Church at Polynesion

[pasta37]

We were quite sad to read - quite by accident in our local paper no-less - that Polynesion has discontinued all church services. Considering these masses were always standing room only when we were there, I do not agree with this decision, but....

I have read really bad things about the Shrine - very commercialized, looking for money

Anyone have a suggestion on a nice Catholic mass while there on vacation?? I will so miss the beautiful outdoors and strolling at the water after that morning Poly service

 

[csmommy]

Check here on Deb's site:
http://wdwig.com/church.htm

 

[CarolA]

I would like to point out that it appears this decison was NOT made by Disney, but by the Shrine which I guess supplied the Priests. I think there is something on the Shrine's webpage about this.

I have a friend who went to the Shrine a few weeks ago and was pretty upset. When I pointed out that it had no congregation so the fund raising was required, her response was they could say that and pass the collection plate and that they did not have to build such a high maintenance church! I don't know. I am not Catholic so I have not ever been there.

 

[RJmurphy]

Thank You All. All this time I thought it was Disney that pulled the plug on Mass at the Poly. Now it makes sense to me. The Shrine was looking at it as a revenue loser. Call me names if you like, but as they would pass the collection plate, I would watch and see what was happening. All these good Catholics that were at Disneyworld spending thousands of dollars, would be putting a dollar or two in. It embarrassed me as a PRACTICING Catholic to see my brothers and sisters being so cheap. My point is we have no-one to blame but ourselves. If the Shrine was getting a GOOD and FAIR collection at the Poly they wouldnt have stopped.

 

[DebbieB]

See here for the official reason:

http://www.maryqueenoftheuniverse.org/disneymass.html

 

[PamOKW]

RJMurphy, you've hit the nail on the head. The Shrine is a beautiful place for Catholics to worship and is doing an awful lot of good work as well. But, it doesn't happen with pixie dust. Maybe they ask for donations more openly than people are used to at their local churches (or maybe they don't regularly attend a local church), but if they didn't they would not have any funding at all. I remember a local church in NYC who spoke up one holy day and said that the noon mass was a convenience for the many working people who attended and that $1 was not very much these days. They expected at least a $2 donation. Maybe some folks would see this as crass but sometimes we have to be hit over the head. So, whether you go to the Shrine or go to a local Orlando area church (one of which actually started the Shrine as a place for the tourists), remember how much a bottle of water costs at WDW and see whether you can at least drop that much in the basket.

It is a physical strain on the priests and the lay people from Holy Family Church to conduct masses at the Poly and the Shrine. The Shrine is the place set up for tourists and is very convenient to WDW. It's not because the Poly wasn't profitable -- it's lack of personnel. If additional priests begin to come to the Orlando diocese, maybe they will once again start on-site masses.


Here's a source for finding alternatives.

Mass Times