Message from Fr. Naguit

One of the questions I’ve been asked since the announcement from the Diocese last week is about the schedule of Masses after the 20th of April.  We’re going to have the same schedule of Masses as it is now for weekends and weekdays.

First Holy Communions are scheduled for May 4 at the 12:30pm Mass in the Extraordinary Form.  I would like to honor that schedule and I will be happy to keep that option open to families who wish to celebrate First Holy Communion for their child at the Parish. Please let either Canon Norman and/or our secretary, Mrs. Richnavsky, know that you wish your child to receive his/her First Holy Communion at the Parish.  Those celebrated here will be recorded in the Parish’s sacramental records.   However, I do understand if families wish to celebrate this with Canon Norman at Most Holy Rosary Chapel in San Rafael, as he catechized these our children. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Institute for sending us priests during these 20 years. On behalf of the rest of the Parish, my thanks go out to Canon Norman and the rest of the canons who have ministered to us.

In 2005, Bishop Vigneron asked the Institute to send us priests in order to continue the celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form (EF). Bishop Vigneron did so because then-pastor Fr. Paul Schmidt was going on sabbatical, and because Fr. William Marshall who assisted him was retiring. The long-time parishioners will recognize the names of these priests. Apart from those two, no other priest back in 2005 knew the EF. This was before Pope Benedict’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.

      The difference between the year 2005 when the first Institute priest arrived and the situation today is that there are more priests in the local Church who now know how to offer the EF.

Since 1989, this Parish has been the home of the Latin Mass in the Diocese. The year 1989 was when then-pastor Fr. Vladimir Kozina resumed the celebration of the EF in the Parish with permission from then Bishop John Cummins. Since then, the TLM has had a long history in the Parish. And the bishops of Oakland, since Bishop John Cummins, have all been committed to keeping not only the EF, but also the Ordinary Form (OF) celebrated in Latin.

      Likewise, Bishop Barber is committed to continuing the celebration of the Holy Mass using the Missal of 1962 at St. Margaret Mary. He wants me to convey to everyone in the Parish that as long as he is our Bishop, the Masses and the other sacraments in the EF will continue. I join him in that commitment.

    Many of us would have liked the Institute to stay at St. Margaret Mary.  I would have liked the Institute to stay in order to assist me in uniting the Parish. 

      But I am hopeful that the Institute will be able to establish a permanent church soon. So let us join Bishop Barber in praying for God’s blessings on the Institute during this new chapter of their ministry.