My Jewish colleagues who practice their faith with sincerity use some of their vacation days to observe religious holidays (this comes up occasionally with a reminder not to schedule major meetings on their holy days) and I decided recently to follow their plan - if it's a holy day of obligation then I am booking a day off. I am grateful for their example since it's nice to take a rest and spend more time with God.
If I worked in a field where this was not possible (and a city where it's possible to swing a cat and not hit a holy day Mass at lunch, 7am, or 7pm) and was uncertain where to draw the line between "impossible" and "really hard but possible" then I would just ask my pastor beforehand to dispense me and not have an attack of scruples over it - because I know myself :-b
My union contract gives all employees 3 days a year of religious leave, in additional to the union negotiated annual and sick leave. I take off Good Friday and either part of midweek solemnities so to attend Mass or the whole day.
When a Holy Day of Obligation is transferred to become a Holy Day of Convenience there is a risk of Catholic casuistry lurking. Which is not to say that all obligations are inconveniences.
Two other consequences of this hodgepodge transferal: the liturgical books, i.e., the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours, become a bit convoluted and difficult to navigate and the unity of the Church suffers.
I wasn’t arguing with you in any combative way. Just offering other considerations.
Here is another consideration:
Canon 1248, §2. If participation in the eucharistic celebration becomes impossible because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause, it is strongly recommended that the faithful take part in a liturgy of the word if such a liturgy is celebrated in a parish church or other sacred place according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop or that they devote themselves to prayer for a suitable time alone, as a family, or, as the occasion permits, in groups of families.
I take from this canon that there are myriad approved ways to worship. A lot of Catholics don’t know how to worship beyond being a spectator at Mass, and this canon seems to assume the laity are more liturgically educated and diversified.
Actually only Acts says forty days. The Gospels say differently. Even the Gospel of Luke who also authored Acts says Jesus Ascended on the same day he appeared (Easter). The other Gospels: Mark - Easter, Matthew After the Apostles went to a Mountain in Galilee, doesn't say how long, but probably didn't take 40 days. John - After appearing at the Sea of Tiberias after appearing a week after the Resurrection. Again time no specified but doubt it was 4o days. So there are 4 times other than 40 days and 1 mention of 40 days.
“ Some other days of obligation - the Solemnity of Mary, the Assumption, and All Saints’ Day, are moved to Sunday if they fall on a Saturday or a Monday.”
Those days are non-obligatory in the USA when they fall on a Saturday or a Monday; they don’t get transferred to Sunday.
It’s also worth noting that many religious communities follow their own order’s calendar and likely keep Ascension Thursday. So, if you live near a monastery or other religious house that has mass, they may very well celebrate Ascension today even if the diocese doesn’t.
I learned today from friends that Germany is on a Father's Day holiday. No one but the older people remember it began as an Ascension celebration. Fathers and sons spend the day together. (It's Germany, so beer is involved, too.)
In case you're curious/excessively nerdy :), the decree in Canada which transferred the Epiphany, Ascension, and Corpus Christi to the following Sunday was formally approved by the CCCB in 1984 and confirmed by the Apostolic See on March 8, 1985. This confirmed what was already in place since Feb., 1968. (CCCB Complementary Norms, Decree No. 7, page 99; in the same decree, our only two non-Sunday Holy Days of Obligation are Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.)
Thus, in my lifetime I've never had the experience of celebrating Ascension on a Thursday, except for once when I was in Europe. Given that it's been over 50 years, returning the celebration to the Thursday might be seen as a bit larger of a change here in the Great White North.
(Or as I like to say, we are slower in Canada and so Jesus needs to take 43 days to ascend.)
The article says "countries in Europe followed suit," but note that not all countries in Europe did. In the Netherlands, for example, it's still on Thursday (which is also a civil holiday).
And that is a key point. Properly, holydays should also be a civil holiday. The matter of transferring the feast is only an issue because the other principle is not being observed.
I am a parishioner in the Archdiocese of Detroit where we celebrate the Ascension on Sunday. Yesterday, I was in (and am only leaving today) the Archdiocese of Hartford where the Ascension was celebrated yesterday (Thursday). I went to Mass without disrupting any of my vacation plans or scrupulous worry about whether I really had to fulfill an obligation.
I know I am asking a bit late, but here's my question: Did I have an obligation to go to Mass yesterday?
