THE SILLINESS OF CURRENT HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION NONSENSE! LET’S RETURN TO SOUND TRADITION!

FROM THE DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH:

With the approval of Holy Mother Church, or, as some call it, the Vatican Regime, the American bishops many decades ago came up with a solution to reduce the number of Holy Days of Obligation in the United States.

Prior to Vatican II, in the USA the Holy Days of Obligation were Christmas Day (not Eve), The Circumsision of the Lord, January 1, Ascension Thursday, Assumption of the BVM, August 15, All Saints, November 1st, and Immaculate Conception, December 8th.

Well, the American bishops buying into the snowflake culture developing in the Church in the post-Vatican II period decided that it was just too hard for priests and laity to have to be obligated to attend Mass on Holy Days if the Holy Day fell too close to a Sunday. Thus the obligation to attend a Holy Day of Obligation was removed if the Holy Day fell on a Saturday or Monday. Such nonsense, no?

And in addition to that, the American bishops thought it was too hard for Catholics to attend Mass on Ascension Thursday so 40 days after Easter Sunday was made into the non-biblical 42 or 43 days after Easter as it was transferred to the following Sunday Vigil or Sunday Mass for the 7th Sunday of Easter! You can’t make this stuff up!

Recently, though, one of the Vatican’s dicasteries, the one least in chaos at this moment in Pope Francis’ papacy, decided to contradict the American bishops and say that if a Holy Day falls on a Saturday or Monday that if it is an obligation, it retains its obligatory character! Good for them.

However, uniquely this year, since December 8th is the 2nd Sunday of Advent, the Immcaulate Conception is transferred to Monday, December 9th and thus in the USA, of course there was no obligation attached to it, but the Vatican dicastery disagreed.

By the way, Cardinal Cupich fingered the Vatican dicastery’s decision and has removed the obligatory nature of December 9th, really the 8th, since it falls on a day that isn’t the 8th and is a Monday. So much for synodality as I don’t think the good Cardinal consulted with the people in Chicago in a democratic manner or the rest of the Church in the USA or the Vatican Dicastery which clarified the obligation. 

But pre-Vatican II Tradition and its exquisite logic has the solution.

On Sunday December 8th, yours truly will be the celebrant for a Solemn Sung High Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Savannah. It will be for the Feast of the Immcaulate Conception and will satisfy the obligation to attend this feast day on the day it is meant to be celebrated. But in addition to that, the proper prayers for the Second Sunday of Advent will be prayed as well, thus killing two birds with one stone, a holy stone at that!

If only this could be done in the post-Vatican II debacle of obligations!