Ascension Thursday Obligation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zach
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
HomeschoolDad said:
40.png
UpUpAndAway:
It used to be that way in France as well, but in recent years many places of business stay open. All the usual suspects are closed, however (post offices, banks, government agencies …)
Click to expand...
In Germany at the time, they “battened down the hatches” and almost everything was closed. The mini-mart at the train station was open, but that was about it.
UpUpAndAway said:
My parish in NE Ohio retained the Holy Day of Obligation this Thursday, but we’re the exception from Mainstream Church all around us.
Click to expand...
I did not know that. I thought that FSSP parishes operated in tandem with the diocese in which they were located. And would they be able to bind their congregations to holy day observance, and if so, would this just apply to those who are registered as members of those parishes?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I am in an FSSP parish. We follow the 1962 kalendar, which means that Ascension Thursday is observed. We will have a High Mass tomorrow evening. However, the obligation to attend Mass is not present, because we are in a province that has transferred it to Sunday. So in practical terms, the day is treated as a holy day of obligation by the parish, but the canonical obligation does not actually exist here.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
National holiday in Sweden and Finland and also a Holy Day of Obligation in both countries so most people don’t have a reason not to go to church.
 
Right. I would think there is no need to “bind” people because those who regularly attend FSSP or ICKSP parishes would want to voluntarily come to the Ascension Thursday Mass.
 
Not a Holy Day of Obligation where I live. Transferred to Sunday.
I hearken back years to a priest whose opinion was “Its not Ascension Sunday”.
Even though we are not required I still look at it as a “Holy Day of OPPORTUNITY”.
I will be attending Mass tomorrow to celebrate the Ascension of our Lord.
 
In the Diocese of Copenhagen it’s not transferred. The Ascension is a national holiday (Denmark is Evangelical Lutheran country) so almost no one is working. More shops are closed than in Sunday. The Ascension is one out of two holy days of obligation in Denmark.
 
It’s heartwarming to see virtually a whole country taking a holy day of obligation seriously and celebrating it, in view of the secularism of our times. Good on you, Denmark!
 
UpUpAndAway said:
40.png
HomeschoolDad:
In Germany at the time, they “battened down the hatches” and almost everything was closed. The mini-mart at the train station was open, but that was about it.
Click to expand...
When was this?
HomeschoolDad said:
I did not know that. I thought that FSSP parishes operated in tandem with the diocese in which they were located. And would they be able to bind their congregations to holy day observance, and if so, would this just apply to those who are registered as members of those parishes?
Click to expand...
Hmmm 🤔

I can only speak from my own experience.

The ICRSS operates in my Archdiocese with the permission of the Archbishop but does not otherwise answer to him. Being a Society of Apostolic Life with Pontifical Right, they are answerable only to the Holy See. For example, the ICRSS does not collect for the Bishop’s Appeal, nor does it benefit from this collection.

Whatever in the ICRSS’s churches that needs to be done by a bishop, however, is done by the Archbishop (confirmations, annual renewal of the Holy Oils…).

The Holy Days of Obligation are the same for the Archdiocese and the ICRSS. None are transferred.

There is no registration either with the ICRSS or the diocesan parishes, so I can’t answer this question.
Click to expand...
It depends on whether a Religious Orders or Societies of Apostolic Life is operating a chapel or a parish.

The local Bishop ALWAYS has some power when it comes to public masses celebrated within his Diocese. And the Bishop has a lot more control when a Religious Orders or Societies of Apostolic Life is invited to run a parish. For example: the Bishop officially appoints the pastor (often with the Order/Society’s advice). And the pastor and vicar report to the Bishop in regards to parish matters - while reporting to their superior for all other matters.

When it’s a Chapel completely owned by the order/society (not a parish), the bishop has very little control, unless they the order/society is doing something that is hurting the lay faithful in his dioceses.
 
Last edited:
In the UK it used to be transferred to Sundays but it’s back on the Thursday now…
 
Thanks for all the replies. Just to sum up the responses so far. The USA it is transferred to Sunday in all but a few places. In Canada it’s transferred. In Singapore it is a day of obligation. In France, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark it’s a day of obligation and a public holiday. In Denmark it is one of only two holy days of obligation. In the UK it was transferred but is now back to being an obligation.
 
