What an odd cathedral. Those gothic arches and ornate ceiling conflict with the mundane stained glass, the austere altar, and the bizarre crucifix, spooky podium on the right, and sphere tabernacle on the far left.
They tore it up in the 60's, you can see more traditional art and stained glass in pictures before that. It's a shame, it was once really beautiful. Everywhere you see that weird black marble was once a mural depicting a scene from the Bible. and now it's not ugly or anything, but it's an odd mix between the styles
For a Cathedral of a major archdiocese, it is not very appealing and very small, much smaller than the vast majority of cathedrals. They should move it to the enormous and beautiful St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago.
I remember that cathedral from 1962 when it was sad and very shabby. Its yellow Joliet limestone exterior wasn't attractive, either.The renovation under Cardinal Cody--seen in about 1992) tried to mix in Renaissance and Modern elements that didn't work at all. The above photo looks different--and better--than what I remember.
It's a balance between lowering the understanding of the importance of the feast, and avoiding stirring people up in confusion and dismay.
Personally, I'd have gone for having priests announce it at Mass every Sunday through the month of November instead, and post it in everything parish-related. Very few people who wouldn't miss it anyway will fall through the cracks on that one.
And those who missed would have to be missing enough Masses to be either thoroughly culpable for other missed Masses, or knowledgeable enough on the culpability related to missing Mass, to not freak out about it. Probably not many people will quietly freak out about nonculpably missing 5 Masses in a row.
Seems to me that members of the faithful who pay attention enough to have heard about this dispensation would likely have not been confused by the Vatican’s prior statement.
The beneficiaries of such a dispensation would be those who haven't heard about it, as they likewise haven't heard they're supposed to attend mass on Monday the 9th
Eh, the Pillar's reporting is the only place I have heard about this so far. I'd previously heard that Dec 8 is preserved as a obligation in the US even when it falls on a Saturday or Monday but that obligation doesn't transfer when the feast transfers (so Immaculate Conception on Monday December 8 = Obligation; Immaculate Conception on Monday December 9 = no obligation). I'm luck enough to be in a position now where getting to Mass that day will be easy enough either way; but I've definitely had jobs/circumstances where it would fall in the awkward "Frustratingly Hard to do last minute, but not Actually Impossible" bucket; and my guess is those folks are really the intended beneficiaries.
The same peerless sense of priority that changed “one God, forever and ever” to “God, forever and ever” at the end of the collect. The Baltimore meeting will be earth-shattering.
"In Catholic parishes in Italy, the Immaculate Conception’s feast will be celebrated on Sunday, December 8 this year, rather than the Second Sunday of Advent — suggesting that Italian bishops have seemingly gotten some permission from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship not to transfer the feast. "
What? I have never heard of holidays moved to a Monday and I have lived in Italy about half of my life.
Another sad case of the bishops implicitly communicating that practicing the faith is just not that important. If it's inconvenient, we'll just dispense with it.
If issuing this statement telling everyone that they are not obligated can clear up the confusion, certainly issuing the same statement telling everyone that they are indeed obligated would do just the same. Just tell everyone to show up for mass on a Monday. Big deal; it's worth it.
Those who would not attend due to the previously issued ordos and calendars would not be culpable for the mistake, so that makes no lick of difference. More than a month's notice is plenty of time to let people know; few people have it on their radar this far out anyway.
He wasn't doing it to make people non-culpable, so much as to make everyone realize they (or their fellow parishioners) are non-culpable and ensure they don't get stirred up about it.
To be clear, I agree with you that they should just communicate the obligation really well. But I don't think his concern is entirely unwarranted. There's significant confusion on the question, and that can cause significant problems for people with scruples, or for people who like to run everyone else's business.
Is this a dispensation or an abrogation? The practical difference for the man in the pew is minimal, but abrogating a Holy Day of Obligation may not be within the power of a (arch)diocesan bishop.
"Can. 87 §1. A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church. He is not able to dispense, however, from procedural or penal laws nor from those whose dispensation is specially reserved to the Apostolic See or some other authority."
This is not a procedural or penal law, nor it is a matter where the Apostolic See has specifically reserved it to its own authority. There aren't many of those.
