Journey of Faith: Daily Masses

You have by now heard from Archbishop Lucas about a new pastoral planning process called Journey of Faith. While some proposals have been made, but not yet shared with the public, it is still very much a work in progress. The archbishop really wants this to be a consultative and collaborative process. Sweeping changings throughout the archdiocese will be made and it is very important that there is a wide range of voices being heard.

I feel confident that St. Joan of Arc and St. Thomas More are on the right path, and we can continue to work on what we have been working on since I arrived in July of 2020. We will keep moving forward with our pastoral plan to grow as one family of two parishes, working together as one church in the heart of Omaha.

Some of the ideas proposed with the Journey of Faith concern priests’ schedules. A stated guiding principle for the planning is not only flourishing mission-oriented faith communities, but flourishing priests in support of the mission.

As I write this, Fr. Baumert has been on vacation, and I have been taking all the Masses, weddings, funerals, and sick calls. It really is not that bad, but it helps to know that it is temporary until he returns. Some days get a little hairy though. On Saturday, February 19, I was scheduled for an 8:00 am daily Mass, a 10:30 am Funeral Mass, a 2:00 pm Wedding Mass, 4:30 pm Confessions, 5:30 pm Mass, and a Baptism at 6:30 pm. Thankfully, Fr. Baumert just happened to be back in town on Saturday morning and took the 8:00 am daily Mass. Even with him taking a Mass, it was a bit of a long day. Again, it was not the worst day of my life. Everything went pretty well, and it is not like that every day.

All that said, I will be taking some time off in March and would like to experiment with some of the Journey of Faith parameters proposed for daily Masses. We can test the waters of what it will feel like for our two parishes and learn from it and, more importantly, give Fr. Baumert a bit of a break while I’m away. Here are the proposed parameters:

• Except on rare occasions, there should be only one regularly scheduled daily Mass per priest, excluding his day off.
• Daily Mass schedules should preference Catholic schools such that schools have at least one school Mass per week.

Here is what the two-week schedule will look like while I am away.

Although you might not see your favorite Mass time available every day, I feel confident that our collective flexibility will help us adapt to the new reality of our Archdiocese. The hardest part will be reminding Fr. Baumert where he needs to be on which day.

Let us continue to pray for one another.
Fr. Jeff Lorig, Pastor