Good Reception

'The Sunday Mass' brings viewers greatest story ever told

By JULIA MARTIN

A television show that has been around much longer than "The West Wing" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" or most of the other popular programs today is quietly celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

The program is probably one of the true wonders of television because the plot never changes, and the script is practically the same from year to year.

On Christmas Day, "The Sunday Mass" will mark its 30th anniversary on television. Archbishop Egan will celebrate a special Christmas Mass to mark the occasion.

The Mass will be filmed in St. Frances of Rome Church in the Bronx on Wednesday, Dec. 13, and aired on Christmas Day on WNYW-TV, Ch. 5, WLNY-TV, Ch. 55, and WPXN-TV, Ch. 31, at times to be announced.

Jim Ryan, host of "Good Day New York," will be the lector. Over the years, other well-known personalities who have filled the role include actors Helen Hayes, MacDonald Carey and Jane Wyatt.

Father Mark Connolly, C.P., now parochial vicar of St. Michael's in Greenwich, Conn., introduced "The Sunday Mass" on television in 1970. Father Connolly's goal was to give people all across the country, especially the elderly and the infirm, a chance to watch and take part in the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord as it unfolds in the Mass every Sunday.

Each week, celebrants, choirs and congregations from the tristate area participate.

Father Leo J. Gorman, C.P., who began working with the program 24 years ago as associate producer and became executive producer in 1990, said that the original filming was done in a studio of WOR-TV Ch. 9 on Broadway.

After 15 years, the program moved to a studio of the Salesian Fathers in New Rochelle.

In November of 1995, Passionist Communications, the communications ministry of the Passionist Fathers and Brothers of the eastern U.S. which produces the program, was offered the lower church of St. Frances of Rome in the Bronx.

Father Gorman said he was thrilled to take advantage of the offer and to celebrate the Mass in a real church.

He said that while the elderly and shut-ins are a major part of the audience, the program has a great appeal to the young and to people of other faiths as well.

This outreach to senior citizens affords them the opportunity to join in a Mass--if only electronically--from their homes, nursing homes or hospital rooms.

In a broad sense, "The Sunday Mass" becomes their "television parish," where people of every age are able to join the liturgy and know that they are in the company and prayers of millions of Catholics around the country.

Ellen Murphy of St. Raymond's parish in East Rockaway told CNY that watching the Mass on television has been a godsend since she hasn't been physically able to attend Mass for almost two years.

She especially loves the priest's offering of the sign of peace to people who are home alone. "He extends his hand to us and says, in effect, 'We're thinking of you,' and it sure makes you feel a part of the world and that I'm still practicing my religion. It's a nice warm feeling."

Father Gorman said he recently received an e-mail from a young student in Georgia who said she is thinking of becoming a Catholic because the Mass is so moving, and the thoughts expressed during it have been so positive.

Dedicated viewers include a Lutheran family in Rochelle Park, N.J., Lois and Edward Obermaier and their 30-year-old daughter who is developmentally disabled. Mrs. Obermaier told CNY the TV Mass has been their family's worship time for at least 15 years.

"Thank God this is here for people like my daughter and for so many people who can't get out of the house," she said. "We're blessed because the Holy Spirit lets her understand."

The celebrants are priests from the eight surrounding dioceses and from religious orders in the area, including some who volunteer and some of whom are recommended by their own parishioners. The choirs are from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. A 12-person technical crew is involved in the taping.

For the first 15 years, WOR-TV, Ch. 9, carried the program at 9 a.m. Since 1986, WNYW-TV, Ch. 5, has broadcast the Mass, now shown at 5:30 a.m. each week.

WNYW is also on direct TV satellite which beams the Mass all over the country.

In 1995, WLNY-TV, Ch. 55, began showing the Mass at 9 a.m. WPXN-TV, Ch. 31, is now airing it at 9:30 a.m.

The Mass is also carried on cable channels on Staten Island, in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and New Jersey.

"The Sunday Mass" is seen, too, on more than a dozen regular broadcast channels around the country. Father Gorman estimates the viewing audience in the neighborhood of a million people on a given Sunday.

The program has brought almost a quarter million pieces of mail from 38 states and Canada to Passionist Communications in Pelham.

The program's mailing list has more than 82,000 names, of which more than 60,000 are in the metropolitan area. Those on the list receive a newsletter four times a year, and a TV Prayer Guide.

The guide, a 128-page book produced every six months, lists each Sunday's readings and prints the Psalm response, the Gospel, the Ordinary of the Mass, and a thought for the week.

Sister Jo-Anne Faillace, O.P., pastoral care minister for the Dominican Sisters' Family Health Service in Ossining, told CNY that when she visits Catholic patients in their homes, she tries to connect them with the Mass.

Since she doesn't visit them on Sundays, sometimes she brings along the TV Prayer Guide and shares with them the Scripture for that Sunday and lets them read the Communion prayers because she brings the Eucharist.

"The TV Mass becomes very important in their lives," she said. "They say they wouldn't miss it."

Father Gorman, who is marking the 50th anniversary of his profession of first vows as a Passionist, is not into reviews or ratings. He said he's only interested in helping to tell the greatest story ever told.

"Twenty centuries ago, a carpenter's son stood on a mountainside and delivered a simple, riveting message for the ages," he said. He wants that same message of love, peace, hope and forgiveness to be heard by millions every week, as clearly and completely on a television screen as it was once upon a time on the side of a mountain.

Information: (914) 738-3344.