Mass Schedule is a mobile application, available for Android e iOS which collects Mass schedules from churches around the world. Its creator is an Argentinean, Pablo Licheri, married and father of 7 children. The application, which today has more than 1.5 million downloads, -and rising-, was born and grew thanks to him, his wife and children. "It started in a private, lay way. We don't have the backing of any bishopric or movement. It is a personal initiative, like many startups". states.
The beginnings
In 2014 Pablo was working at a bank in his native Argentina where he was leading software development teams. At the time, he tells Omnes, "I was looking for ways to help others. It was the time of the iPad launch and I was excited. I thought I had to learn to program for it. At that time, I also attended a spiritual retreat. The priest talked about the importance of going to Mass every day: He reminded us that Mass is the most important thing that happens in the world every day. Those things really touched me and connected with each other"..
Licheri's initial idea was, however, very different from Mass Schedule: "I wanted to create a site that would transmit live Masses from different parts of the world, through the Internet, 24 hours a day. A site where you could watch a Mass live, at any time, and you could pray or listen to it if you couldn't go". He discussed this idea with a friend of his, but the friend pointed out the difficulties involved and encouraged him to start with something easier, such as a mobile application to look up Mass times.
It seemed to Paul "too simple", but it convinced him as a first step and he developed it. "I made it very quickly, on Saturdays and Sundays, in the morning, before my children woke up."recalls Licheri. "I loaded only churches in Buenos Aires and sent it to my friends. After a short time, about two hundred people were using it. I was very happy and thought I had accomplished my mission. But I didn't. They started asking me to develop the application for Android. This meant making the whole application from scratch again.
Licheri developed the application for both systems and within a short time, more than 2,000 people were using it to find out Mass times. Users were sending information about the churches they frequented: schedule changes, location errors, etc.
The growth
Mass Schedule grew, and continues to grow, thanks to users. Users of the application began to send information about churches they met on their leisure or professional trips, outside of Buenos Aires and even beyond Argentina's national borders. "I started getting a backlog of new church data and bug reports." recalls Pablo Licheri and "I asked my older sons and daughters, who were about 10 - 12 years old, to help me. I taught them some basic programming skills and they were enthusiastic to help me.
Licheri points out that there came a time when he realized that he had to work in a professional manner. The company already had several thousand users. app and the error reports and new information were accumulating. He started with a team of volunteers, but, although they helped a lot, the problem was not solved. At this point, he hired several professional developers and the application took off on new flights: "I'm not sure what to expect.We were able to start responding to users, uncorrected bug reports and bugs disappeared, etc. Moreover, this way, a virtuous circle is created: people see that we answer bug reports and they use the app more, they recommend it, more users enter, who, in turn, send more information and more corrections".
Until last year, all expenses were borne by him and his wife. Today, the Mass Schedule has the possibility of making donations, from five dollars and up. "That has at least allowed us to cover the basic costs of the application." notes its creatorWe receive donations from all over the world, but they are still small. We still need to grow a bit more to hire one or two more full time employees, but it is a step"..
Masses around the world
Currently, Mass Schedule covers the schedules of Eucharistic celebrations in churches around the world: Europe, Latin America and also Asia and even Oceania. When a user sends information, the application team searches for that church on the web, checks the geolocation data, if the parish has a website and other information is also added, etc. Each published information has, in addition to the first submission of information, hours of work behind it. And it is not always easy.
As Pablo points out, the differences in information between countries are very large. In the case of the United States, "The parishes have virtually every parish with an up-to-date website, with people working professionally on it. This has allowed 100% of the U.S. Mass schedules to be included in the application in 2023." In the case of Europe, this percentage is lower and it is more difficult, in many cases, to verify the information. Much more in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But even so, users provide a lot of information and this is what makes it possible for new temples to be uploaded every day. Every month, some 130,000 people download the application.
As Licheri says, "We are 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, so imagine what we have left to grow and help! Periodically, in addition, the Mass Schedule prepares and sends a newsletter on various aspects of the faith, devotions or the Eucharist.
An example to trust in God
Perhaps Pablo Licheri's clearest experience in this adventure is that of trust in God: "If I had done this project on my own and with the business in mind, it would have disappeared."
In addition to the history of the application, Pablo himself and his family have lived new experiences thanks to the application, including finding the city where they now live: Ave Maria, Florida. "Seven years ago I came to give a lecture in Miami. My wife came with me and we stayed a few more days. We were driving down the highway wondering where we could go to Mass. My wife opened the app and told me 'there is a church near here that has Mass in a little while'. We were in Florida, in the middle of the Everglades. We took a detour and that's how we got to know this city. A beautiful city, built around a Catholic university built by Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, with an impressive history behind it. We loved it for raising our children and came here. We're all still here except for my oldest son, who is in Rome studying because he wants to be a priest." narrates Pablo Licheri. He concludes: "I would like the story of Horarios de Misa, to serve as an example for other people to start different things and trust in God's providence.".
