An Invitation to Daily Worship
By Fr. Isaiah Schick
At this point, I hope you have been able to see the new schedule of daily Masses and Confessions that will begin in our family of four parishes in the new year (January 2, 2026). It was a bulletin insert last week, and it can also be found on our parish website. It will continue to be communicated in the coming weeks and months.
If you have a hard copy of it, post it on your fridge or someplace where you will regularly see it! We hope that it is not just more information, but truly an invitation to the whole community to move beyond just the “obligation” of attending Mass on Sundays and holy days to taking advantage of the opportunity to worship and receive our Eucharistic Lord as often as possible!
When crafting the new schedule, we had in mind that we wanted to give the most people in our four parishes the greatest opportunity to worship Jesus in the Eucharist. That is why Mass is now available in our four parish family every single day of the week – to the best of my knowledge, we have the only weekly Monday Mass, and possibly the only weekly Saturday daily Mass, in our entire Diocese!
Before the update, many people from our parishes and the surrounding area were driving as far as Altoona to go to Mass on Saturday morning, especially on first Saturdays. We also tried to balance both consistency in Mass times (favoring the 8:30am time that works for the school children, retirees, and many families), while also providing some opportunities for people who cannot make that time due to work or other schedules (hence the availability of Masses at noon, 5:30pm, and 7am at least once during the week, while also having nursing home Masses on a rotating basis).
I think it is also worth mentioning that the nursing home and assisted living Masses are often available to visitors, and our parishioners who live in these facilities would love to see more of you take the time to come say hello to them and worship with them at least once per month. Even families with young children – that is sometimes the highlight of their entire month! (And visiting the sick is one of the corporal works of mercy!)
Long story short, with this new update, I want to personally extend my invitation to each and every one of you to consider coming on a regular basis to at least one of the daily Mass times in addition to your Sunday worship – perhaps even make it your New Year’s resolution! We have also increased Confession availability across the board in all of our four parishes – making it available in Haugen, Dobie, and Birchwood weekly instead of monthly, and adding an additional mid-week availability after the 8:30am Wednesday Mass at St. Joseph in Rice Lake (a great opportunity to go while the kids are in school for parents or grandparents who come to the school Mass anyway!). Venite Adoremus! O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!