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The "Table of the Lord" televised Mass debuted in the Albany Diocese Jan. 8, 1967.

On Sept. 18, 2016, the Mass will be broadcast on TV for the last time.

Instead, as of Sept. 25, the Diocese plans to begin live-streaming a weekly Mass through its website, www.rcda.org.

Diocesan communications director Mary DeTurris Poust attributed the change to "the fast-changing nature of visual media and a reallocation of existing communications resources.

"TV viewership is in decline and streaming video is growing exponentially," she explained. "This evolution will enable us to tap into new audiences even as we endeavor to maintain the current audience."

The online Mass will be a live broadcast from St. Patrick's parish in Ravena at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays. Catholics in Greene, Columbia, Dutchess, Ulster and southern Albany Counties may already be familiar with it: Since 1981, it has aired on Mid-Hudson Cable's public access channel 11.

Viewers can go to www.rcda.org and click on "watch Sunday Mass" to see it. For those without computer access, Ms. DeTurris Poust noted that the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) broadcasts Masses on TV.

Anyone who does not have cable TV and cannot watch the online Mass is invited to contact her at (518) 453-6618 or [email protected] for assistance.

Debut days
When "Table of the Lord" began in 1967, the medium of television was still a novelty for many families. Rev. Edward English, then-diocesan director of radio and television, talked about the expense and technical difficulties of bringing the Mass to TV, saying it had only become possible through the "perfection" of videotaping techniques.

The Diocese's first-ever televised Mass was a "pontifical High Mass celebrated by Bishop [Edward] Maginn," The Evangelist reported. It was concelebrated by priests from Albany and Oneonta, with a choir of Sisters of the Holy Names and a congregation made up of representatives of religious orders serving in the Diocese. Altar servers came from area seminaries.

The program debuted Sunday, Jan. 8, 1967, at 9 a.m. on WTEN-Channel 10. Father English called it a "new Bethlehem," because it was bringing "the image of Christ" to a wide audience.

The priest cautioned that watching the Mass on TV did not fulfill Catholics' Sunday obligation, but hoped that, in addition to keeping shut-ins and others in touch with the Church, it would "be a vehicle for nudging into proper fulfillment of their obligation" those who could go to Mass, but didn't. He also hoped non-Catholics would watch and learn about the Church.

Rev. Leo O'Brien, who was chancellor of the Diocese then, presided at the second televised Mass in January 1967 -- and countless times over six decades. Now retired and serving as a sacramental minister for St. Vincent's parish in Albany, he told The Evangelist that, whenever he was called upon to preside at a "Table of the Lord" taping, "I always loved doing it."

Although "Table of the Lord" always had a "congregation" of Catholics present at the tapings, Father O'Brien said, "I tried to keep my attention on the camera, because we were there for the listening participants [at home], not for each other."

Hour-long program
Originally, "Table of the Lord" included more than the Mass. The program was an hour long and had guests who spoke for 10 or 15 minutes after the liturgy about subjects ranging from "the philosophy of giving" to the Diocese's Deaf Apostolate. One early guest was Rev. Patrick Peyton, CSC, founder of Family Rosary, who coined the adage, "The family that prays together, stays together." His sainthood cause is ongoing.

Even Pope Paul VI seemed to be on board: His message for World Communication Day 1968 touted the progress of various means of communication as helping people become "attuned to the throbbing life of the universe." The Diocese referred to this in asking Catholics to support the annual Catholic Communications Campaign, which has funded the televised Mass.

Through the 1970s, "Table of the Lord" highlighted vocations with special Masses and brought in guests for the program's interview portion to discuss ecumenism, the Diocesan Development Program (DDP) and even the Boy Scouts. A 1975 program included "a dramatic essay on the life of newly-canonized Mother [Elizabeth Ann] Seton."

Viewers ate it up. "It is very good for shut-ins such as myself to be able to participate in the Sunday liturgy even though we cannot leave our homes," said Joseph Smith of Troy.

"It is wonderful for shut-ins," agreed Helen Tyrrel Graham of Albany, noting that the program reminded her of her grandfather, who was disabled and passed away before the advent of TV.

Huge audience
In 1971, a Nielsen survey showed that "Table of the Lord" was pulling in 52,000 viewers a week, or 54 percent of the area's entire television audience. The program was being aired on both WTEN and WCDR, channel 19 in Adams, Mass. Dioceses across the country requested tapes of the program to learn how to produce their own versions.

Of course, local Catholics had strong opinions about what they saw. A 1970s Mass that included liturgical dance had to be announced in advance so shut-ins weren't scandalized. "Hopefully, the viewers will realize that the liturgy calls for tremendous enthusiasm and a total response of body and soul," remarked a sister participating in the liturgy.

One viewer complained in a letter to The Evangelist that "Table of the Lord" should not have depicted Mass-goers receiving communion in the hand, or from lay eucharistic ministers.

On the other hand, children spending the summer at the Diocese's Camp Scully on Snyder's Lake participated in the televised Mass in the 1980s and were delighted. "It feels good to be a star!" declared 11-year-old John Bink of Schenectady.

