From the Archives – Noon Mass

When Father (now Monsignor) Stanley J. Krempa became the pastor of Saint Mary in 1991, one of his first innovations was to add a 12:10 p.m. Mass to the weekday schedule, Monday through Friday. This popular Mass now attracts both regular parishioners and a number of Catholics who work in Old Town and attend Mass during their lunch hour.

The 12:10 is always well attended, especially during Lent. One Ash Wednesday, people were standing in the aisles, on the stairways, inside and outside the church, inside the confessionals — wherever they could find a spot to stand. (Fortunately, no one called the fire marshal!) When the lector got up to go to the ambo to read, someone standing in the aisle quickly grabbed her seat in the first pew. So, after reading, the lector simply stayed in the sanctuary, taking a seat on the right usually occupied by the cantor at Sunday Mass.

In his farewell “Pastor’s Corner” in the weekly bulletin, Father Krempa wrote that he considered the spiritual life of the parish as his most important work and pointed out the value of the 12:10 p.m. weekday Mass as an example

– Kitty Guy, Parish Historian.