Multiple Masses per day in the Catholic Church

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Temporarily, our parish has only two priests. We have a church that seats (according to the fire codes) 1,200 people. We have 4,500 Families registered as members (we are the largest parish in the diocese) which translates to between 15,000 to 20,000 members. We have an English and a Spanish Vigil mass on Saturday evening, three English masses on Sunday morning, a Spanish mass on Sunday afternoon followed by a Polish or Tagalog (Filipino) mass on alternating Sundays then an English Youth Mass on Sunday evening. That’s eight masses every weekend. That is to accommodate the population and national diversity of our parishioners…

Than, on weekdays we have two daily masses at different hours to accommodate parishioners schedules of work, school, etc. Even at that, our full contingent of priests is normally only three. While we do get visiting priests from time to time, it’s hard to find enough on any weekend to maintain the maximum mass celebration guideline. Our priests have no alternative but to celebrate multiple masses nearly every day, certainly every week.

What would be the proper response? Should we cut back on masses to accommodate the priest, or violate the maximum for the benefit of the people?

I think the body of Christ is the obvious answer. And I think our priests are only building up graces from heaven by their tireless work.
 
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A couple of days each month, my Parish Priest does.

In the morning he has a 7:00 AM and an 8:00. Three mornings per week he has mass at the Catholic school. He usually has about 2 funerals per week. He does mass at the local college. He has a mass per week at 2 nursing homes. And I know I am missing something. He also is the only Priest in the entire area that has an actual Saturday morning mass that isn’t a vigil.

The amazing thing is that he varies his homilies.

He does all of that before he even starts his parish work. I am in awe watching him. I don’t know how he does it. He doesn’t have an associate, and he has three deacons who are old and sick. The deacons really don’t do anything.
 
I’m sure the deacons must help him in some way. There’s only so much one person can do…
 
The Philippines has a much greater priest shortage than the USA when it comes to the ratio of priests to laity. That comes with its own challenges, so we must pray for many more good Catholic priests for the Philippines. It’s extremely difficult for one priest to meet the spiritual needs of thousands of parishioners.

What the Philippines has that the USA lacks is much greater fervor and enthusiam for the faith, as well as overall higher rates of fidelity to the Church and practice of the Faith. Imagine if the USA Catholic Church had as high Mass attendance rates as the Philippines… What a blessing that would be!
 
Yup, that’s what is happening in the Northeast region in the US. Too many church buildings and too many Catholics who moved away. The result is that they have lots of parish and school closures.

I personally think tens of thousands in one building is too many people, though. If a parish has 30,000 members, I would think it might be better for them to build at least one more church if they could afford to.
 
Some Catholic parishes offer fellowship after Mass as well. There are also some parishes that are small enough to build a sense of community. It really depends on where you live and the demographics of the parish…
 
Canon law only allows them to celebrate once on weekdays and twice for Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation Masses. If there is a priest shortage, their bishops can permit them to celebrate 2 Masses on weekdays and 3 for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
 
I haven’t seen parishes of 30,000 in the USA. The most I’ve seen is maybe 7000 or 8000. Around here I think it peaks out in the 5000 or 6000 range. Also, I figure that those parish numbers include a good many “Chreasters”.
 
Each celebrates 1 mass on Sunday.
  1. One oversees the parish missionary program and meets with the EMHC annually
  2. One celebrates the 7:00 mass and makes the schedule for people assisting at Sunday mass.
  3. One just does the single mass on Sunday.
The first is sick and can work for about an hour per day.
The second is getting aggressive chemo
The third one I never see, because I don’t go to his mass.

None of them do any daily ministry outside of the one that celebrates the 7AM mass.

We also have four nursing homes within the parish, and our priest fields at least 50% of the calls. The other three Priests in the city are famous for not answering their phones at night. As a EMHC, I have become friendly with the staffs at the nursing homes. All of them tell me that anytime there is an emergency they call our priest, because calling the other ones is a waste of time. (He is also on call one night with the area’s hospital.)

I’ve never seen anyone who can get more done in a day than my Parish Priest. He never stops moving.
 
Wow. He sounds very dedicated to tending to the needs of his flock. We need more priests who care the way he does. God bless him. 🙂
 
In my diocese, in Michigan, we don’t have enough Preist to cover all the churches. So they ended up grouping parishes togeather. They did this to save from closing churches in our diocese. One preist, depending on the size of the parish may have anywhere between two to three he has to cover. Of course they all have a Sunday Mass but at different times. Our preist only has two Parishes to cover because at the bigger church they have a large Hispanic population so they end up having two Mass times one English and one Spanish. Both churches have a Saturday Mass time and then the weekdays Mass are split between the two. Needless to say he is kept quite busy especially during the holy days like around Christmas and Easter.
 
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There are actually a few parishes with over 20,000 - 30,000 registered members in USA. For instance, I can think of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Coppell, Texas; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Plano, Texas; and St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. You’re right that not all the registered members will attend Mass regularly, but even a small percentage of the total attending every weekend would be thousands of people attending. I imagine there would be multiple weekend Masses filled to capacity.
 
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ProdglArchitect said:
The fast in the Catholic Church is only one hour prior to consumption of the Eucharist.
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I’m guessing that the OP was thinking of the fast required for the priest celebrant. And, as it turns out, he’s only obligated to fast prior to his first Mass of the day; after that, no fast obligation is present for him.
 
Belina said:
Canon law only allows them to celebrate once on weekdays
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Once on weekdays? That doesn’t sound right to me. Can you point me to the canon?

(After all, that would mean that, on any day in which there’s a funeral in the parish, the pastor would be required to cancel the normally scheduled daily Mass…)
 
michaelhager said:
What would be the proper response? Should we cut back on masses to accommodate the priest, or violate the maximum for the benefit of the people?
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Neither/nor. Encourage your young men to consider the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood. You’ll find yourself poorly served if you allow your priests to run themselves ragged and burn out before they’re 50. Then you’ll have a whole different conundrum to chew on… 😉
 
Can. 905 §1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.

§2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

So, if there is a just cause like a funeral, the priest could celebrate 2 Masses.
 
joeybaggz said:
Edited to say: I have to agree with the other posters who question the leap from celibacy to pedophilia, and why choosing a vocation other than the religious life is selfish. I think I make a better lay person than I ever would a priest.
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I never got this jump to conclusion either due to the fact that there are more non celibate men and even women than there are preist who were involved in pedophilia. Most professional studies by experts in this area even say it is a minority in the Christian Cleargy in general and especially lowest with Catholic Cleargy. I dont have any pf these studies and statements. in front of me but i do remember reading some of them.
 
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