Time goes by
"Table of the Lord" changed with the times. The '80s brought a new studio set and guest speakers on topics like marriage annulments and social justice. In 1987, after the Diocese's two-year-old Black Catholic Apostolate was featured, viewers like Elizabeth Volpicelli of Schenectady enthused, "What a glorious, spirit-filled Mass! Praise the Lord for these glorious people."

"Table of the Lord" went through rocky times, too. A year later, WTEN moved the Mass from 9 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Sundays, sparking a flurry of letters from Catholics who appreciated the station's donation of free airtime, but found getting up two hours earlier to watch it a hardship.

The problem was resolved with a compromise: WTEN moved "Table of the Lord" to 8 a.m., but the interview portion of the program was dropped. Only the Mass remained.

When television itself went digital in 2009, an article in The Evangelist assured viewers that, with a converter box or by getting cable TV, they could continue to see "Table of the Lord."

Faithful viewer Shirley Lever of Rensselaer responded that the Mass "gives me satisfaction."

For many years, "Table of the Lord" was taped at churches all over the Diocese, with parishioners making up the congregation. Then the tapings moved to WXXA-Fox 23's studio in Albany.

After WTEN and WXXA-Fox 23 consolidated, "Table of the Lord" found a new home in 2013 at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Watervliet. Parishioners and clergy from other churches would come to IHM for the tapings.

Fox also affiliated with the CW Television Network. For the past two years, "Table of the Lord" has aired on Sundays at 7 a.m. on the CW, as well as on Time Warner Cable public access channels around the Diocese at other times.

Fond memories
Father O'Brien said that, whenever he was the presider for the televised Mass, parishioners from St. Vincent's who weren't even homebound would watch and compare his homily to what they'd heard at church. "But more people who don't go [to church] watch it," he added.

Over Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard's 50-plus years of religious life, he went from being an interview subject on his work as a "street priest" to celebrating the televised Christmas and Easter Masses as Bishop.

"It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to reach throughout the whole Diocese," he said. "As a bishop, you didn't have that opportunity too often."

Father O'Brien also recalled the challenge of keeping to the 27 -minute time limit for the TV Mass. Volunteers would hold up signs indicating when he needed to use a shortened version of a prayer or wrap up his homily.

"Sometimes we're better if we give short homilies," he admitted.

Bishop Emeritus Hubbard told The Evangelist that he recently presided at a "Table of the Lord" Mass for Palm Sunday. The liturgy had to include the lengthy reading of Christ's Passion and a homily, all in 27 minutes. "People were betting I couldn't do it. Afterward, they said, 'You came in exactly on time.'" Carol Tenzyk of St. Jude parish in Wynantskill was a volunteer for "Table of the Lord" for decades. She instructed people at the tapings about how to receive communion and, in recent years, to silence their cell phones before taping began.

Mrs. Tenzyk said she meets many viewers who see "Table of the Lord" as their community. Her 93-year-old mother, who passed away recently, was a faithful viewer who eagerly waited each week for the priest's blessing at the end of Mass. Volunteering for "Table of the Lord" is "really a special ministry," she said. "I learned a lot about my faith."

Deacon Michael McDonald of St. Mary's in Coxsackie, another volunteer, said that "of all the ministries I have been a part of, that was my favorite. It truly spread the Word and sacrament to an untold number of people. Plus, it was a lot of laughs.

" Deacon McDonald recalled telling the participants in tapings during August to wear fall clothing for Masses that wouldn't be broadcast until October. When then-Pope John Paul II was seriously ill in the mid-2000s, the deacon warned priests at "Table of the Lord," "Don't say his name during the eucharistic prayer. Just say, 'the Holy Father,'" in case the pope passed on before the Mass aired.

Why it's changing
"Table of the Lord" costs the Diocese about $40,000 a year to produce. Those funds come from the annual Catholic Communications Campaign -- a collection that has been waning each year.

"'Table of the Lord' required almost all the CCC funds, due to the cost of production and TV time," Ms. DeTurris Poust stated. "It would not have been good stewardship to continue to use all of those funds for one program reaching an important but very small audience."

A 2002 article in the Schenectady Gazette cited "Table of the Lord" as the most-watched program in the Capital Region in its Sunday-morning time slot, but recent statistics from the CW cite a viewing audience of around 5,000. The CW noted that it's very difficult to estimate the total number of viewers.

The funds from "Table of the Lord" are being reallocated, said Ms. DeTurris Poust, for "communications staff salaries, and to assist with basic communications functions that include photography, advertising, video and the website."

As the Mass moves online, Mrs. Tenzyk is concerned about meeting the needs of "Table of the Lord" viewers. "These older people, we can't forget them," she told The Evangelist. "They built the Church."

The program's current format "will be dreadfully missed by many people," Father O'Brien said. "I'm very old and my contemporaries are [the same] age. This is part of our tradition."

But the Diocese promises to "explore every option that seems possible and feasible" for continuing to provide a Mass for the homebound, said Ms. DeTurris Poust.

She noted that the online Mass will have many benefits: It will be a live, full-length liturgy without a time limit or interruptions -- except, perhaps, a crying baby or other real-life event.

"We're committed to giving people a spiritually uplifting celebration of the Mass and to reaching even more people than we're reaching now. By this time next year, I think we will look back and see that technology has allowed us to improve and expand 'Table of the Lord' in exciting new directions," she said.[[In-content Ad]]

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