Letter to the Editor: Rural challenges make 8 a.m. Mass time difficult for parishioners

Some two years ago, just prior to the Rev. Charles Altermatt being named our lead pastor, there was a highly ambiguous survey that parishioners were requested to fill out.

One of the questions of the survey asked parishioners to select the preferred Sunday Mass time. The very early 8 a.m. time slot was settled on by the majority of parishioners who responded to the survey. I’m highly doubtful that the majority of survey responders were reflective of a majority of all St. Cornelius parishioners.

Both myself, being a parishioner at St. Cornelius in Dryden, and another longtime, active parishioner, were a bit put off by the early Sunday morning Mass time at 8 a.m.

You may or may not know that Dryden, Michigan, is a very rural community, and especially in the wintertime, with snow and ice on the ground, it is terribly difficult for myself to get into my vehicle and drive the long 4-mile trek to St. Cornelius for Sunday Mass at 8 a.m. Even outside of winter, with my arthritis health issue, it’s quite challenging and difficult just to get out of the house on any given day of the week.

Shortly after Altermatt was installed as “Moderator/Priest in Solidum,” I explained to him my concern about the early Sunday morning Mass time at 8 a.m. and asked him to resend a non-ambiguous survey for reconsideration by all of the parishioners.

Altermatt flatly refused my suggestion and told me, in so many words, “When we were growing up, everyone was able to make the 8 a.m. Mass time without regret.”

Afterward, I had thought he was correct that attending the early Sunday Mass at 8 a.m. was not an issue for most Catholics who lived in Detroit proper and its metro-area suburbs back more than a half-century ago.

In my 70 years on this good earth, I have attended Guardian Angels located on Detroit’s east side, as well as Transfiguration Parish, where I was taught catechism by the parish nuns in after-school class at my Detroit public school, and where I made my first communion and confirmation, and I also attended St. Thecla in Clinton Township, Michigan, for many years. Each of the parishes was no more than four to five blocks from my home.

As mentioned, Dryden, Michigan, is located in a very rural region of lower Michigan’s Thumb. I was very disenchanted when Altermatt flatly refused my request for a new survey to be sent out for reconsideration. I do have formal training in political science, and I know how surveys and polls are supposed to be sent out.

In closing, it is my understanding that Sunday Mass attendance dropped significantly after the 8 a.m. Mass time was made permanent.

I firmly feel, if the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass time were in place, many more St. Cornelius parishioners would be in regular attendance on a weekly basis.

Kenneth Hreha
Dryden