A(nother) Day in the Life of a Parish Priest

I haven't done a "day in the life" post in awhile; been too busy actually living them! So I'm overdue...

I had Mass this morning at the south parish; on Tuesdays, during the school year, this Mass would be at 8:45 am, as the schoolchildren -- grades K to 3 -- would be coming over for Mass. During the summer, or a break, the Mass is at 8 am. But the wrinkle is, the principal called me a about 10 days ago, and said the teachers wanted to have the school Mass on Friday instead. I said okay; so the plan was, today's Mass would be at 8 am. And, it would be in the chapel, instead of the church. (The chapel stays open 24 hours with Eucharistic Exposition.)

Ah, but unfortunately, the pastor forgot to get it right in the bulletin -- so everyone was expecting Mass at 8:45, and in the church, not the chapel. So, we had Mass at 8:45 am, but in the chapel. (Why didn't I just have Mass in the church? Because it costs money to turn on the air conditioning in the church!) As it was, it was pretty warm in the chapel, probably because in the middle of the night, someone turned down the window unit that cools the chapel. We keep telling people not to do that, but...

After Mass, a quick run to Tim Horton's for coffee and a couple of donuts. I don't particularly want to have breakfast before Mass, so breakfast is on the run. Lunch is usually whatever snacks or such is around the office kitchen. I just don't care, most days, to go out for lunch, and my making lunch ahead of time isn't going to happen. I should get some sort of frozen things and bring them in...one of these days.

When I come in on Tuesdays, I usually have a big pile of mail to go through, and phone messages, and a boatload of emails, mostly spam. As many of them take some action, all that takes a couple of hours, interrupted by phone calls in and out, and some conversations with staff members.

Somewhere in the rest of the day, I dealt with: the budgets for both parishes, the school enrollment, a conversation with the principal, another conversation with the school accountant, and -- oh, a few more.

It may not sound very interesting, but it is what it is. I also had a couple of meetings; one with a parent, who had some ideas and questions about the school; a conversation with an employee who's got a family member in the hospital; a few more things not appropriate to discuss online. "The Pile" on the desk didn't change much, either way. I had a meeting with a couple preparing for marriage, that wrapped up around 7:15 pm, and then after a chat with the business manager about some matters, I got home about 8 pm. I had some calls to make, which I did from home, since it's hard to get folks during the day. Dinner was some pizza ordered from Papa John's, and I've been catching up on the news online since. And writing this post.