In practice this is actually done fairly regularly. See Saint Patrick Day on a Friday. Our bishop dispensed the Sunday obligation a few years ago when the entire diocese was under a blizzard warning.
Now, someone might argue that this type of dispensation does not meet the requirement of a "just cause." Well, Canon Law has provided for that:
"Canon 90 §2. In a case of doubt concerning the sufficiency of the cause, a dispensation is granted validly and licitly."
Regardless of whether the obligation to attend Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is dispensed this year or not, I think that the more important issue is to think of holy days as more than simply days on which it is obligatory to get to Mass (or not depending on whether there is a dispensation or exception.) We should regard the universal holy days (both those for which Mass is required in the country and those for which it is not) as days of great celebration and prayer. People should go out of their way to be at prayer and spend joyous time with friends and family. Parishes should have celebrations and extra prayers on those days, whether Mass or public devotions or the Liturgy of the Hours with the public. Ideally, people could take off work, or at least some time, on those days, for celebration and for prayer. In fact, the term holiday came from the idea of a "holy day." The perception of holy days (and for that matter Sundays) as only days on which there is an obligation to attend Mass is an example of the faith being seen as merely a set of rules, rather than a joyous invitation from Christ and His Church to celebrate a first promise of heaven on earth.
Does your parish have these celebrations and extra prayers? Do you have traditions for each of the days?
There's a lot of laypeople who don't know how to celebrate holy days any more, we've lost the customs and the rhythms of it. Most of the people I know of who are doing them seem to be homeschool moms who want a liturgical life for their children enough to do all the extra work and research that comes with reinventing the wheel.
I think sometimes it takes the laity to bring it to the parish. I’m a homeschool mom and my group started an All Saints party within the octave for the benefit of the entire parish (even though attendance is mostly the homeschoolers, we do have a few other families who attend our parish-wide events, which is very nice). The priest of the parish which supports us is busy, like all priests. We were able to bring him something to approve rather than wait on him to come up with an idea and delegate its execution. I join you in wishing for more of this type of communal life of faith to flow out of the parishes in general and to the people, but I think from the people and into the parish has a practical place, too.
Oh yeah, my parish relies heavily on homeschool moms (and others) doing things with the support of our priests, although I think attendance tends to be everyone, including those with no kids. But I don't think parishes without a fair number of homeschoolers tend to do those things. Dual income with kids gives up too much of the free time necessary for them, so parishes with few stay-at-home moms don't get those things.
But on the priest side, I wasn't expecting parties and events, but just the extra prayer time on holy days that Father mentioned. Our priests will do that without parishioner organizers, because all you really need is to choose a relevant devotion, publish it, announce it, and show up to lead it, but for us it typically isn't tied to a holy day, so I was curious about specifics.
Do you remind your parishioners who own businesses that they are morally obligated to close and give their employees the day off - with pay - on a Holy Day?
I would not say that they are morally obligated to give their employees a paid day off, especially since most of their employees are probably not Catholic. But it would be a good thing if they could do so, or at least have some celebration on the occasion.
This is not an issue for those using the 1962 missal. The Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Sun Dec 8th with a commemoration of the 2nd Sunday of Advent.
Another wrinkle is that in the TLM, the feast is celebrated on Dec 8th as usual, the Sunday commemorated. So there’s no reason to force Traditional Catholics to go to Mass on Monday the 9th, a day when it is much more difficult to find a TLM.
Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston has done so as well... https://www.archgh.org/immaculateconception24
thank you.
What an odd cathedral. Those gothic arches and ornate ceiling conflict with the mundane stained glass, the austere altar, and the bizarre crucifix, spooky podium on the right, and sphere tabernacle on the far left.
They tore it up in the 60's, you can see more traditional art and stained glass in pictures before that. It's a shame, it was once really beautiful. Everywhere you see that weird black marble was once a mural depicting a scene from the Bible. and now it's not ugly or anything, but it's an odd mix between the styles
For a Cathedral of a major archdiocese, it is not very appealing and very small, much smaller than the vast majority of cathedrals. They should move it to the enormous and beautiful St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago.
