FOCUSED ON MISSION

St. Mary’s, Crescent to offer 7 p.m. Mass on Sundays

St. Mary’s will start offering a Mass at 7 p.m. Sunday, beginning Sept. 7, with Father Jim O’Rourke presiding. The parish hopes the new time will help offer Mass to those whose schedule doesn't accommodate mornings. (Provided photo)

How to get young people back in the pews has always been in the back of Deacon Andrew Grebe’s mind. It began with a conversation with his son, Bill, some time ago.

“This goes back several years, because my son, who is now 36, was still in college at the time,” said Grebe, who is parish life coordinator at St. Mary’s Church, Crescent. “While he was attending the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., one of the things he said one day was that the best-attended Mass for his age group was the 10:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday. I said, ‘Wow! 10:30 p.m., I can’t stay up that late.’ That comment always stuck with me.”

With the diocesan campaign “Remade for Mission” asking parishes to work on spiritual renewal and revitalization, Grebe thought this might be the perfect time to try something different. With the blessing of Father Dan McHale, pastor at St. Mary’s, Crescent and St. Edward the Confessor, St. Mary’s will start offering a Mass at 7 p.m. Sunday, beginning Sept. 7, with Father Jim O’Rourke presiding.

Grebe shared “the reason we decided on 7 p.m. is it happened to fall nicely with Remade for Mission. By Sunday evening families are done with a myriad of extra time consuming activities, and they can come to Mass to close one week and start a new week. The feedback that we have gotten has been very positive, not just from the young adult group, but from families. Families have come to us and said ‘This is great.’

“The point of why we are offering a 7 p.m. Mass is to offer an opportunity for people to attend Mass whose schedules would otherwise not allow them to do so.” 

Father O’Rourke remembers fondly the 7:30 p.m. “last chance Mass” at St. Francis of Assisi in Albany, saying “it was a great opportunity for Sunday workers and those involved in athletic activities to still get to Mass. A core crew of regulars and many visitors from other Albany parishes attended. The faithful were very grateful for the opportunity.”

St. Mary’s will continue to offer Masses at 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. The 7 p.m. Mass will be geared toward the younger generation and families, particularly the music, led by Richard Putorti, Director of Music. 

“Father Dan, Father Jim, Richard and I are all excited to offer this opportunity to attend Mass to those in our area who have not had the opportunity in recent years,” Grebe said. “The world has changed a lot since I was 15 or 18 or 20, when attending Mass was a priority and I scheduled the rest of my life around it. That doesn’t happen anymore. The expectation is that we will go back to a very full Mass.”

The Evangelist would love to share stories from other parishes about how they are implementing the Remade for Mission initiative. Send stories, story ideas and photos to [email protected].