I think it's worth noting that Ash Wednesday, which is NOT a holy day of Obligation, is always packed with people where I live. There are always multiple masses. I don't get why we can't do the same for an ACTUAL holy day of obligation.
If we removed the “ holy day of OBLIGATION “ maybe we would all be going because we love the Lord and want to worship HIM regardless of day of the week.
All? I was not born rightly ordered and I still struggle to conform my will to God's will. So, no, we would not all. Maybe everyone except me; I cannot say.
I would rate the probability as quite high that the thing preventing the overwhelming majority of Catholics from going to Mass every day is not the fact that a few days out of the year are obligatory. "maybe" as in "vanishingly small chance"?
Thanks for the explainer. On the lighter side... What a fun church! The only one in which you have to ask, "What day is Ascension Thursday?" and "What time is Midnight Mass?" As they told me in Chile, "The Church is like a mother. You have to love her, not understand her." Keep laughing. It's a sign of the Resurrection (and Ascension!)
Once, in the 1980s when parishes were changing the time of the midnight Easter Vigil, I was home from grad school and didn’t want to miss the Vigil, my favorite Mass of the year. When I called the parish to check on the time, to my surprise the pastor answered. I asked him what time the Midnight Mass was and in a gruff voice he replied, “Midnight!” and hung up the phone. I still laugh over that! A fun Church indeed :)
My Jewish colleagues who practice their faith with sincerity use some of their vacation days to observe religious holidays (this comes up occasionally with a reminder not to schedule major meetings on their holy days) and I decided recently to follow their plan - if it's a holy day of obligation then I am booking a day off. I am grateful for their example since it's nice to take a rest and spend more time with God.
If I worked in a field where this was not possible (and a city where it's possible to swing a cat and not hit a holy day Mass at lunch, 7am, or 7pm) and was uncertain where to draw the line between "impossible" and "really hard but possible" then I would just ask my pastor beforehand to dispense me and not have an attack of scruples over it - because I know myself :-b
I started doing the same thing with asking off for holy days of obligation!
My union contract gives all employees 3 days a year of religious leave, in additional to the union negotiated annual and sick leave. I take off Good Friday and either part of midweek solemnities so to attend Mass or the whole day.
We take HDs off in our homeschool schedule. What’s the point of all this flexibility if we’re still doing school on assumption or all saints ?!? 😁
Careful, Bernie!
When a Holy Day of Obligation is transferred to become a Holy Day of Convenience there is a risk of Catholic casuistry lurking. Which is not to say that all obligations are inconveniences.
I'm glad if it works for you, Bernie.
Two other consequences of this hodgepodge transferal: the liturgical books, i.e., the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours, become a bit convoluted and difficult to navigate and the unity of the Church suffers.
That’s fine, Bernie!
I wasn’t arguing with you in any combative way. Just offering other considerations.
Here is another consideration:
Canon 1248, §2. If participation in the eucharistic celebration becomes impossible because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause, it is strongly recommended that the faithful take part in a liturgy of the word if such a liturgy is celebrated in a parish church or other sacred place according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop or that they devote themselves to prayer for a suitable time alone, as a family, or, as the occasion permits, in groups of families.
I take from this canon that there are myriad approved ways to worship. A lot of Catholics don’t know how to worship beyond being a spectator at Mass, and this canon seems to assume the laity are more liturgically educated and diversified.
It is hard to attend Mass on a Thursday???:?
Firstly, the Churches should have an extra Mass to cater for those who work.
Secondly, those who work should make EVERY EFFORT to go to Mass on Holidays of Obligations. Mamon should not come first.
Properly, they should not be working at all on holydays. The obligation is BOTH to attend Mass and to abstain from servile labor.
Totally agree with you!
What is the point of moving it to a Sunday when we know it is 40 days after Easter.
It is total nonsense this moving of feasts to suit whoever.
>So if I live in an ‘Ascension Sunday’ place, can I celebrate the Ascension on Thursday, too?
I believe it was in the wise words of a little hispanic girl in a taco commercial said, "Porque no los dos?"
Nonetheless, the readings will indicate Ascension happened forty days after Easter….
Actually only Acts says forty days. The Gospels say differently. Even the Gospel of Luke who also authored Acts says Jesus Ascended on the same day he appeared (Easter). The other Gospels: Mark - Easter, Matthew After the Apostles went to a Mountain in Galilee, doesn't say how long, but probably didn't take 40 days. John - After appearing at the Sea of Tiberias after appearing a week after the Resurrection. Again time no specified but doubt it was 4o days. So there are 4 times other than 40 days and 1 mention of 40 days.
