Mass Intention Policy
St. Joseph Catholic Church
Marion, Iowa
The Archdiocese of Dubuque has established norms for Mass intentions that are received by a priest. These norms follow The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church. The following is an articulation of the Mass intention policy at St. Joseph which is aligned with Church and Archdiocesan laws and norms.
Mass Intentions
At each Mass, a multitude of intentions are offered by the faithful made particularly explicit when the Universal Prayer (the petitions during Mass) are offered. At that time, a variety of intentions are specifically recalled while the faithful privately offer their own that are not articulated in the Universal Prayer.
When the Code of Canon Law refers to a Mass intention, it means an intention requested by a member of the faithful that a priest offers during a particular Mass. This intention can include a stipend or offering given to a priest for a particular Mass during which he offers that intention. If a stipend is offered, the Province of Dubuque (which means all four dioceses in Iowa) has established that it is $ 5.00 per Mass.
Canon 953 of the Code of Canon Law stipulates that no priest may accept more Mass stipends than can be satisfied for a calendar year. If there is an excess, those stipends must be sent to a priest, religious community or a society, such as the Society of the Propagation of the Faith in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, so that a priest may celebrate Mass as expeditiously as possible for the requested intentions.
Mass Intentions at St. Joseph Catholic Church
St. Joseph Catholic Church is making a transition so that canon law and the norms of the Archdiocese of Dubuque regarding Mass stipends will be fully observed. During this year of transition aligning the parish with the law and norms, Mass stipends for 2019 will be accepted starting on September 5, 2018. In 2019 and thereafter, Mass stipends for the following year will be accepted beginning on the first Monday of December of the calendar year.
In order to reasonably accommodate Mass intention requests and be fair to all who may make a request, no more than five (5) Masses for a specific intention will be celebrated per year. Two (2) of the five (5) may be offered on any given weekend but the two shall not occur on the same weekend.
When a Mass stipend is received, it becomes the intention of the priest for the Mass for which it is scheduled. Since a Mass is not purchased by the one making a stipend offering and accounting for the many intentions of the faithful attending the Mass, the priest’s intention for which he is celebrating the Mass will not be announced during Mass, but shall ordinarily be listed in the parish bulletin.
Donated Stipends for Mass Intentions
Oftentimes when a funeral occurs, many generous and sincere members of the faithful donate stipends for Masses to be offered for the deceased. If the sum of the stipends donated is more than twenty-five dollars (five Masses), the excess monies will be sent to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Another option would be returning the excess monies to the donors or requesting that the Mass stipend offerings be converted to a memorial gift to be used for other purposes at the discretion of the pastor. If the stipends are sent to the Propagation of the Faith, the director of the society will forward the intentions to priests who will celebrate Mass for that intention regardless of the location of the Mass.
Cancelled Masses
Lastly, human and environmental exigencies must be taken into account. Sometimes, and fortunately rarely, a Mass will be cancelled due to the ill health of the priest, the weather or other unforeseen circumstances of a serious nature. If so, the member of the faithful requesting the stipend will be contacted and an attempt to reschedule the stipend will be made. If it cannot be done so satisfactorily, the donor will have the option to have the offering refunded or the stipend sent to the Propagation of the Faith.
15 August 2018