November 2, 2025, 12:00 PM
The other day I walked into a store. There I discovered that the display of Halloween lawn creatures—skeletons and witches, werewolves and vampires—were just starting to be crowded out by a giant collection of figures from Rudolph—the Abominable and the elf/dentist, the gold prospector and the poor misfit deer. Yes, with the beginning of November, we’re already on the rush towards Christmas (with Thanksgiving getting little more than a polite nod)!
That means it’s finally time to talk about the Christmas schedule at our churches.
Let me first say something about how we get to a schedule—whether it’s Sunday or weekday, days of obligation or the great feasts of Easter and Christmas.
First, the Church gives us rules. A priest is limited to two Masses on a weekday (and Christmas Eve is actually a weekday—the feast begins at midnight) and three Masses on the feast. As I’ve mentioned before, those rules are there to ensure that you have a celebrant who is focused, alert and prayerful for every celebration.
Secondly, there are the local realities. Yes, we have two priests. But, having two priests means we have responsibility if a priest nearby is suddenly sick. We can’t create a schedule where Christmas Mass is cancelled in another parish because we want Mass in our building at our preferred time. And we have to be honest about the worship spaces involved for us. Mass needs to be provided for the people of St Ann Parish, St Boniface Parish and the Catholic Community at the women’s prison in Muncy. Do the math: that doesn’t allow much room for duplicate celebrations. And we can’t ignore that one of our spaces is significantly larger than the others. Sometimes it makes sense to use the larger buildings for the more populated Masses.
So, here’s the 2025 Christmas Schedule: On the Eve a 4pm at St Boniface and 8pm at St Ann; on the Day a 12am at St Boniface, a 9am at St Lawrence and an afternoon Mass at the prison.
I’ll say it now, and I’ll probably say it again closer to Christmas: 4pm anywhere will be crowded. If you don’t absolutely have to go to that Mass, consider one of the others. We’ll be celebrating the same mystery of Christ’s birth at all these Masses. They’ll all be beautiful. They’ll all proclaim the Lord’s birth and offer a share at his Eucharistic table. And, that my friends, to echo Linus, is the true meaning of Christmas.
Fr. McCreary
