By Gretchen Crowe
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 12/16/04)

Bring an extra set of church clothes to Grandma’s this Christmas. Since the Nativity of Our Lord falls on a Saturday this year, Catholics will be doubling up for Masses on the weekend of the 25th.

As usual, Christmas Mass can be celebrated either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at a variety of times. But, according to Father Paul deLadurantaye, director of the Office of Sacred Liturgy, that Saturday evening, Christmas night, Masses stop "counting" for Christmas and start "counting" for the regular weekend Mass, or the feast of the Holy Family.

"I don’t know how many people are going to go to Mass on Christmas night," Father deLadurantaye said. But "if parishes chose to have a Saturday evening Mass, that would be for the Holy Family."

Because of this calendar irregularity, some parishes in the Diocese of Arlington have shuffled their liturgical schedules, adding Masses for Christmas morning and canceling Masses on Christmas night.

All Saints Church in Manassas, with more than 16,500 parishioners, will not be having its usual 5:30 and 7 p.m. vigil Masses on Christmas Day.

"The thought was that after everyone had just celebrated Christmas Mass they would want to be with their families in their homes on Christmas Day and Christmas evening," Father Bob Cilinski, pastor, said. "But we’ll be having seven Masses (on Sunday), and that will pastorally meet the needs of all of our families to come together to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family."

Father Robert Rippy, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Arlington, is also canceling regular 5:30 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturday.

"The last Mass on Christmas Day will be at 3 p.m.," he said. This is "to give the priests a chance to be with their family and friends on Christmas night."

Father Thomas Lehning, pastor of the 1,500-parishioner St. Clare of Assisi Church in Clifton, asked "you’re kidding, right?" when asked if St. Clare was going to have Mass on Christmas night.

"Of course we’re not," Father Lehning said. "People will not be coming out for an evening Mass. They’ll be having Christmas dinner with their families."

According to Father Robert Brown, pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Reston, Christmas falling on a Saturday does more than rearrange liturgical schedules — it "ruins the collection for Sunday.

"Anyone who’s ever been a pastor knows that when Christmas is a Saturday or Monday you have to factor it into your yearly budget. The Sunday collection that week goes way down."

But those statistics did not dissuade Father Brown from canceling St. John Neumann’s regularly scheduled Saturday vigil Mass.

"If people go to Mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning … because of Christmas meals and families, they’d rather go to Mass on Sunday," he said.

However, Father Christopher Mould, pastor of St. Lawrence Church in Alexandria, said St. Lawrence would be having its full Mass schedule on Christmas weekend.

"It’s just as obligatory as every other Sunday," Father Mould said. "If everyone who normally came to the Saturday evening Mass went Sunday morning, it could be very crowded. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get to Mass when they’re supposed to."

Father Robert Avella, pastor of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, also said it’s going to be business as usual on Christmas weekend and believes people will come to Saturday night Mass out of habit.

"We would have 50 to 100 people who wouldn’t get the message" if they chose not to have the vigil Mass, he said. "Why disturb habit? Especially during the Christmas season."