pm – Sacred Heart (w/ WWU)
Will likely switch to Fr. Moore when WWU is not in session.
Fr. Gerardo
[Sat.] 7:00 pm – Lynden (Spanish)
8:30 am – Lummi
10:30 am – Ferndale
1:00 pm – Assumption (Spanish)
Confessions
These are temporary decisions until we can hold Town Halls on confession times.
Bellingham
Saturday, 3:00 - 4:45pm - Assumption
Sunday, 8:00 - 8:45am - Sacred Heart
Northwest County
Saturday, 3:00 - 4:00pm - Ferndale
Saturday, 4:30 - 4:45pm - Blaine
Sunday, 8:00 - 8:15am - Lummi
North / East County
Wednesday, 5:00 - 5:45pm - Lynden
Saturday, 4:00 - 4:45pm - Lynden
Sunday, 8:00 - 8:15am - Deming
Visualized
Town Hall Feedback
Priest Rotation
Some parishioners really appreciated the priest rotation and the ability to hear different perspectives regularly at their home churches. However, the majority of parishioners I heard from agreed that increasing the stability of which priest they see on the weekends was going to be very helpful.
I still have some reservations about how rarely I will the Masses covered by Fr. Tyler and Fr. Gerardo. However, the Town Halls were such a positive experience for me that I am likely going to hold Town Halls every weekend that I rotate into those Masses (i.e. bi-monthly).
Bellingham
Saturday Night - Even when disappointed at losing their preferred Mass time/location, most parishioners understood why the 5:00 pm combination in Bellingham made sense.
Sunday Morning - After resolving the question of the 8:00/8:30 combination (see #8.2 and #8.3), it is a significant benefit to Bellingham as a whole to have staggered Masses throughout Sunday. This allows Assumption and Sacred Heart to act in concert, rather than competition, in serving our largest city. On the whole, Bellingham parishioners were excited about this prospect. The main question from Sacred Heart was about confessions, which are temporarily moved before the 9:00 am Mass.
Spanish Mass - I felt compelled to move Assumption’s Spanish Mass to 1:00 pm, to give the priest more time in Ferndale. When I have done the 10:30 am in Ferndale and the 12:30 pm in Bellingham, things felt too tight. I did a straw poll of the Spanish Mass in Bellingham about this potential move, and the vast majority said they either did not care or they preferred the move to 1:00 pm.
Sunday Evening - The county as a whole was very excited to have a permanent and public Sunday evening Mass. WWU also finds this to be a net benefit for their ministry. The only difficulty will be finding liturgical ministers when WWU is out of session, but we believe that there will be a small, stable parishioner community at that Mass, and we can call them into service when necessary.
Lynden / Deming
The main message I received in Lynden and Deming was that I was trying to solve problems that did not exist. The Spanish community strongly preferred the 7:00 pm Mass time to the 6:00 pm shift I was proposing, so there was no real need to move the Saturday night Masses. And the Deming community said that the 30-minutes the priest is able to stay after their Mass, before driving to Lynden, was welcomed and sufficient. So there was no need to move Sunday Masses, either.
I find this is a place where I need to show humility as a Pastor. I still think that things could be better with an earlier Spanish Mass and more available priest time in Deming. But if the parishioners are telling me these are not problems to be solved, then I need to trust them.
Blaine
In June, Blaine parishioners asked that I create a proposal that would allow them to have Mass on Sunday morning. This is reflected in proposal #8.3. However, when we discussed that proposal at the July Town Hall, nearly all of those who participated in the discussion preferred Mass at 5:00 pm on Saturday to Mass at 8:00 am on Sunday. When asked to choose between the 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm possibilities, about 75% preferred 5:00 pm.
The Sunday morning proposal depended on Lummi moving to 12:30 pm, which is unlikely to happen, so this has become a moot point.
Ferndale
Ferndale was not facing a significant change, so much of their Town Hall feedback dealt with the complexities of hosting a Spanish-speaking Mass and community. Though there were preferences, parishioners were generally okay with a 10:00, 10:30, or 11:00 am time slot.
A Spanish Mass in Ferndale depended on Lummi moving to 12:30 pm, which is unlikely to happen, so this has become a moot point.
Lummi
The Lummi decision is the one that most unsettles me. I do not think there is a community consensus, and I worry about the effect this decision will have on the priests.
At the Town Hall itself, there was division in the Lummi community between an 8:00 am Mass and a 12:30 pm Mass. Some members said an afternoon Mass would prevent them from attending, while others strongly preferred the change. I did not think enough community members stayed for the Town Hall for me to have a real sense of where the community stood, so on the two subsequent weekends we polled Native community members (mostly elders) individually. 12 families preferred 8:00 am, 6 families preferred 12:30 pm, and 3 families did not have a preference. Though that is a majority in favor of the 8:00 am, it is not a consensus. And, when dealing with such a small number of people, one person changing their mind can create a huge swing in percentages.
I still believe that the 12:30 pm will be better for that community in the long-term and will certainly be better for the whole county. However, I decided to maintain the status quo at Lummi because I did not want to lose people who actually attend Mass in favor of a theoretical group of people who might be more willing to attend Mass at 12:30. The benefit to the community was not certain enough to force an as-yet unnecessary change.
Not a settled decision - However, I am very worried about the resulting priest rotation. Fr. Gerardo’s Sunday is grueling, driving from Lynden to Lummi to Ferndale to Bellingham to Lynden. It would have been much easier on him to have two Masses in Ferndale before going to Bellingham. I also worry about stability at Lummi and the inability to provide that stability unless the Pastor is involved. As such, I am leaving the 12:30 possibility open. I will continue to work with and listen to the Lummi community. If they ever decide for themselves that they want to move to 12:30 pm, they will be welcome to.
There is also a chance that I will be forced to move the Mass to 12:30 pm if the Sunday rotation becomes too hard for Fr. Gerardo. I hope this will not be the case, but I have to be honest about the possibility.
Next Steps
Now that the Sunday Masses are resolved for the medium term, it is time to start focusing on the Partners in the Gospel listening sessions. It is through these listening sessions that we will be able to create a long-term plan for our parishes.
I will also be working on a discussion document, and will be holding town halls, regarding daily Mass and confession times.