2020 Mass & Confession Schedule Changes

by popadmin | Nov 20, 2019 | Parish Life, School, The Latest

2020 Daily Mass Announcement

Dear Friends in Christ,

In the Diocese of Charleston, priests in active ministry are entitled every ten years to go on a sabbatical program approved by the Bishop to further their ongoing spiritual and cultural formation.  During the sabbatical period, a priest’s salary and benefits continue to be paid by the parish, while the expenses of the sabbatical itself are underwritten by the Diocese.  We have just celebrated Father Tomlinson’s 10^th anniversary as a priest.  The Diocese has given him permission to continue his Biblical studies at Princeton University in New Jersey during a sabbatical period from January to March 2020.

I will celebrate 15 years of ordination to the priesthood next July, and the Bishop has given me permission to do my sabbatical from July to December 2020.  I will spend three months in Granada, Spain learning Arabic, and the rest of the time at Oxford University in the UK learning Syriac.

We are very blessed that the Bishop has given us permission for this time away.  We will not be having any other priest coming to help us, except for the occasional assistance of Fr Jonathan Duncan for the Sunday 6p Mass.  Please remember that, by canon law, a priest is only ordinarily allowed to celebrate one Mass a day.  In this diocese we are permitted to celebrate two Masses on weekdays and three on Sundays by a special privilege only for grave pastoral reasons.  As we are given one day off a week and need to have the flexibility to be able to celebrate wedding and funeral Masses and other Masses as they arise, this will entail a change in the Mass and Confession schedule for weekdays during all of 2020.

Both Father Tomlinson and I will return to the parish after our respective sabbatical periods are over, and we hope to return to the normative Mass schedule in 2021.

For 2020, the Mass and Confession schedule will be as follows:

Tuesday: 6.30p English OF Mass, 7p Confessions

Wednesday: 8.30a School Mass, 5p Confessions

Thursday: 7a English OF Mass

Friday: 12N Latin Low Mass

Saturday: 9a Latin Low Mass on First Saturday, 3.30p Confessions

The weekend schedule will not be affected.

Thank you for your patience and may this be a reminder to pray for vocations to the priesthood for service in the Diocese of Charleston.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Christopher Smith

Pastor of Prince of Peace Catholic Church & School