Our daily Masses Monday through Friday are moving to the Lower Church for the summer starting Monday, July 1, 2024 and will remain in the lower church until after Labor Day.
Why do we move Mass to the lower church in the summer?
It has been our tradition for the past several years to celebrate the daily Masses Monday through Friday in the lower church to save a significant amount of money on our summer electric bills. Cooling the upper church with air conditioning is an expensive proposition. The lower church is much less costly to cool and since the number of people who attend our daily Masses fit in the lower church, we move the Masses there. This allows us to shut off the air conditioning in the upper church until the weekend for Saturday and Sunday Masses. Typically, this saves the church tens of thousands of dollars in electricity over the course of the summer. We feel this is good stewardship of your donations and it is good for the environment.
Will there be AC on during the Saturday and Sunday Masses?
Yes! We will have a cool worship space in the upper church for Masses on the weekends when we have our largest crowds.
Can I still pray in the Upper Church?
Yes, upper church will remain open for private prayer, and it usually stays relatively cool despite the AC being off, since there are not large numbers of people entering and leaving.
Can I help with St. Francis’ summer electric bill?
Actually, yes please, we could use the help! All of us know the crunch of additional electric bills in the summer. The church is no different except we have a huge open space to cool, and it is expensive. If you would like to make an additional special donation to help offset the summer electric bills it would be a big help and we would greatly appreciate it. We try hard to keep our church open for prayer, keep it clean, well maintained and welcoming. Your donation helps us continue to keep this house of prayer open and accessible… and cool!