Mass Schedule Changes
June 22, 2025
Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~
This pastor’s column will run for two weekends in row. Please read all of this pastor’s column, perhaps twice to really get it.
As of July 1, 2025, there will be a new Mass schedule for St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas, and Star of the Sea Mission in Stevenson.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ new Mass schedule as of July 1, 2025:
◆ Sunday Masses – Saturday 5pm, Sunday 8:30am.
◆ Weekday Masses – Wednesday thru Friday at 6pm.
Star of the Sea’s new Mass schedule as of July 1, 2025:
◆ Sunday Mass – 11:30am.
Holy Redeemer’s Mass schedule will remain the same.
Here’s Why
Since the early 1960’s, the Holy Cross Fathers from the University of Portland have been covering Masses at Star of the Sea in Stevenson. They used to cover the Mass every Sunday in Stevenson, except for one weekend a month, when they would switch with the pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas. This gave the pastor a chance once a month to be with his flock in Stevenson, while a Holy Cross priest was at St. Thomas Aquinas in Camas. By 2020, the Holy Cross Fathers didn’t have enough priests anymore to make the commitment to cover Masses in Stevenson. When Masses resumed after Covid in 2021, the pastor at that time, Fr. Raja, would have had to change the Mass schedule to be in Camas and Stevenson every weekend were it not for Fr. Cliford Martin. Fr. Martin offered to cover the 11am Mass at St. Thomas every Sunday, and since he doesn’t travel, he has covered the 11am Mass almost every Sunday since. Thus, the Mass schedule did not change in 2021 because Fr. Martin covered the 11am Mass in Camas, while Fr. Raja could travel to Stevenson after the 8:30am Mass for the 11am Mass in Stevenson. That arrangement has continued until now.
Fr. Martin is a “retired” priest from the Archdiocese of San Fransico who moved here ten years ago. Ever since then, he has been saying Mass for Holy Redeemer and St. Thomas Aquinas parishes. His help has been invaluable, covering innumerable weekend and weekday Masses without cost. A very generous and kind soul. In the past year or more he has struggled to get through Mass without assistance and the time has come for him, as it eventually does for all priests, to let go of presiding at Mass. As of July 1st, the Archbishop is removing Fr. Martin’s faculties to publicly preside at Mass. This does not affect his faculties to do other priestly things such as concelebrating Mass with another priest who is presiding, or hearing confessions, if he chooses to do so. This is a very hard thing for Fr. Martin to accept, as he has been presiding at Mass for others since he was ordained 49 years ago! Please keep him in your prayers. Although Fr. Martin loves being in front of people for Mass, and greeting people after Mass, he doesn’t like socializing at receptions or coffee hours. At his request, we will not have a retirement reception for him. His last Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas will be the 11am Mass on Sunday, June 29; and his last Mass at Holy Redeemer will be the 8:30am Mass on Monday, June 30.
Currently, Columbia River Catholic (Holy Redeemer, St. Thomas, Star of the Sea) has two assigned priests and three 11am Sunday Masses. Last summer when Partners in the Gospel went into effect and our three communities were combined into our Parish Family, pastors were told to create a Mass schedule where the assigned priests could cover all the Masses. I was able to appeal then for an exception to that rule because of Fr. Martin and the help of the Holy Cross Fathers. At the time I made that appeal I wasn’t aware that the Holy Cross Fathers were not covering all the Masses in Stevenson, and of course Fr. Martin’s situation has changed since then. Now we are coming into conformity with Archdiocesan rules necessitating Mass schedules that as- signed priests can cover. Here’s a breakdown of the rationale behind the Sunday Mass schedule changes.
1. Holy Redeemer has three Sunday Masses (Saturday evening is a Sunday Mass). Given the seating capacity and Mass attendance at Holy Redeemer, we cannot eliminate a Mass there by sending that priest elsewhere and still have enough seating with the remaining two Masses to accommodate everyone.
2. St. Thomas Aquinas (Camas) has three Sunday Masses. Given the seating capacity and attendance, we can end the 11am Mass and still have enough seating to accommodate everyone at St. Thomas’ two other Masses, 5pm & 8:30am, as well as Holy Redeemer’s 11am Mass – three options for the people who currently attend the 11am Mass at St. Thomas. Of special note, St. Thomas will still have faith formation classes after the 8:30am Mass during the school year for school age kids.
3. Star of the Sea in Stevenson is a 45-minute drive from St. Thomas’ church in Camas, and a 55-minute drive from Holy Redeemer’s church in Vancouver. Fr. Bala and I cannot make it to Stevenson in time after either of the 8:30am Masses in Camas or Vancouver to prepare for Mass and hear Confessions before the 11am Mass in Stevenson. The 11am Mass in Stevenson is Star of the Sea’s only Mass and an opportunity for Confession. By moving the 11am Mass back to 11:30am at Star of the Sea, a priest who said an 8:30am Mass early- er that morning will be able to be in Stevenson in time to prepare for Mass and hear Confessions before Mass. It will also give that priest a better chance to greet people after the 8:30am Mass in Camas or Vancouver and attend the coffee hour after Mass in Stevenson. Cur- rently Fr. Bala and I hear Confessions after Mass in Stevenson. This creates two problems. People in mortal sin can’t have them absolved before Mass, and hence receive Holy Communion; and we priests miss out on Star of the Sea’s coffee hour which is a really special community building event. For these reasons Star of the Sea’s 11am Mass will move to 11:30am.