Correct. I go to an FSSP church, a special parish of a local diocese. Fully in communion with Rome, and free to exercise our particular charism.
 
@HomeschoolDad
@Tis_Bearself
@Matas2

A parish can celebrate the calendar of their order or institute/society, but they can’t bind the laity beyond the bishop. Therefore, in an FSSP parish, for instance, it’s an Ascension Thursday Mass, but there’s no obligation binding. I’m not aware of any instance where the diocese would have an obligation midweek the parish would not observe that the bishop wouldn’t likely dispense, so these things usually always turn into non-issue situations.
 
The United States actually has quite a few Holy Days of Obligation compared to other countries. Yes I believe Archdiocese of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha are the ones it’s on Acsencion Thursday. I never really liked that move. I don’t come from a place where it is moved. But I feel Ascension and Epiphany should not just be moved. How they move Ascension yet Assumption and Immaculate Conception are on the day?
Either way the Holy See lists the Holy Days.

Can. 1246. §1. Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints.

§2. With the prior approval of the [Apostolic See, however, the coference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.

So locals get them suppressed by the Holy See.
We have ten officially but I don’t think any country outside the Holy See observes them all.( Though I could be wrong).

Crazy to think before Pope St.Pius X greatly reduced the number in 1911, there used to be 36 Holy Days of Obligation!
 
Last edited:
Zach said:
I understand that in the United States Ascension Thursday Mass attendance is only an obligation in a few areas almost all in the Northeast. For the rest of the country it has been transferred to Sunday. What about the rest of the world? Has the obligation been transferred to Sunday in most areas?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Here in the Philippines it is transferred to the next Sunday.
 
Well yah. The FSSP would use the calendar of 1960 which has different dates etc. For example there is an octave of Pentecost on that calendar so they will celebrate that etc. They also celebrate Epiphany and Corpus Christi on the traditional dates.
 
Cecilia2017 said:
In the UK it used to be transferred to Sundays but it’s back on the Thursday now…
Click to expand...
Not the entire UK. There isn’t one bishops’ conference for the UK. There are three: (1) England & Wales; (2) Scotland); (3) Ireland.

In England & Wales and Scotland today is the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. In Ireland, including Northern Ireland, however, it is transferred to next Sunday (2nd June).
 
Prodigal1984 said:
The United States actually has quite a few Holy Days of Obligation compared to other countries. Yes I believe Archdiocese of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha are the ones it’s on Attention Thursday.
Click to expand...
Actually, it is the PROVINCES of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha that retain Ascension Thursday. These involve many of the most dense populations of Catholics, so quite a few people are affected. This also involves quite a number of dioceses:

The Province of Boston includes:
  • Archdiocese of Boston, MA
  • Diocese of Burlington, VT
  • Diocese of Fall River, MA
  • Diocese of Manchester, NH
  • Diocese of Portland, ME
  • Diocese of Springfield, MA
  • Diocese of Worcester, MA
The Province of Hartford includes:
  • Archdiocese of Hartford, CT
  • Diocese of Bridgeport, CT
  • Diocese of Norwich, CT
  • Diocese of Providence, RI
The Province of New York includes:
  • Archdiocese of New York, NY
  • Diocese of Albany, NY
  • Diocese of Brooklyn, NY
  • Diocese of Buffalo, NY
  • Diocese of Ogdensburg, NY
  • Diocese of Rochester, NY
  • Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY
  • Diocese of Syracuse, NY
The Province of Newark includes:
  • Archdiocese of Newark, NJ
  • Diocese of Camden, NJ
  • Diocese of Metuchen, NY
  • Diocese of Paterson, NY
  • Diocese of Trenton, NJ
The Province of Philadelphia includes:
  • Archdiocese of Philadelphia, PA
  • Diocese of Allentown, PA
  • Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA
  • Diocese of Erie, PA
  • Diocese of Greensburg, PA
  • Diocese of Harrisburg, PA
  • Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
  • Diocese of Scranton, PA
The Province of Omaha includes:
  • Metropolitan Archdiocese of Omaha, NE
  • Diocese of Grand Island, NE
  • Diocese of Lincoln, NE
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top