Many priests may be concerned at the diminishing observance of Holydays. My parish is probably typical in having about half the Mass attendance that we would have on an average Sunday. However, the people who do come value these days immensely. One parent spoke to me yesterday, concerned at reading in last week's Catholic Herald that the application was being made to Rome. The Holydays are one of those distinctive features of the life of practising Catholic families. They are a bit awkward sometimes, for priests and people alike, but they remind us of our Catholic identity.
The people who don't bother to come to Mass on Holydays will not be much affected by this change. It is the solid practising Catholic families who will be most disappointed.
Here is the Cardinal's statement:
Statement from the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor 20 July 2006
For some time the Bishops have been considering the celebration of Holy Days of Obligation in England and Wales. We have responded to requests from Diocesan Councils of Priests and many others, deeply concerned at the diminishing observance of these days.
In order to foster the celebration of the rhythm of the liturgical year and to celebrate more profoundly the mysteries of the life and mission of the Lord, the Bishops have decided to transfer to Sunday those Holy Days of Obligation which are Solemnities of the Lord (other than Christmas Day). This means that the Epiphany, the Ascension of the Lord and Corpus Christi will now be celebrated on Sunday.
The Bishops commend this as an opportunity for Catholics to deepen, through catechesis and celebration, their faith and understanding of these mysteries of the life of Christ.
The current practice is retained with regard to other Holy Days of Obligation. In other words, Christmas Day, the Apostles Peter and Paul, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and All Saints will continue to be celebrated as at present. With the exception of Christmas Day, the discipline in England and Wales is that when these days fall on a Saturday or Monday they are transferred to Sunday. The Bishops call on all Catholics to observe their celebration.
The Holy See approved these changes to the calendar on 13 July 2006 and they take effect on 3 December 2006, the First Sunday of Advent.
9 comments:
I know I am being uncharitable but...
Typical! The Bishops diminish, undermine, remove. They are grey dull men, boring men leading the Church into greyness, dullness and boredom.
Fortuantely the Cardinal will retire next year and there is just the slimmest possibility we move away from our inertia.
I agree with Maureen, diminish, undermine, remove and weaken. Rob the next generation of young Catholics especially of these glorious occassions. Hopefully the next Cardinal will resurrect the Holy Days so that the Catholic Liturgical Year does not continue to become 'one with the secular worship of Mammon'.
Those Catholics who truely practice their Faith do NOT want these 'dilutions'. Catholicism has been shown to weaken precisely at those times and in those parishes, diocese and countries where the liturgy is somehow 'secularised'.
I really hope this can be reversed, if indeed it has already gone through. Meanwhile will it be 'sacriligeous' for these Holy Days to be commemorated properly in local parishes across the land where a few of the parishioners might request their priest to do so?
Does it not strike you that the modus operandi is somewhat pre-Vatican two? When there were rumours a few years ago that the Bishops were considering changes to the Holy Days there was a massive uproar from the laity and no change. The present changes have been implemented without any consultation of the lay faithful. Odd that!
Ah! This is what you are meant to recognise as "renewal" because in the bad old days people went to mass out of fear of God...
Oh please - somebody wake me up when the Pope excommunicates 90% of the post conciliar bishops conferences!!!
I must remain anonymous as a priest from a diocese north of the River Thames.
This move is typical of the current regime. The last time this was raised there was such an uproar that the bishops had to quickly backtrack. This time everything was kept top-secret until permission had been secured from Rome and then it was announced as a fait-accompli, despite the cold water being poured on the Catholic Herald report only a few days before.
We have bishops who want to tone everything down so that Catholics blend in rather than being a 'Sign of Contradiction'. When I was a school chaplain these holy days gave a superb opportunity for catechesis and an affirmation of Catholic identity. It is all very well in Italy where Catholic identity is not an issue, here it is a different story.
I notice that Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor did not have time to attend the important Vox Clara meeting in Rome of which he is the secretary, yet he is happy to fiddle around with this last gasp of the liberal band-wagon that has already lost two wheels and is now firmly stuck in the mud.
It is rather disappointing to see this. I am very much dismayed.
The feasts of the Lord which are transferred are also precisely those days which are movable and thus linked to other days.
The liturgical year is made up of those days which are affixed to certain dates (eg: the Assumption) and those which follow the pattern and rhythm of the seasons and of the Lord's life (eg Easter and these 'feasts of the Lord' which flow from the Paschal mystery. We are diminishing that cosmic element of liturgy once again by suppressing these movable feasts.
So, farewell to the Twelfth day of Christmas (Epiphany), the Fifty days of Easter (Ascension) and to Corpus Christi falling on a Thursday - thus echoing the Mass of the Lord's Supper... Alas!
I just wish the Bishops could be equally as clever, clandestine and sharp off the mark when it comes to protecting Catholic Education from the vicious onslaught of the secular world and liberal fifth-columnists.
As a Catholic parent I feel, as many faithful Catholics do, that we are as sheep that have been abandoned by the shepherds and left to fight the wolves as best we can on our own.
With regard to dropping our Holy Days - what was the point??????
George - maybe they kept interfering with the priests' days off...
present company excepted, Fr Tim!!
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