The Catholic Church of 

St. Mary the Virgin

Mass Times

Sunday
8:00 am, 10:30 am, and 6:00 pm

Monday
12:00 noon

Tuesday
 7:00 pm
 

Confessions

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

Office Hours

We are streaming the 10:30 a.m. Mass!

If you do not go straight to the video, click on the video link at the top or side of the Facebook page.

My Jesus, I believe that thou
art truly present in the
Most Holy Sacrament.     
I love thee above all things,
and I desire to receive
thee into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive thee sacramentally,
come at least
spiritually into my heart.
I embrace thee as if thou were already there and unite myself wholly to thee. Never permit me to be separated from thee. Amen

O Glorious St. Joseph, thou who hast the power to render possible even things which are considered impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under thy particular protection, that it may end happily.

O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is placed in thee. Let it not be said that we have invoked thee in vain, and since thou art so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that thy goodness equals thy power. Amen.

St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
   For members of the Catholic Church, the norms on  fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
    If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.

We are streaming the 10:30 a.m. Mass!

We are streaming the 9:00 a.m. Mass! 
Click the SMV Facebook page link on the right side of this page.

Most Reverend Christoph Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio, has informed all Catholic Diocese in the United States through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, that the Secretariat of State of the Holy See has requested that all local Churches be informed that all members of the faithful and other Christians are invited to participate in the special prayer of the Holy Father taking place in Saint Peter’s Square

Pope Francis will pray Friday, March 27, at Noon our local time.

The faithful can view Pope Francis in prayer at www.vaticannews.va. 

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Lady Day)

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary the Virgin

Tarrant county has declared a “stay at home” order effective midnight Tuesday (last night). Only essential travel is allowed. Essential services are permitted to remain open, but section xiv. states under “Worship Services: No in-person worship services are permitted.” This declaration is enforceable through penalties. This order continues until April 7.

 In light of the “stay at home” order, Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth is ending the public distribution of Eucharist after Masses without a congregation.

Therefore, St. Mary the Virgin will close its offices. Staff will be available to answer the phone and to try to conduct the work of the parish as best as possible.

The opportunity for confession on Wednesday and Saturday is also cancelled.

 Priests will continue to the best they can anointing of the sick and those in proximate danger of death and to distribute viaticum in accord with the rites of the Church.

Bishop Olson noted in his latest letter that “this also requires of the faithful a spirit of generosity and gratitude to avail themselves of spiritual communion and other acts of devotion to sustain themselves for both spiritual and corporal works of mercy… Solidarity based in Communion in the love of God is the way forward for all of us.”

Holy Mary, Cause of our joy, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, Gate of Heaven, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, Health of the sick, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, Refuge of sinners, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, Comfort of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, Queen of all saints, Pray for us.

Faithfully,
Fr. Dean
 

As most of you are aware, Tarrant County and her largest cities have strengthened the restrictions on travel and work in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We are bound in obedience to lawful authority and our Ordinariate and the Fort Worth Diocese have complied with directives as they were issued. St. Mary the Virgin has done the same.

We now believe it to be prudent to close the office to in-person meetings to more fully comply with the new restrictions. Both Bella and Terry will be working alternate shifts at the office and the phones will be answered during normal working hours and monitored remotely during non-working hours. We will also be monitoring e-mail and Facebook.  But the doors to the office will be locked.  We believe that keeping our staff and priests as safe as possible is important.

If you need to speak to us, CALL! We are just a phone call away. Or email us. Or Facebook us. Do not hesitate. We are here. 

During this time of upheaval, St. Mary the Virgin will continue to publish a Sunday bulletin.  It will contain the scripture of the Mass, our regular prayer requests as well as Mass intentions.  You will also find the Prayer of Humble Access as well as the Anima Christi prayer.  To find our Sunday bulletins, click on the Parish Life tab and then Bulletins and Newsletter.  

To Be With Our Lord in this Time of Trial

I do not think we have any idea how stressful these days are for our Bishops. In these times of Coronavirus each locale is experiencing circumstances that are different from another, or even from a neighboring locale. Information, demands, guidelines are coming from the Federal, State and Local governments; medical advice varies depending on the source; all of this must be weighed and sifted as to what is mandatory, what is advised, and for Catholic Bishops – what is prudential – and yet a faithful response for all of us. It is so easy to go down the road of criticism, nit-picking and even anger. Decisions made for the lay faithful are probably a melding of all this incoming data and demands.  
 
Rather than everyone thinking they must tell me how they “feel,” let’s take a different approach. Let’s take a deep breath and throw the anger and nit-picking away and call upon our charitable instincts and pray. Let’s use our energy and pray with our families, show our children the importance of prayer. Set up your Prayer Station at home, light your baptism candle and pray this scourge of disease, of panic, and self-centeredness goes away so that we may see where our hearts really are. Jesus is still present in our tabernacle and you may come and pray. As with our bishop, I too “grieve” that there cannot be the intimacy of Our Lord’s presence in Holy Communion. 
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Mary, Queen of all virtues, pray for us.
St. Corona, pray for us.
Faithfully,
Fr. Dean

https://detroitcatholic.com/news/christine-rousselle/why-have-mass-with-no-one-there
 
WASHINGTON D.C. (CNA) -- With public Masses suspended in over 100 dioceses across the United States, many Catholics have been told to stay home, make a spiritual communion, and maintain a prayer routine until the coronavirus pandemic passes. 
Masses are still being celebrated privately, but what does that mean? What is the significance and power of Mass without the laity present? CNA spoke to experts to get a better understanding of why Masses celebrated in private are spiritually beneficial to all Catholics.

