A Note of Explanation on Offerings of Stipends for Mass Intentions...
Did you know that you can have Mass offered for a particular person or need?
It is the Church's constant practice, as Pope Paul VI wrote in the Motu Proprio Firma in Traditione that "the faithful, desiring in a religious and ecclesial spirit to participate more in intimately in the Eucharistic sacrifice, add to it a form of sacrifice of their own by which they contribute in a particular way to the needs of the Church and especially to the sustenance of her ministers."
Members of the Catholic Community at American University may make an personal sacrificial offering in advance of an available Mass at AU to have the Mass said with the special intention of a person or persons, living or deceased. This is not "buying a Mass," but a traditional way in which one may unite a personal sacrifice with the celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass. The recommended Mass stipend is $5.00. Mass intentions and offering must be made in advance and received by the Catholic Chaplaincy Office Manager. Stipends support the Catholic Chaplaincy.
Each Sunday, Holy Day of Obligations and other important feasts, you will notice the words "Pro Populo" listed under intentions for alternating Masses. Pro Populo is Latin and means "for the people". When you see this, it means that the Mass is being offered for the living and deceased members of our Catholic Community. A pastor has the obligation to offer Mass for the people entrusted to him on Sundays and Holy Days. This flows from the pastor's role as father of the local community. It is a father's obligation to care for the needs of the family. So too in our AU family the primary obligation of the chaplain is to pray for and with the people entrusted to him. Everything else flows from the life of prayer, and all grace flows from the source of our sacraments, the Holy Eucharist—Jesus Christ himself.