The following is inaccurate:
“ Some other days of obligation - the Solemnity of Mary, the Assumption, and All Saints’ Day, are moved to Sunday if they fall on a Saturday or a Monday.”
Those days are non-obligatory in the USA when they fall on a Saturday or a Monday; they don’t get transferred to Sunday.
Correct! Shoot. Thanks.
It’s also worth noting that many religious communities follow their own order’s calendar and likely keep Ascension Thursday. So, if you live near a monastery or other religious house that has mass, they may very well celebrate Ascension today even if the diocese doesn’t.
Thanks for the knowledge. Great name too.
I learned today from friends that Germany is on a Father's Day holiday. No one but the older people remember it began as an Ascension celebration. Fathers and sons spend the day together. (It's Germany, so beer is involved, too.)
It just makes Easter more like Lent. 40 days. ish. You know...if you don't count certain days...or maybe add some Triduum days...
Call me old fashioned, but I think it was better when all Catholics observed Ascension Thursday together, on a Thursday.
The needless tinkering with holy days of obligation and transfering things here, there and everywhere has produced no fruit and only created a mess.
In case you're curious/excessively nerdy :), the decree in Canada which transferred the Epiphany, Ascension, and Corpus Christi to the following Sunday was formally approved by the CCCB in 1984 and confirmed by the Apostolic See on March 8, 1985. This confirmed what was already in place since Feb., 1968. (CCCB Complementary Norms, Decree No. 7, page 99; in the same decree, our only two non-Sunday Holy Days of Obligation are Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.)
Thus, in my lifetime I've never had the experience of celebrating Ascension on a Thursday, except for once when I was in Europe. Given that it's been over 50 years, returning the celebration to the Thursday might be seen as a bit larger of a change here in the Great White North.
(Or as I like to say, we are slower in Canada and so Jesus needs to take 43 days to ascend.)
The article says "countries in Europe followed suit," but note that not all countries in Europe did. In the Netherlands, for example, it's still on Thursday (which is also a civil holiday).
And that is a key point. Properly, holydays should also be a civil holiday. The matter of transferring the feast is only an issue because the other principle is not being observed.
I am a parishioner in the Archdiocese of Detroit where we celebrate the Ascension on Sunday. Yesterday, I was in (and am only leaving today) the Archdiocese of Hartford where the Ascension was celebrated yesterday (Thursday). I went to Mass without disrupting any of my vacation plans or scrupulous worry about whether I really had to fulfill an obligation.
I know I am asking a bit late, but here's my question: Did I have an obligation to go to Mass yesterday?
I think it's worth noting that Ash Wednesday, which is NOT a holy day of Obligation, is always packed with people where I live. There are always multiple masses. I don't get why we can't do the same for an ACTUAL holy day of obligation.
Or, you can go to an Eastern Catholic parish (if there is one nearby) on Ascension Thursday and then to a Roman parish on Sunday.
We have a Roman parish that hosts a Byzantine community so we'll celebrate on both days.
The event in the life of Christ and His Church deserves a double celebration!
no, it deserves to be celebrated on its proper day.
If we removed the “ holy day of OBLIGATION “ maybe we would all be going because we love the Lord and want to worship HIM regardless of day of the week.
All? I was not born rightly ordered and I still struggle to conform my will to God's will. So, no, we would not all. Maybe everyone except me; I cannot say.
The word maybe preceded the word all
I would rate the probability as quite high that the thing preventing the overwhelming majority of Catholics from going to Mass every day is not the fact that a few days out of the year are obligatory. "maybe" as in "vanishingly small chance"?
Thanks for the explainer. On the lighter side... What a fun church! The only one in which you have to ask, "What day is Ascension Thursday?" and "What time is Midnight Mass?" As they told me in Chile, "The Church is like a mother. You have to love her, not understand her." Keep laughing. It's a sign of the Resurrection (and Ascension!)
it's a sign of rot and decay.
Once, in the 1980s when parishes were changing the time of the midnight Easter Vigil, I was home from grad school and didn’t want to miss the Vigil, my favorite Mass of the year. When I called the parish to check on the time, to my surprise the pastor answered. I asked him what time the Midnight Mass was and in a gruff voice he replied, “Midnight!” and hung up the phone. I still laugh over that! A fun Church indeed :)
The most Catholic state per capita feels left out of this article…