Weekday Masses and Liturgies
We intend to make 10am the focus time for our weekday celebrations of Mass including, when at all possible, any Requiem Masses. We therefore intend to try having all weekday Masses at 10am with the exception of one Friday evening Mass. This Friday evening Mass will be celebrated at 7pm at Merstham, except on first Fridays of the month (starting 4th April) when it will be celebrated in St. Mary the Virgin (Anglican Parish Church), Bletchingley. Holydays of obligation are not affected by these changes.The use, in the absence of a priest, of Liturgies of the Word with distribution of Holy Communion will be retained for the time being. We do, however, remind all parishioners of the primacy of Holy Mass. Those who choose to ‘move around’ the churches to attend Mass on a particular day are encouraged to do so. We ask for such decisions to be respected and for generosity in sharing cars.
The normal weekday schedule will look like this:
| Priest’s day off | Reigate | Redhill | Merstham |
Monday
|
| 10am | 10am | 10am |
Tuesday | Dominic | 10am Liturgy & H.C. | 10am | 10am |
Wednesday | Laurence | 10am | 10am Liturgy & H.C. | 10am |
Thursday | Charles | 10am | 10am | 10am Liturgy & H.C. |
Friday
|
| 10am | 10am | 7pm (at Bletchingley on First Fridays) |
Saturday (Morning) |
| No Morning Mass or Liturgy | 10am (Followed by confessions) | No Morning Mass or Liturgy |
We appreciate that we have not put this out for consultation so there may be issues with this that we have missed. Failing any major objections emerging, we intend to start this at the same time as the new weekend Masses. This then will start on the first Monday of Lent, 11th February 2008. We will review the effectiveness of this schedule in September 2008 unless serious problems arise before then.
With our prayers,Frs. Laurence, Charles and Dominic
26th/27th January 2008
New Weekend Mass Times
Revisions Following Consultation Process and Open Meeting
Start Date: First Sunday of Lent, 9th/10th February 2008Thank you to everyone who took part in this process. We care, we value your needs and opinions, we have listened, and we have revised the proposed Mass schedule. While we can never please everyone, it is good to note, especially for our continuing consultation, that contrary to the beliefs of some, your feedback has produced real changes.
Your concerns about Mass times primarily centred around:
1. The provision of Mass on Saturday evening, and
2. The difficulties with the later principal Mass time on Sunday morning.
Saturday Evening
Concern was expressed that only one Saturday evening Mass is not sufficient to cater for those who need it. Also that Redhill is generally more accessible than Reigate for those who will need to travel. At the meeting, a rotating Mass was proposed, but we noted that the Mass attendance at Reigate exceeds the capacity of the church and therefore needs two Masses every weekend.
We propose therefore to ADD a second Mass on Saturday evening at 5pm (offering an earlier time than the 6pm at Reigate). This Mass will be SHARED between Merstham and Redhill on a monthly rotation, i.e. in one church for a month, then in the other for a month. We hope this will be less chaotic than attempting to alternate every weekend. We will start with February in Merstham
Sunday Morning
We do appreciate that 11am is rather late for some families. The uncomfortable fact is that one of our churches has to have its principal Mass at that time as on occasions the same priest will also be celebrating the 9am Mass at Reigate. Our original proposal gave Redhill the 11am Mass, choosing against the greater numbers at Redhill and favouring Merstham with an earlier time because it was the only Mass there. This was a difficult and finely balanced choice, and our new plans for Saturday evening have altered that balance. As a result, we will now be offering the 11am Mass at Merstham.
The final tweaking concerns the 8am Mass at Redhill. An important extension of this Mass is the ministering of Holy Communion in East Surrey Hospital. To facilitate this ministry the Mass will be retimed to 8.30am. Allowing our standard 2 hours gap means that the principal Mass at Redhill will be at 10.30am.
The Masses at Reigate, and Sunday evening at Redhill remain unchanged from the previous proposal. The revised schedule looks like this:
| Reigate | Redhill | Merstham |
Saturday evening |
| ß 5pm (shared) à | |
6pm |
|
| |
Sunday early |
| 8.30am |
|
Principal Masses | 9am |
|
|
| 10.30am |
| |
|
| 11am | |
Sunday evening |
| 5.30pm |
|
Note that there are seven Masses, exceeding our original limit of six. This means that supply cover will be required for absences. We have, however avoided three Masses occurring simultaneously at any time. In emergency then, two priests could cover this schedule, requiring one priest to celebrate a valid, but illicit, fourth Mass.
Offertory Monies
For the time being, payments by Standing Orders will be unchanged and will continue to go the parish you are registered with. Likewise, monies given in parish envelopes will be returned unopened to the named parish. General cash will however go to the parish in which it is given. This principle will apply to the rotating 5pm Mass.
Review
Another theme at the open meeting was the importance of reviewing any changes. We propose to review these changes in September 2008, allowing us all to experience the schedule in both winter and summer time.Weekday Masses
We are also intending to rationalise the weekday masses. Details to follow shortly.
With our prayers,
Your priests: Frs. Laurence, Charles and Dominic.
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, 12th/13th January 2008
Previous Clergy Letters