The Mass “is not something we do,” Fr. James Bradley, a professor of canon lawyer at the Catholic University of America, told CNA.
“We participate in the Mass when we come to the Mass, either as priest or as people, but it’s first and foremost the action of Christ. The Catechism says that Christ is the principal actor in the liturgy, so this is something that the Lord does and in which we participate, because we participate in His life through baptism.” 
Catholics participate in God’s communion with the Church whenever Mass is celebrated, whether they are physically present for it or not, explained Bradley. 
Mass is “not something that the priest does as a private individual. He does it as a minister of the Church, involving the whole of the Church. Every Mass that is celebrated, anywhere at any time, is for everyone who is part of the Church.” 
Bradley said the language of the Mass as illustrates that it is never never a solo activity for the celebrant. 
“We talk about the angels and saints and they all are always present in every celebration of the Mass, the whole of the Church is present on earth, present in heaven,” he said. “So, in a sense, the priest is never alone when he stands at the altar. He’s always surrounded by the clouds of witnesses.”
Fr. Thomas Petri, a theologian and the vice president and academic dean of the Dominican House of Studies, trains Dominicans preparing for ordination to properly celebrate Mass. He said that Mass is about God, not the people. 
“The Mass is never, should never, be seen as something that's about me as the priest or something that's about the parishioner or something that's about the community,” Petri told CNA. 
“It's about the adoration and the worship of God and giving him the glory and in that, because that's what we were made to be, to do. That's how we are fulfilled and that's how we become happy and holy and more fully alive as human beings.”
“It may seem to many that the Mass is purely a sort of performance of worship of God and for one’s own spiritual benefit for the benefit of parishioners,” Petri said. And while the spiritual value aspect is certainly part of it, “it’s not the only thing, and I would say it’s not even the primary thing.” 
“The primary thing that the Mass does or is, is that it’s the sacramental representation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross,” Petri told CNA. “It’s the way Christ has deigned or willed that the effects of His sacrifice between the graces of His sacrifice, His suffering and death, but then also His resurrection would be made manifest.” 
Every time Mass is celebrated, explained Petri, “you are present sacramental at the cross of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of graces of the paschal mystery are flooding into the world.” 
This is true regardless of the number of people who are physically present for the Mass, he said. 
“Every Mass has an infinite, spiritual value to it, because it's the exact same value of the cross of Jesus Christ, which it represents.” 
Fr. Bradley characterized the Mass as something very different from Protestant worship services, because Mass is “our participation in the offering of God the Son to God the Father in God, the Holy Spirit,” not just “a kind of horizontal relationship where we stand before God and we offer worship or we offer sorrow for our sins.” 
While there are aspects of worship and contrition in the Eucharistic liturgy, Bradley said the Church’s sacramental participation in the life of Christ is the key differing factor. 
“So, for Catholics, not being able to participate in the Mass, it’s serious,” Bradley said, “because they can’t just simply sit at home and do what they would otherwise do in church, the way Protestants would see that worship in church as being something which is them presenting something to God, either sorrow or joy or thanksgiving.”
Those things, said Bradley, “can be offered anywhere at any time,” but “in the Mass, we do something greater than that.”
Petri agreed, telling CNA that Catholics should never consider Mass a performance, as it is not about them.  
“The Mass is efficacious and powerful,” he said. “If you celebrate it according to the ritual that the Church has laid down, the Mass isn't a show because it's not something we have invented. It's not meant to be entertainment. Even though in the 21st century we all like to be entertained.”
Instead, Mass should be viewed as worshipping God “the very way he wants to be worshipped, the way he wants to be adored; which is to say through the suffering, death, and resurrection--the sacrifice--of His Son, Jesus Christ.” 
“We do not have a right to expect to be entertained at Mass,” said Petri. “You don't have a right to in fact worship God the way we want to worship God. In the Bible and in tradition, God always tells us how we are to worship Him. And the Mass is how he wants to be worshiped.”
Both Petri and Bradley expressed sorrow and dismay at the widespread suspension of Masses, but both priests said they understood why the actions were taken, even if they are upsetting for many Catholics.
“First of all, the Church always wants to take care of her flock. And that means that sometimes she has to do things which she wouldn’t want to do, but which are necessary,” Bradley told CNA. He characterized the suspension of publicly celebrated Mass as “ultimately an act of solicitude” and “a kindness of the bishop.” 
“He’s trying to protect his flock, and it’s an extraordinary circumstance,” he said. “It’s not a giving in, it’s not a concession to civil society. It’s the bishop acting responsibly on the advice of civil society when it’s offered, when it presents a reasonable law.” 

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at the 10:30 am Mass on Sundays.