Mass Intention Policy
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MASS INTENTION POLICYEffective January 13, 2025
In order to accommodate the number of requests for Mass intentions with respect to the limited number of daily and weekly Masses being offered in the parish, we have decided to change the policy governing Mass intentions which will go into effect January 13, 2025.
· The only Masses that may be scheduled ahead of time are those requested by the immediate family for a loved one, on or near, the 1st Anniversary, and two other dates within the year, if those dates/locations/times are available.
· All other Mass intention requests, including those for deceased family or friends, intentions for the living, and special intentions, will be accepted and scheduled the month prior, honoring as best as we can the desire for a specific location. We are no longer able to accommodate specific mass date/time requests.
· We reserve the right to give excess Mass intentions to active and retired priests to be celebrated in private, or to be sent to the Foreign Missions to support clergy in other countries.
· A Monthly Parishioners Mass will be celebrated every month at each church on the last Sunday and will provide an opportunity to guarantee a Mass that month for individuals who are willing to combine their intention with the intentions of other parishioners. Offerings made for the monthly Parishioners Mass will assist with the celebration of the Mass by helping to purchase linens, vessels, vestments, and other items for Mass specific to each church.
· Scheduled Masses, including the Monthly Parishioners Mass intentions, will be published in the Parish Bulletin. Mass cards are available from the Parish Office.
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TEACHING ABOUT MASS STIPENDS
Historically, the purpose of offering a Mass stipend for a particular Mass intention has been twofold. On the one hand, the money that a priest received for saying his daily Mass for a specific intention was essentially his source of income—and in some poorer countries today it still is. At the same time, by giving a stipend, the person requesting that a Mass be celebrated was making a sacrificial offering of his or her own and at the same time contributing to the good of the Church.
The bishops determine the usual amount for the stipend; in Maine, it is $10. The faithful are free to offer more if they desire, and priests are encouraged to celebrate Mass for people’s intentions even if they are too poor to offer a stipend. Yet the Church wants to make sure that people understand that when they offer a stipend they are not “buying a Mass.” The Mass was bought alone with the blood of Jesus. What happens is the priest commits himself to celebrate a Mass according to the intentions of the person making the offering. Once he has accepted the commitment the priest is bound in justice to fulfill it. The priest's intention is essentially a spiritual and internal act through which he commends the intention to God in a particular way.
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… MORE ON MASS STIPENDS
Sometimes, more people request Mass intentions than is possible, given parish Mass schedules, and the availability of priests. To address this desire, the Holy See has authorized bishops to allow the celebration of Masses with several intentions. These "cumulative" Masses are not to be daily practice and the faithful must be informed beforehand that there will be other intentions on that day. The priest who celebrates such a Mass may only retain one stipend. Similarly, enrollment in a Mass association, such as in the case of a person who makes a donation to a sanctuary fund, either in his or her own name or to spiritually benefit another, is agreeing to have their intention remembered along with other member’s intentions at a fixed celebration of the Mass in the community.
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… MORE ON MASS STIPENDS
Although associating a Mass stipend with a Mass is one particular way of participating in the Mass, it is not the only way. Any Catholic, and not just the priest, may, and should, offer up the Mass in which he or she participates for some good intention. This is a genuine exercise of the royal or common priesthood of the faithful and is to be greatly esteemed and valued. During the General Intercessions or the Prayer of the Faithful, it is a good practice to add one’s own personal petitions silently to those being voiced by the priest or lector.
Often it is the custom when a Mass stipend is given to publish the intention in the parish bulletin or to have the intention announced at Mass. However, because the intention is essentially a spiritual act, its publication neither adds nor subtracts from its efficacy. The intention being made public is done for the comfort of the living and not for the benefit of the dead. Sometimes mishaps occur, such as, when the priest, or reader, forgets to read out a name, or cannot find it, or mispronounces the name. If this happens, it is unfortunate and regrettable, but it is enough that the priest celebrated the Mass according to the intention of the donor.