Upcoming Mass Schedule Changes - A Letter From Fr. Schneier
Dear All Saints Family,
As we heard a couple weeks ago, Fr. Joe will be entering into a well-deserved retirement beginning July 1. I know I speak on behalf of our entire parish when I say that we will miss him dearly. His jovial nature and love for our parish are truly infectious, and I’m immensely grateful for all he’s done for me personally in my first year at All Saints.
As we plan our celebrations for Fr. Joe’s retirement, we are, however, faced with a difficult reality. There will not be another priest assigned to All Saints to replace Fr. Joe; there are simply not enough priests to go around. This is a very significant change for our parish, as we will be moving from 2 full-time priests to just 1. I should note that we are immensely grateful that Fr. Bob continues to spend his retirement years with us at All Saints. However, it would be unfair to expect him to have the same workload as a full-time priest. All of us hope to spend our golden years relaxing and traveling, and Fr. Bob is no different. While Fr. Bob is graciously able to be with us about 60% of our weekends, that also means Fr. Bob is away from the parish the other 40% including this coming Christmas on vacation with his family, as he has every right to do in his retirement. His availability and schedule here at All Saints are entirely at his discretion; after all, that’s what retirement is all about!
Because of these new realities, there are a number of changes we will be making to our Mass schedule in the wake of Fr. Joe’s retirement. I realize that change is difficult and that it will result in frustrations for many of us, but these changes are not unique to us at All Saints. Since the day of my ordination 8 years ago, we’ve ordained 31 priests for the Archdiocese of St. Louis—but during that same time, 78 priests have died; this year, we’re only ordaining 1 man to the priesthood, and Fr. Joe is one of 5 priests who are retiring. What’s happening here at All Saints is happening throughout our Archdiocese and across the country as more priests hit retirement age. As such, we have to make changes in order for us priests to minister more effectively to all of you. The most common reason why priests leave ministry nowadays isn’t struggles with celibacy or any of our other vows: it’s burnout. Priest burnout is on the rise nationally, as less and less priests are asked to minister to larger and larger groups of people. Now, I'm a young priest, I know I have a lot of energy, and I love priestly ministry, but I am not Superman. I must place limits and boundaries on what I can realistically do in order to protect my vocation, just as any married couple would do to protect their vocation too. We’ve tried to balance the personal needs of our clergy with the pastoral needs of you, our parishioners to minimize the disruption these changes will bring. Another factor to consider is that between the Church’s Code of Canon Law and our local statutes in the Archdiocese, a priest is only allowed to offer Holy Mass three times on Sundays, and just once on a weekday (with dispensations for extenuating circumstances, such as funerals). So, after many discussions with Fr. Bob, consultation with our Evangelization and Finance Committees, a thorough analysis of our parish’s sacramental trends, and input from Archbishop Rozanski himself, here are the new adjustments to our parish schedule:
First, beginning the weekend of July 5th and 6th, our weekend Mass schedule will be as follows: a 5pm Vigil Mass on Saturday evening, and 3 Sunday morning Masses: 7am, 9am, and 11am, all taking place in the Church, year-round. Simply put, 5 Masses on a Sunday morning is unsustainable and unrealistic for only 1 full-time priest, and would create conditions that stretch our clergy beyond what is sensible or prudent. In the spirit of transparency, here’s why we selected the Masses we did: the 6am and 7:30am Masses are our two lowest-attended Masses, drawing an average of 103 and 125 attendees each weekend, for a combined total of 228—far below our building’s capacity. For the 11am Mass, this decision was made so that parishioners who attend the Gym Mass can still attend a Mass here in Church at the same time, just like in the summer months, without any adjustment to their morning routines. Further, based on our Mass counts, the combined attendance of our 11am Church and Gym Masses last year was 315 people; compare that to our 9am Mass, which averaged 294, a difference of only 21 people. I don’t believe overcrowding will be an issue, especially since the capacity for our Church building is technically 450. We will have enough room. I should note that we still plan to have Mass in the gym on Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, and Easter Sunday since those days see a much higher Mass attendance than a typical weekend.