I remember that cathedral from 1962 when it was sad and very shabby. Its yellow Joliet limestone exterior wasn't attractive, either.The renovation under Cardinal Cody--seen in about 1992) tried to mix in Renaissance and Modern elements that didn't work at all. The above photo looks different--and better--than what I remember.
Looks like a Protestant Church.
A sentence I type now and have never typed before: I think Cardinal Cupich is right on this one
MASS hysteria! Dogs and cats living together...
It's a balance between lowering the understanding of the importance of the feast, and avoiding stirring people up in confusion and dismay.
Personally, I'd have gone for having priests announce it at Mass every Sunday through the month of November instead, and post it in everything parish-related. Very few people who wouldn't miss it anyway will fall through the cracks on that one.
I think that's fair. Very few people who would attend in the first place would miss the memo, and those who did would certainly be inculpable.
And those who missed would have to be missing enough Masses to be either thoroughly culpable for other missed Masses, or knowledgeable enough on the culpability related to missing Mass, to not freak out about it. Probably not many people will quietly freak out about nonculpably missing 5 Masses in a row.
Archbishop Vigneron has also granted a dispensation in Detroit - https://www.familiesofparishes.org/notes-and-clarifications-about-upcoming-dates-in-the-liturgical-calendar
Seems to me that members of the faithful who pay attention enough to have heard about this dispensation would likely have not been confused by the Vatican’s prior statement.
The beneficiaries of such a dispensation would be those who haven't heard about it, as they likewise haven't heard they're supposed to attend mass on Monday the 9th
Eh, the Pillar's reporting is the only place I have heard about this so far. I'd previously heard that Dec 8 is preserved as a obligation in the US even when it falls on a Saturday or Monday but that obligation doesn't transfer when the feast transfers (so Immaculate Conception on Monday December 8 = Obligation; Immaculate Conception on Monday December 9 = no obligation). I'm luck enough to be in a position now where getting to Mass that day will be easy enough either way; but I've definitely had jobs/circumstances where it would fall in the awkward "Frustratingly Hard to do last minute, but not Actually Impossible" bucket; and my guess is those folks are really the intended beneficiaries.
Bp. Paprocki losing a collection. As a civil lawyer maybe he’ll sue Cdl. Cupich.
Bishop Paprocki's prerogative to make his own decision on the matter for his own diocese wouldn't be affected by Cardinal Cupich's decision.
Yes - being facetious
The same peerless sense of priority that changed “one God, forever and ever” to “God, forever and ever” at the end of the collect. The Baltimore meeting will be earth-shattering.
Diocese of Austin as well
"In Catholic parishes in Italy, the Immaculate Conception’s feast will be celebrated on Sunday, December 8 this year, rather than the Second Sunday of Advent — suggesting that Italian bishops have seemingly gotten some permission from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship not to transfer the feast. "
What? I have never heard of holidays moved to a Monday and I have lived in Italy about half of my life.
Never heard of it in the UK either.
Another sad case of the bishops implicitly communicating that practicing the faith is just not that important. If it's inconvenient, we'll just dispense with it.
If issuing this statement telling everyone that they are not obligated can clear up the confusion, certainly issuing the same statement telling everyone that they are indeed obligated would do just the same. Just tell everyone to show up for mass on a Monday. Big deal; it's worth it.
Those who would not attend due to the previously issued ordos and calendars would not be culpable for the mistake, so that makes no lick of difference. More than a month's notice is plenty of time to let people know; few people have it on their radar this far out anyway.
He wasn't doing it to make people non-culpable, so much as to make everyone realize they (or their fellow parishioners) are non-culpable and ensure they don't get stirred up about it.
To be clear, I agree with you that they should just communicate the obligation really well. But I don't think his concern is entirely unwarranted. There's significant confusion on the question, and that can cause significant problems for people with scruples, or for people who like to run everyone else's business.
Is this a dispensation or an abrogation? The practical difference for the man in the pew is minimal, but abrogating a Holy Day of Obligation may not be within the power of a (arch)diocesan bishop.
Sure it is.
