Corpus Christi Church to Reduce Sunday Masses to Three

Corpus Christi Church announced Sunday in a letter to parishioners in their bulletin that the number Sunday Masses would be reduced to three.

Here is the letter from Pastor Mariusz Dymek:

My Dear Parishioners,

The Lord shall protect us and guide us in all his ways. In February 2014, parishioners were asked to complete a survey regarding changing the weekend mass times for all three masses. The intent was to make those changes for the 2014 Easter Season. This change would respect parishioners’ responses but with the understanding the final decision would be made by the Pastor. This consultation occurred with the Parish Council, Fr. Provincial, and others. This has not been an easy decision but a necessary one.

As you may or may not realize, the Church is changing. We need to be realistic and set short-term and long-term goals. Priestly vocations have declined over the years, the loss of priests serving the Diocese due to illness, death, and retirement, and the changing needs of Catholics has required the Diocese of Buffalo to address these concerns. This includes the Pauline Fathers serving Corpus Christi. We have been extremely blessed to have two Clergy serve our parish. The Diocese and our Priests collaborate on issues, which affect our presence on the East Side of Buffalo. It is our desire for that all people remain close to their church, their community, and their heritage. However, we must be realistic.

Recently, the Provincial came to Corpus Christi and looked very closely at our current membership, finances, and the physical needs of our church campus, and Eastside community. As I reported in our bulletin, our membership and financial contributions continue to decline. The number of people receiving the Sacraments is extremely low. Funerals continue to outnumber the other Sacraments. It is not the intent of this letter to address all the reasons for these changes. I have focused much of my nearly three years here addressing the above changes in collaboration with many people. This discussion is on-going.

Although the changes will be different, it is my hope that during this time of transition, you will place an even greater emphasis of trust in the Lord and in his Divine Mercy. The changes will be effective the first week of Advent, November 29-30, 2014. The changes will be as follows: Saturday-5:00 p.m. Sunday, Polish Mass-8:30 a.m., English Mass-10:30 a.m.

The time after the Polish Mass will give all worshipers time in prayer and adoration. The 10:30 English Mass will allow parishioners time to recite the Divine Mercy Novena and give people more time to spend with family or other events. The time between the Polish and English Mass will allow our Priests more time to drive to other churches and assist as needed. It will also help our monthly Coffee Sunday Social and give volunteers an earlier clean-up time. Weekday Masses Monday thru Saturday will remain at 11:30 am.

The Thurs. Mass will remain in Polish. Adoration and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be Wednesday thru Friday from 10:00 am to 11:30. The time needed for our Priests to conduct Funerals was also discussed.

In preparation for the changes, Mass Schedules at other neighborhood churches including those on the Eastside, Kaisertown, Sloan and Cheektowaga were discussed. If this change will be a hardship for you, I am sorry. If you need to attend another church in the meantime, you are welcome to place your envelope in their basket and they will forward it to Corpus Christi. Please know you will be in our prayers as you adjust to these changes. If you have additional questions, please speak with Fr. Mariusz, members of the Parish Council, and our Secretary. Finally, it is our hope that we will become a more vibrant community of worshipers and active parishioners. We will change together and grow together.

May God richly bless you and keep you in his loving arms.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Mariusz

http://corpuschristibuffalo.org


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