Second, beginning Monday, June 30, we will have 1 Daily Mass, Monday through Friday. Again, since I will be the only full-time priest here at the parish, I am allowed to celebrate one daily Mass plus any funerals that arise. Communion services are also not a realistic, long-term solution. The Archdiocese is very clear about the use of communion services, saying in part “a communion service is an exception, and should not be scheduled on a regular basis. This is because the Church sees the priority of receiving the Eucharist during Mass.” So, beginning Monday, June 30, our daily Mass schedule will be as follows: Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 8am, and Tuesday/Thursday at 6:30am. We chose this schedule because it balances our existing Mass times and still allows our school students to attend all-school Masses on Wednesdays and Fridays when they’re in session.
Third, our weekly Mass at Clarendale Nursing Home will now be every other week, beginning July 1. Clarendale residents already have access to a shuttle for our 9am Mass every Sunday, as well as the “Hearts on Fire” Ministry to bring them Holy Communion every Thursday. Based on the needs of the rest of our parish, an every-other-week Mass is all that we can provide there going forward.
Fourth, there will no longer be a Saturday morning Mass at 8am. The final Saturday morning Mass will take place on June 28. This change was specifically made because, in the last few years, Saturday has become the most common day for funerals not just at All Saints, but across the country. For context, in 2024, All Saints had 66 funerals, 20 of which took place on Saturdays—and this trend is growing rapidly. In just the first 9 weekends of 2025, 6 of them had Saturday funerals. In addition, Saturday is also our most common day for weddings, and last year I had 14 of those, just by myself. Further, with Fr. Bob being away about 21 weekends per year, the Saturday schedule of one full-time priest at All Saints could be as follows: 8am Mass, 10am funeral, burial at the cemetery, attending the funeral luncheon, 2pm wedding, 4pm confessions, 5pm Vigil Mass, then driving to the wedding reception to say grace and be present to the family—with 3 more Masses and baptisms waiting for him the next morning. This is simply not sustainable or realistic for only 1 full-time priest going forward.
Finally, if there’s one last change to announce, it’s an adjustment to our clergy availability for other parish events and organizations; going forward, the availability of our clergy will look different. It will impact our priests’ ability to go to Belize, attend an entire ACTS retreat, visit every homebound parishioner on the sick list, or attend regular meetings for various organizations. I need to be clear: I want to be present at all of these wonderful things that bring so much life to our parish because they’re life-giving to me too—but I also humbly ask for your patience and understanding when I’m not able to be in two places at once. We will be relying more and more on you, our parishioners, to help in many of these areas. So, for instance, when it comes to Holy Communion for the homebound, our priests will have to prioritize those who need Anointing of the Sick, leaving the rest to Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. While this change isn’t as explicit or specific as the ones mentioned above, it will be no less impactful. This is the new reality we face: while All Things New did not change our parish in any way 2 years ago, its effects are reaching us now, as it will for many other parishes across our Archdiocese when more and more priestly retirements take place. Going forward, our priests will have to be disciplined and prudent to effectively minister and lead our parishes.
To conclude, I know and fully understand that these changes will not be easy or well-received by some in our parish. However, please know that these changes were made after a great deal of prayer and discernment for what God desires for us as a parish community. I sincerely value your feedback, and if you have any ideas or concerns, please don’t hesitate to bring them to me—my door is always open. I want to be a holy priest, I desire to be the best spiritual Father I can be for all of you, and I care deeply about how we as a family can serve our God together. Know that I pray for you, my family, on a daily basis, and I humbly ask for your prayers as I take on a greater share of our parish’s work and responsibilities. Finally, let us continue to pray for more vocations to the Holy Priesthood, that more young men will answer the call to serve our Lord and be fishers of men.
Sincerely,
Fr. John Schneier
All Saints Parish, Parochial Administrator