Parish adds daily Mass times for Advent

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

There’s nothing more important that a parish can add for Advent than daily Mass.
So says Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, who has done just that for more than 10 years.
“I came here in 2011,” he said. “In Lent 2012 I began with an extra Mass” at 5:30 p.m., in addition to the daily 7 a.m. Mass. “That went so well, so I expanded it to Advent. … Advent is also a penitential season; it’s a time to prepare for Christmas,” a time for confession and reconciling differences with other people.  
As Christmas approaches people can get caught up in shopping and partying, not that those things are bad, Msgr. Sullivan said. But they can lose sight of the need to prepare their hearts to receive Christ at Christmas.
 “That’s probably less true in Lent,” when people think about cutting back and making sacrifices, he said.
While Masses are not the only way to prepare for Christmas, during Mass “we are hearing the Scriptures every day, all the Scriptures that are pointing to the birth of the Messiah,” he said. There is also the opportunity to receive Communion, and “people love the Eucharist.”
Being able to attend nightly makes the preparation for Christmas special, one parishioner said. “That 5:30 Mass during Advent means everything to me,” Pauline Gaudette said. “To me it’s so peaceful. … Msgr. Sullivan is absolutely wonderful to have that every single day of the week.”  
She brings to Mass Louis Tripodi and Judy Glass, two fellow residents at The Willows at Worcester retirement community. “I think we missed only one night last year,” she said.
“I can’t get to Mass unless I go with her,” said Mr. Tripodi, a parishioner of St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish in Worcester, who no longer drives. “You know how much I love to go to Mass.”
Some people can’t attend the morning Mass, but the evening one works for them, Msgr. Sullivan said. If the weather’s bad, some people who normally come in the morning come in the evening, the pastor said. “It gives them a choice.”
The morning Mass draws about 40 people throughout the year, maybe up to 50 during Lent, he said. Evening Masses draw 40 to 50 during Lent, and 30 to 40 during Advent. About two-thirds of those attending are parishioners.
People from other parishes have learned about the addition of evening Masses, Msgr. Sullivan said, perhaps through bulletin announcements he sent to parishes in Worcester and surrounding towns. He said he hasn’t heard of other parishes offering additional weekday Masses during Advent and Lent.
“It is a sacrifice for us,” he said of priests. He is the only priest assigned to Christ the King, and some days has a funeral or nursing home Mass too. In residence at Christ the King is Msgr. Richard F. Reidy, diocesan vicar general, and “he’s extraordinarily generous with his sacramental time,” Msgr. Sullivan said. Msgr. Reidy often celebrates or concelebrates the daily Mass there. During Advent and Lent, “generally he takes the morning every day, because of his schedule.” Msgr. Sullivan celebrates the evening Masses.
The only exception to the Advent 5:30 evening Mass is on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when Mass is at 6 p.m. Other Masses for this holy day of obligation are at 7 a.m. and noon Dec. 8, and the vigil Mass at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 7.
“All are welcome” to any of the Masses, Msgr. Sullivan said