Ash Wednesday

[LeahInancsi]

This past Ash Wednesday was my first as a Catholic.

I say that it is not a “holy day of obligation”, but an Episcopalian friend insists that it is for Catholics. I looked it up and can’t find it listed as a holy day anywhere.

Is Ash Wednesday a “holy day of obligation” for Catholics?

 

[kell0618]

Hello and welcome!

No, it is NOT a holy day of obligation. But who would want to miss it?

For more information on Ash Wednesday, see History of Ash Wednesday, The Beginning of Catholic Lent.

God bless you,

Kelly

 

[LeahInancsi]

Kelly,

Thank you for your response. Due to an emergency, I didn’t get to go this year. Before I made the decision not to go, I looked it up. I just wanted to make sure I was right.

 

[LilyM]

Kelly,

Thank you for your response. Due to an emergency, I didn’t get to go this year. Before I made the decision not to go, I looked it up. I just wanted to make sure I was right.

Unfortunately I couldn’t go this year either. Trust me, it’s definitely not an HDO - ask your priest about it if you want to be certain.

 

[tee_eff_em]

:twocents: If I may say, I find it way bizarro that your non-Catholic friend insists you disprove her assertions about the Catholic faith. As she is making the incredible claim, the burden of proof is upon her. :twocents:

But still, in the interest of educating her, turn to any or all of these:

• Canon Law lists the universal holy days:

Can. 1246 §1 The Lord’s Day, on which the paschal mystery is celebrated, is by apostolic tradition to be observed in the universal Church as the primary holyday of obligation. In the same way the following holydays are to be observed: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of St Joseph, the feast of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.
§2 However, the Episcopal Conference may, with the prior approval of the Apostolic See, suppress certain holydays of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.

• Since you are in the USA, the USCCB has this to say, as is allowed them by 1246.2:

In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:

January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.

• Just to be complete, go to the “Miscellaneous Notes” of the USCCB 2007 Liturgical Calendar

1. In several ecclesiastical provinces of the United States of America, the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is transferred from May 17, 2007, to the following Sunday, May 20, 2007. In those archdioceses and dioceses, Thursday, May 17, is observed as an Easter Weekday.
   …
2. In a decree dated March 23, 1992, the bishop of Honolulu designated Christmas and the Immaculate Conception as the only two holy days of obligation for the State of Hawaii. This implements the indult received from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on May 26, 1990, and the subsequent nihil obstat from the USCCB allowing Hawaii to legislate on this matter in accord with the policies of the Conference of Bishops of the South Pacific (CEPAC).

tee