Mass Times

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1 Everything must be done by turns; no activity, here beneath the heavens, but has its allotted time for beginning and coming to an end.

2 Men are born only to die, plant trees only to displant them.

3 Now we take life, now we save it; now we are destroying, now building.

4 Weep first, then laugh, mourn we and dance;

5 the stones we have scattered we must bring together anew; court we first and then shun the embrace.

6 To-day’s gain, tomorrow’s loss; what once we treasured, soon thrown away;

7 the garment rent, the garment mended; silence kept, and silence ended; 

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-7 Knox Bible)

Often, and especially in Korea, Mass times are pretty standard. On a Sunday for example, there may be a Mass at Dawn (새벽미사) at 6am, followed by a 10am High Mass, which is often called 교중미사 or Mass for the People, and ending the day with an evening youth Mass (청년미사) at say 6 or 7pm.

I think it would be better to stagger the Masses - especially in a big city with many parishes. What I mean is different parishes having different Mass times and where none of the Mass times overlap. I do like the idea of a parish (본당; 本堂) model, because it concretizes and localizes the Church. It makes the Church not merely spiritual, but gives it a body. It also gives us a spiritual home. Doing what I am suggesting might result in "parish hopping", but in a time of crisis such as the one we live in, I think it is a worthwhile sacrifice. This is because our faith (and our salvation) is prior to and superior to any particular parish community. If someone gets up late for Mass at their parish they might become discouraged and not go at all. Conversely, they might go and miss most of the Mass. Far better for them to go and take in a Mass at a parish that is not their own than to not go to Mass at all or get a severely truncated Mass at their geographic parish.

My hometown has maybe two dozen parishes across all Rites of the Church. If the parishes staggered their Masses by just 5 minutes - say from 9am - they could give Mass options spanning more than 2 hours (from 9am to 10:55am). And this is assuming there is just one Mass. If we staggered the Masses I mentioned at the outset (3 Masses on Sunday, even at small, modest parishes), it would lead to way more Mass options. The Second Vatican Council referred to the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Mass in which it is confected as the "fount and apex of the whole Christian life" (Lumen Gentium 11). If this is true - and it is - then it follows that rather than protecting our tribal turf, we should reduce, as much as possible, any unnecessary barriers to attending Mass. In a time of Mass attendance restrictions, this is even more important, as it gives more options for Catholics to worship. Every Church should have Mass times of all the other parishes prominently displayed. It should also be available online. Moreover, these Mass times should be more or less unchanging, so that people can reliably show up at Church and go to Mass.

The quote from Ecclesiastes, as well as the Pete Seeger song (made famous by The Byrds) tells us that there is a time for everything. Let there be many many times for Mass.

 

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