Notes on the Transitions,
Number 9 in a Series

Here is the text of the Q & A documents we handed out earlier this weekend. It includes the new Sunday and daily Mass schedules for Holy Rosary and Visitation.

Coming Together in Christ

Transitions at Holy Rosary and Visitation, No. 4

Father Wichert and the parish transition team are committed to answering your questions and keeping you informed about the upcoming changes at Visitation and Holy Rosary. If you have a question, ask a member of the transition team! If we don’t know the answer, we’ll find it.

New Daily Mass Schedule

The daily Mass schedule for beginning Tuesday, September 1, 2015 will be as follows:

Day	Time	Parish
Tuesday	9:00am	Visitation
Wednesday	9:00am	Holy Rosary
Thursday	9:00am	Holy Rosary
Friday	9:00am	Visitation
Saturday	9:00am	Visitation

New Sunday Mass Schedule

This schedule begins on October 3. Until then, we will continue with the current Mass schedules.

Day	Time	Parish
Saturday (Vigil)	5:00pm	Holy Rosary
Sunday	8:00am	Visitation
Sunday	10:00am	Visitation
Sunday	Noon	Holy Rosary

This schedule allows Holy Rosary to keep one of their two Mass times. Visitation’s early Mass remains more or less the same, moving a half an hour earlier. The people from St. Joseph, if they do not desire to remain at St. Joseph for the Latin Mass, have both of their Mass times provided for at other parishes, one at Visitation and one at Holy Rosary.

Confessions

Starting on September 1, Confessions will begin 45 minutes prior to each of the daily Masses and end 15 minutes prior to Mass beginning.

In addition, starting on October 3, Confessions will be held at Holy Rosary on Saturday afternoons from 3:00pm to 4:15pm.

Office Hours

Fr. Wichert will be in the Holy Rosary office in the mornings (10:00am to 12:30pm) and in the Visitation office in the afternoons (1:30pm to 4:00pm). Fr. Wichert’s day off is Monday.

There are already ushers/ extraordinary ministers/ altar servers/ readers/ choir members at all the other Masses. I guess I don’t need to do it any more.

No way! We are always in need of ushers, extraordinary ministers, altar servers, readers, and choir members!

I think often times people think there are enough people who do those important ministries already. The truth is, that is not the case. Often times these people are serving double duty, or there are people who have to jump up and serve because someone isn’t able to make it who is scheduled to be there and they weren’t able to find a replacement for some reason.

We would love it if everyone who was serving at a Mass that is no longer going to be available would now desire to serve at a different Mass, or if they are going to attend the same Mass time at a different parish, that they would take up their ministry at the new parish. We would also love to see more people sign up who have never signed up before.

We have people to train you at each of the parishes who are more than willing to help you know precisely what you need to do.

When do the Mass times change?

The weekend Mass times are not changing until the weekend of October 3 and 4. That includes also the Saturday afternoon confession times.

All the daily Masses (Monday through Saturday morning) have already changed, as well as the daily Confession schedule (Monday through Saturday morning).

Are Visitation and Holy Rosary going to remain separate parishes?

Yes. As needs arise, there may be some groups that will work together from each of the parishes. For example, the Worship Commission from Holy Rosary / Saint Joseph and the Liturgy Commission for Visitation are having a joint meeting on September 12 to discuss some things that we can help each other with in this time of transition.

However, the finances, the Pastoral Council, Finance Council, School Commissions, and most faith formation things are remaining separate. There may be some crossover in faith formation, but that will be determined as we move forward. For example, we may end up having one Baptismal preparation class, even though paperwork would be taken care of at the respective parishes. The one thing that will clearly be shared is a person, the Pastor.

In the peace of Christ,

Fr. Wichert