By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – If some city Catholics feel like another shoe just dropped, forgive them.

They were told Sunday that, starting next week with the holy season of Lent, they’ll be losing their daily Masses at four of Lewiston’s five Roman Catholic churches.

Only the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul will offer weekday services after that. Three will be celebrated daily during Lent – at 7 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which falls on March 1 this year.

After Easter, it’s likely that the Basilica’s noontime Mass will also be canceled.

Less than a month ago, Catholics in Lewiston and Auburn were told that their three church-affiliated K-8 schools would be merged because of increasing costs and fewer students.

By comparison, the change in Mass schedules is “not really a big story,” said the Rev. Robert Lariviere, leader of the Saints Peter and Paul’s parish. “It’s only the weekday Masses.”

Those Masses don’t tend to draw large numbers of the faithful, and often people who attend the weekday services travel from their home parish to another anyway, the priest added.

Churches losing the daily Masses are Holy Family, Holy Cross, Saint Joseph’s and Saint Patrick’s.

Lariviere said an announcement regarding the schedule change for the weekday Masses was read during Sunday’s services at the five Lewiston churches.

A notice listing the times for the Masses at the basilica will be published in the churches’ bulletins next week, he said.

Lariviere called the effort a consolidation. He said the city’s priests realized that they were often saying multiple Masses every day for dwindling numbers of people.

Besides the regular daily Masses, priests also frequently celebrate funeral Masses and lead services at nursing homes. With the spring wedding season nearing, the number of Masses said by a single priest in a given day could grow further.

“It’s getting to be a bit much,” said Lariviere, “and if a priest is on vacation,” the demand on the others becomes larger still.

Another problem is on the horizon as well: Soon, the ranks of the city’s priests will be pared by one.

“We don’t know” who will be leaving, Lariviere said, but he added that the diocese told the city’s priests that one of them could expect a reassignment this summer.

In late January, many Catholics in Lewiston and Auburn were stunned when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine, announced that it will consolidate the Twin Cities’ church-based K-8 schools. One regional school offering kindergarten through eighth-grade classes will replace those three parochial schools in the two cities.

Bishop Richard Malone said at the time that parishes in Lewiston and Auburn “cannot continue to carry the burden” of paying for the multiple schools.

The diocese says there are 656 students enrolled in the K-8 Catholic schools.