Decision #5.2 - Daily Mass Miscommunication

Unfortunately, we have had a terrible misunderstanding related to Fr. Thumbi’s health and intentions, and this post aims to explain and apologize.

Before I go further, though, the good news is that Fr. Thumbi is able and desiring to keep his normal schedule of Masses and pastoral care, something for which we should all be deeply thankful!

Miscommunication – A Series of Poor Assumptions

I am providing details about communication, which might seem like too much information, only because something this grave seems to warrant full transparency.

On January 02, while on his visit to Kenya, Fr. Thumbi texted this to Liliana Marshall, our priest scheduler:

Hello Liliana, Happy New Year! This is a reminder that I am coming back on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, but I will only be available for Masses on the weekend, depending on my health condition.

Fr. Thumbi has now made it clear that he intended this to be a reference to not assigning him Masses on Jan. 09 or 10, so that he could recover from jet lag. However, I and our staff assumed that this was a health update, and that “only be available for Masses on the weekend” was an indefinite reality. In hindsight, I can see how both interpretations are reasonable. If it had not had such wide-ranging effects, it would be deeply comical how a simple sentence could lead to such divergent outcomes.

I did try to confirm Fr. Thumbi’s intention with a text on Jan. 07. Knowing he was in Kenya, I assumed a phone call would fail, but I also assumed that if Liliana could receive an international text then I could send an international text. At the very least, I assumed my text would make it through when Fr. Thumbi arrived back in the U.S. the next day. Neither was correct: Fr. Thumbi and Liliana both own iPhones, and they were communicating via iMessage. My Android message never arrived.

I also assumed, should the text fail, that Fr. Thumbi would see the e-mail messages sent on our Whatcom Staff mailing list, discussing plans for the daily Mass changes. Unfortunately, our M365 security settings prevent logging into e-mail from outside the U.S., and Fr. Thumbi did not log back into his e-mail until after our Mass change announcement, which finally prompted this clarification.

What to do about daily Masses now?

As you can imagine, my heart sank and my gut wrenched when I learned about such a grave misunderstanding with such wide-ranging effects. My immediate reaction was to explain the miscommunication to our parishioners, reverse the changes to daily Masses we announced last weekend, and begin those deliberate pre-change conversations I had originally hoped for.

However, after some discussion with our Regional Director of Operations, I have decided to keep the changes in place, with the continued promise that they are experimental and that we will re-evaluate them in the coming months. The reality is that cancer is unpredictable, and it would be more traumatic to announce these changes, reverse them, and then potentially have to reinstitute them in a few weeks should a (this time confirmed) crisis occur.

An Apology

I am so sorry for all of this. I am sorry that internal communication issues created an emergency where there was none. I am sorry we are having to experience an emotional roller coaster of our own making. I am sorry that I still see the need to keep changes implemented on an emergency basis, even though that emergency was false, which will certainly feel unjust to some. I am sorry to Fr. Thumbi for suggesting that his health and intentions were other than reality. I am sorry if this causes our parishioners to lose any trust in their Pastor or parish staff.

I am terribly embarrassed and have been thinking about how to improve from here. Much of it has to do with internal staff dynamics and communication, not something I am especially skilled at. But the Lord provides, and I will be praying for more of his assistance in this area.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.