Mass Allocation Proposal
Dear Parishioners, Now that we have had a chance to share the current proposal with each Sunday Mass in our parish family, we wanted to share with everyone the whole Sunday Mass proposal so that everyone can see accurately and directly how everything fits together. It is important to note that we will take and reflect upon the feedback that was given this weekend, and there may still be some adjustments to be made before the presentation of the full One Parish Plan. Please save the date: Sunday, October 11th at 2pm at the Parish Center (English) and the nave of St. Rose Church (Spanish). 
As you know from previous update letters, we used a number of values to discern the proposed Sunday Mass schedule for the new parish we will be founding: canonical and Archdiocesan requirements, values that you identified in the Listening Sessions over the past several years, and input from staff and advisory council members. If you missed the consultation at your ordinary Sunday Mass or otherwise have any more charitable input to provide, please feel free to send it along to us at the Parish Office. These are difficult and necessary decisions that we are making, and we want to make sure we are as informed as possible. Please note that this is the Sunday Mass proposal only. Daily Masses, Adoration times, and other questions surrounding how Divine Worship will be available at each of our churches will be covered in the October 11th presentation. A location without a regularly scheduled Sunday Mass still remains a church and will have opportunities for sacred use. Looking forward once more to October, we want you to be well prepared: Attached you will find a compilation of the various update letters we have provided to you over the course of the Partners in the Gospel process. These letters were posted on the bulletin boards in the vestibules of our churches as well as published on the parish family website. However, we thought it might be useful to put them all together for you as one unified document. The letters show goals and perspectives that evolved as we consulted together through this process. You can see how plans and timelines shifted and refined as we learned more and heard more of your input. We hope that by seeing these periodic updates all together, you will be prepared for the upcoming One Parish Plan live presentations in October 2026. I want to emphasize now that you have heard our plan for Sunday Masses, and as you review the packet carefully, that the single-most important key to understanding this process is to develop a whole-parish perspective, the perspective of the new parish we will form. We are human beings and we have emotions and memories and attachments, and that is perfectly understandable and good, but each one of our neighbors also have the same and those are equally important and real to them. While perfectly understandable, it is important to recognize that in the end the decisions we are making cannot be at the service of the individual preservation of the local status quo at this or that location; nor can it come to a result that is merely a reconfiguration of the former “parish cluster” model of holding local interests in parallel and tension simultaneously. Rather, we must see the good of the entire parish and choose to pursue it. This is a hard thing we are having to do, and it requires hard choices made with a new perspective that is perhaps contrary or challenging to our initial feelings. To do this hard thing well requires discernment and honesty with ourselves and our own intentions, as well as patience and charity towards our neighbors. It is also essential to assume the intentions of everyone involved in this process to be charitably motivated. Embracing our plan for a new parish will be for our good and thriving in the end, but that does not make our position any more pleasant or enviable. Personally, I know how intense this process has been in terms of stress and trials and feelings; though I understand while mine are the same as yours in degree, they are different in kind, especially for those with deep roots and history in the area. Yet, we’re all struggling through this moment together in our own ways and we must support one another in faith, charity, compassion, and solidarity. In Christ, Fr Thompson Download the cumulative collection of all Parish Family 43 (Lower Columbia Catholic) Partners in the Gospel update letters 2024 to 2026. Letters are arranged in chronological order. |
Mass Allocation Proposal |
Sunday Mass Sat 4pm – Longview Sat 5pm – Cathlamet Sun 8:30am – Longview Sun 9:30am – Castle Rock Sun 10:30am – Longview Sun 12:30pm – Longview (Spanish) |
Weekend Confessions Sat 9am – Longview Sat 2:30pm – Longview Sun 9am – Castle Rock Sun 12pm – Longview (Spanish) |
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