ROCKFORD—The TV Mass is broadcast each Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. on station WREX-TV, Channel 13. It is produced by the Diocese of Rockford — and has been a diocesan ministry since Jan. 23, 1966.
The Mass has featured volunteer lectors and musicians for all those six decades, and priests of the diocese as celebrants, with occasional Masses (usually major holidays like Easter) celebrated by Bishop David Malloy. It is taped every two weeks. For the past few years, taping has been in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at the Diocesan Administration Office in Rockford, moving from WREX studios in August of 2022.
At last year’s Dec. 9 taping, lector Steve Frieders was honored by communications staff, volunteers and Bishop Malloy with a gift and words of appreciation. Frieders served as a lector for the Mass for over 20 years before retiring after the Dec. 9 Mass.
Mary McGregor
Like most of the volunteers, Mary McGregor isn’t quite sure exactly what year she began to lector for the TV Mass but remembers she began because someone asked her. The same thing happened also at her parish, St. James in Rockford when she was asked to fill in. “I just said ‘yes,’” and signed up at Time and Talent weekend, McGregor recalls, calling being a lector “another step out of your comfort zone.”
She adds, “I like doing the readings, proclaiming the readings; so, yes, I like (volunteering for the TV Mass) a lot. I would encourage anybody … it’s not as intimidating as you might think. I love it. I plan to continue as long as I can.”
Barb Hallstrom
Barb Hallstrom plays the keyboard at the TV Mass while Jacki Giacone sings. She’s done it for “quite a while,” including some years ago at the TV station. “The liturgy has been very important to me,” she says. “I have played for church since I was in third grade. I feel like I can add something to the Mass by playing. It’s just part of me now.”
She adds that she herself has “been where our viewers have been, and for some time I had to attend Mass by watching the TV Mass. “It is important for those who can’t get out (and) I think it’s important we have that for them,” she says.
Dr. Michael Cieslak
Dr. Michael Cieslak has been a lector at St. James Parish “for a long time,” he says, describing his preparation steps. “Moving that (preparation) to the diocesan Mass for me was a very natural progression,” he says of his TV Mass volunteer service that began when he retired from the diocese some seven and a half years ago.
He remembers the “long, rich history” of the TV Mass and recalls seeing it when he was a director of religious education in Rochelle. When he began working in research and planning for diocesan administration more than 41 years ago, the TV Mass included “an audience at WREX” when the Mass was taped, he says.
Even now, “I know people who very much pay attention every week,” Dr. Cieslak says, mentioning Catholics he knows who are ill or otherwise cannot get out to attend Mass in person. Something that surprised him, he adds, “are the number of people who are not Catholic” but who watch the TV Mass, including people from his dog training club who meet and tell him, “I see you at Mass on Sunday.”
“They do a double take when they see me through dog training,” he says, noting that on TV, “There I am dressed up in a suit. There’s a little bit of evangelization” happening. He recalls many viewers’ belief that the TV Mass is not taped but broadcast live each Sunday at 6:30 a.m. For example, his mother-in-law, 92, asked a friend “to tell Mike you wore same tie two weeks in a row.”
This long-time lector says the main challenge to the TV Mass is “how difficult it is to get everything in the 28 minutes and 30 seconds.” He recalls asking Penny Wiegert, Director of Communications, how they could do the Palm Sunday Mass with its long reading and often-long homily. “She said, ‘Yes, we will do it,’ and we were able to do that,” he says.
Jacki Giacone
Jacki Giacone started helping with music for the TV Mass when it was taped at the TV station. After volunteering “years and years ago,” she started up a second time some six to seven years ago.
“I enjoy doing it,” she says. “It is a ministry, totally volunteer. It’s a chance to offer something to so many people in the Rockford Diocese. I talk to a lot of people who say they saw me on the TV Mass. I don’t think we know the scope; even people who go to Mass, watch it. We’re fortunate to have people who have time available during the week” and can volunteer.
Laura Ortiz
Laura Ortiz began proving music for the TV Mass about five years ago. It is, she says, “definitely an important piece of what we (musicians) do to minister to people; to our homebound. I think it’s a much needed service. And I’m very proud to be part of it. We look to the readings of the day and try to pick appropriate music that supports the message of the Gospel.
A few months ago, she recruited Gil Yolo of St. Rita Parish who sings for the Mass while she plays keyboard. “We try to find people that feel the same way about service to others,” Ortiz says. “Gil always been very involved. I thought he’d be the perfect choice to add to what we try to give people.
“I feel that music is an important part of the liturgy. We’re adding to the message, but also music kind of transcends languages. It’s a way to reach people and to make it more meaningful for people.
“I think we pray twice when we play music. We’re just trying to convey the love that’s in the message of the Gospel, and the beauty that’s in the message.”
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Several other volunteers share their experiences and why they continue to serve.
Diane and Pat Clementz
Diane Clementz and her husband, Pat, used to see the Mass on television. When the Mass was taped at the TV station in the evening, her husband volunteered. After Diane retired from teaching in 2005, she began to volunteer, and now that both are retired, they happily show up to join with Toni Frieders to provide music on Wednesdays at the Diocesan Administration Center.
“I appreciate the fact that we can reach out to the people who are in homebound,” Diane says, noting that when her grandmother lived with them, she always appreciated having a TV Mass to watch when it was too cold or she otherwise just couldn’t go out.
Cheryl Hochstetler
Cheryl Hochstetler also provides music for the Mass and notes that at present all the TV Mass musicians hail from St. Rita Parish’s music ministry in Rockford. Two had invited her to volunteer for the TV Mass in 2013.
“It’s a valuable resource for people who can’t get out,” she says, adding, “I feel like it’s a ministry. It’s great to see the different priests, and it feels almost like a private Mass. It ministers to my soul and is very valuable to me.”