4. An unintended good consequence of St. Thomas Aquinas no longer having an 11am Mass, is my ability to get to Star of the Sea monthly now. With the current Mass schedule, I get to Star of the Sea maybe three times a year. That’s because Fr. Martin struggles too much to cover the 11am Mass at Holy Redeemer. That means that I have to be at Holy Redeemer or St. Thomas for their 11am Masses. With the new Mass schedule, I’ll be able to go to Stevenson on my monthly rotation to St. Thomas. Now I will be able to be with my parishioners in Stevenson 12 times a year!
Weekday Masses
For the past ten years, Fr. Martin has covered weekday Mass- es at Holy Redeemer when I’m away. Because of that, Holy Redemer has had Mass at 8:30am seven days a week for ten years now. Those weekday Masses draw people from all over Clark County, because it is the only parish that has the Mass of the day seven days a week. Just as importantly, people can count on those Masses not being cancelled when a priest is away because Fr. Martin would cover them. If it is possible, and it is, we want to have one location where people can count on Mass at the same time seven days a week.
Given the above dynamic as well as these two: my day of is Monday and Fr. Bala’s day of is Tuesday; and according to Church law, priests cannot say two scheduled weekday Masses. We can add an unscheduled Mass on a weekday that already has a scheduled Mass, for example a funeral or wedding, but we cannot schedule ourselves to say two or more Masses for a weekday.
For these reasons, St. Thomas’ weekday Mass schedule will change so that Fr. Bala can cover morning Masses at Holy Redeemer when I’m away. That means that St. Thomas will have two fewer weekday Masses, and the three that remain will move to the evening, a real plus for people who work during the day. It also means that Fr. Bala and I will be able to concelebrate Mass on some Saturday mornings. Fr. Bala has been here for eight months, and I’ve never been to a Mass with him! It will be good and healthy for us to start spending some time together, even if rarely. Related to all of this, Star of the Sea in Stevenson will retain its First Friday Mass each month but lose its other weekday Mass.
Gratitude
I want to thank you for your understanding and patience. And I want to acknowledge any grief anyone may feel with Fr. Martin’s “second” retirement and these Mass schedule changes. These coming changes have been complicated to navigate. A lot of focus, time, and energy have gone into thinking them through. I want to thank all the people with whom I have consulted with in the past number of months. Their charity, understanding, and counsel have been invaluable.
· I consulted with our parish family liaison for Partners in the Gospel
· I consulted with our staff
· I consulted with our pastoral councils
· I consulted with our finance councils
· I consulted with the Holy Cross priests at the University of Portland
· I consulted with the clergy and administrators of the Deanery of Southwest Washington
· I consulted with the Archdiocese May Almighty God Bless Everyone,
Father Thomas Nathe
https://www.ctsbooks.org/why-go-eucharistic-adoration/
Fr Stephen Wang – June 9, 2023
Why Go to Eucharistic Adoration?
If you enter a Catholic church, you will nearly always spot a sanctuary lamp burning near the tabernacle, which is where the communion hosts are reserved after Mass. They are kept in this way for two reasons: first, so that Holy Communion can be taken to the sick and housebound when necessary; and second, so we can continue to worship Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus Christ remains present here in the communion hosts, in what we call the Blessed Sacrament. This is not just a metaphor or a symbol. He is truly present – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – in all his power and glory and majesty. So if a church appears to be empty, we know that we are never alone.
Whenever we come near to the tabernacle, even if the Blessed Sacrament is not exposed, we come into his hidden but powerful presence; heaven is laid open before us; and we can adore him and share our lives with him in a most intimate and profound way. We can speak to him, heart to heart. It is like Moses meeting the Lord in the burning bush, or the disciples walking up the mountain with Christ at the time of his Transfiguration.
This doesn’t detract from the importance of the Mass, or the significance of the Blessed Sacrament as spiritual food – it simply helps us to appreciate his Eucharistic presence even further. As St Augustine wrote: “No one eats that flesh without first adoring it.”
This is such a consolation, knowing that he is with us in this way. When we go to Mass on Sundays, it makes us want to be more reverent – from the moment we enter the church to the moment we leave. We want to be more and more conscious of his loving presence. We genuflect to him as we enter and leave our places. We pray to him as we prepare for Mass and after it has ended. We remember that we are in the Court of Heaven, in the presence of our King, in the company of this visible community, and with the hidden presence of all the angels and saints.
This comes into special focus when we have Eucharistic Adoration (“Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament”) – when the large host is taken from the tabernacle, put in the monstrance, and placed on the altar for our worship. Christ is not “more present” in this way, but he is in a way “more visible” and given more public honor.
As we gaze at his Sacred Body in the host we become more conscious of his holy Presence, more attentive, more grateful. And because we are worshipping him as a community, in a public liturgy, our prayer and worship has more significance. We adore Christ as a community, in the name of the Church, bringing the praise and sorrow and intercession of the whole Church to him, together with the needs of the whole world. And we unite ourselves with Christ, through the Holy Spirit, in his praise and thanksgiving to the Father.
If the period of Adoration can conclude with Benediction, when the priest or deacon blesses the congregation with the Sacred Host, then this is a fitting climax to the liturgy.
[1] Wikipedia: Corpus Christi (feast)
[2] Ibid.