"Can. 87 §1. A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church. He is not able to dispense, however, from procedural or penal laws nor from those whose dispensation is specially reserved to the Apostolic See or some other authority."
This is not a procedural or penal law, nor it is a matter where the Apostolic See has specifically reserved it to its own authority. There aren't many of those.
In practice this is actually done fairly regularly. See Saint Patrick Day on a Friday. Our bishop dispensed the Sunday obligation a few years ago when the entire diocese was under a blizzard warning.
Now, someone might argue that this type of dispensation does not meet the requirement of a "just cause." Well, Canon Law has provided for that:
"Canon 90 §2. In a case of doubt concerning the sufficiency of the cause, a dispensation is granted validly and licitly."
Regardless of whether the obligation to attend Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is dispensed this year or not, I think that the more important issue is to think of holy days as more than simply days on which it is obligatory to get to Mass (or not depending on whether there is a dispensation or exception.) We should regard the universal holy days (both those for which Mass is required in the country and those for which it is not) as days of great celebration and prayer. People should go out of their way to be at prayer and spend joyous time with friends and family. Parishes should have celebrations and extra prayers on those days, whether Mass or public devotions or the Liturgy of the Hours with the public. Ideally, people could take off work, or at least some time, on those days, for celebration and for prayer. In fact, the term holiday came from the idea of a "holy day." The perception of holy days (and for that matter Sundays) as only days on which there is an obligation to attend Mass is an example of the faith being seen as merely a set of rules, rather than a joyous invitation from Christ and His Church to celebrate a first promise of heaven on earth.
Does your parish have these celebrations and extra prayers? Do you have traditions for each of the days?
There's a lot of laypeople who don't know how to celebrate holy days any more, we've lost the customs and the rhythms of it. Most of the people I know of who are doing them seem to be homeschool moms who want a liturgical life for their children enough to do all the extra work and research that comes with reinventing the wheel.
I think sometimes it takes the laity to bring it to the parish. I’m a homeschool mom and my group started an All Saints party within the octave for the benefit of the entire parish (even though attendance is mostly the homeschoolers, we do have a few other families who attend our parish-wide events, which is very nice). The priest of the parish which supports us is busy, like all priests. We were able to bring him something to approve rather than wait on him to come up with an idea and delegate its execution. I join you in wishing for more of this type of communal life of faith to flow out of the parishes in general and to the people, but I think from the people and into the parish has a practical place, too.
Oh yeah, my parish relies heavily on homeschool moms (and others) doing things with the support of our priests, although I think attendance tends to be everyone, including those with no kids. But I don't think parishes without a fair number of homeschoolers tend to do those things. Dual income with kids gives up too much of the free time necessary for them, so parishes with few stay-at-home moms don't get those things.
But on the priest side, I wasn't expecting parties and events, but just the extra prayer time on holy days that Father mentioned. Our priests will do that without parishioner organizers, because all you really need is to choose a relevant devotion, publish it, announce it, and show up to lead it, but for us it typically isn't tied to a holy day, so I was curious about specifics.
Do you remind your parishioners who own businesses that they are morally obligated to close and give their employees the day off - with pay - on a Holy Day?
I would not say that they are morally obligated to give their employees a paid day off, especially since most of their employees are probably not Catholic. But it would be a good thing if they could do so, or at least have some celebration on the occasion.
Bishop Battersby has lifted the obligation in La Crosse, WI as well - https://diolc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Decree-Immaculate-Conception.pdf
The bishops of San Jose and Tulsa have recently granted dispensations as well.
https://www.dsj.org/dispensation-in-the-diocese-of-san-jose-of-the-solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception-holy-day-of-obligation/
https://dioceseoftulsa.org/news/obligation-dispensed-for-december-9-2024
This is not an issue for those using the 1962 missal. The Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Sun Dec 8th with a commemoration of the 2nd Sunday of Advent.
Another wrinkle is that in the TLM, the feast is celebrated on Dec 8th as usual, the Sunday commemorated. So there’s no reason to force Traditional Catholics to go to Mass on Monday the 9th, a day when it is much more difficult to find a TLM.
I’m sure that’s who Cardinal Cupich had in mind.
A joke. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.