For The Dialog
St. Edmond’s begins its summer Masses at Rehoboth school
Dawn Huss has been a member of St. Edmond’s Parish since returning to Rehoboth Beach some 15 years ago, but you won’t find her at Mass this Sunday at St. Edmond’s.
Instead, she will be at Rehoboth Beach Elementary School, where she will lead a transformation of the auditorium into a church-away-from-church for a 9 a.m. Mass. An altar will be moved onto the stage, an ambo set up, and a table arranged to hold the hosts and wine, chalice and other vessels used.
This Sunday’s Mass underscores the opening of beach season along the Atlantic Ocean in Delaware and Maryland. From now through Labor Day weekend, churches up and down the coast sharply increase the number of Masses offered to accommodate the spiritual needs of tourists who flock to the Delmarva Peninsula.
St. Edmond’s, for example, will offer 10 Masses this weekend, double the five held during the off-season. Six will be on the St. Edmond’s campus, a block off the beach, on Sunday morning, with simultaneous Masses in the church and in the parish hall at 7:30, 9 and 10:30 a.m.
Even with those Masses, parish officials realized the need for yet another Sunday morning Mass, but the question became where. Parish facilities could not handle another Mass, which would also further compound traffic and parking issues around St. Edmond’s as Mass-goers compete with beachcombers for parking spots.
Rehoboth Beach Elementary “gives people an alternative [to the parking woes] and allows them to worship when they come down to the beach,” said Huss, who was baptized at St. Edmond’s and moved back to Rehoboth Beach after retiring.
St. Edmond’s isn’t the only church that offers Mass in a non-traditional setting. St. Mary Star of the Sea-Holy Savior in Ocean City begins a weekly 5 p.m. Saturday Mass at Bethany United Methodist Church in Berlin this weekend. That Mass was designed for people in nearby campgrounds as well as other summer visitors, but also draws a good number of year-round residents who prefer traveling to Bethany United Methodist rather than go into Ocean City. The normally 15- to 20-minute ride from Bethany UMC to Holy Savior in the offseason often takes at least an hour during the summer.
Huss and her husband, Dennis, who ushers and is a eucharistic minister at the school auditorium, have been helping with St. Edmond’s off-site summer Masses for more than 10 years. They began helping when Mass was at the Baycenter in Dewey Beach.
St. Edmond’s moved the Mass to Rehoboth Beach Elementary several years ago.
After Memorial Day Weekend, no Mass will be held at the elementary school until the peak season arrives in July. Masses will be held each Sunday from July 2 through Sept. 3.
It is not for music lovers, Huss said, since it is a “quiet Mass” with no singing. Reasons to make it quiet include the lack of air-conditioning, which requires the use of large fans to cool those attending. The noise from the fans would compete with the music; they already are turned off so the homily can be heard, Huss said.
Without music, the Mass takes a little less time to celebrate, she said. That draws tourists eager to get to the beach as quickly as possible but still want to fulfill their obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Others are drawn by the reduced traffic and ease of finding a place to park; they include a cadre of parishioners who provide a regular group of worshippers.
While adults must adjust to the school setting, some children take it in stride.
“A lot of the [regular parishioners’] children go to school there. They think it’s cool,” Huss said. “It’s not something different for them.”
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For more details on Summer Mass times in resort areas of the Diocese:
www.cdow.org/VMG/
Map of Parishes: http://tiny.cc/DEMDparishlocator
Times subject to change. Check with individual parishes when vacationing.
