Can a parish change the Sunday readings with approval?

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My parish picnic was last night, and so I went to the Saturday vigil Mass. However, we did not celebrate the 26th Sunday in Ordinary time. Instead, since our patron is St. Michael the Archangel, we heard the readings from the memorial of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels, which, as you may know, is this coming thursday, 9-29. My parish is, as far as I know, very faithful to the Holy See, so I’m assuming they had this approved by the archbishop and that this fulfills our sunday obligation? Or should I go to 5 pm Mass at the second closest parish tonight?
 
You are asking two questions:

  1. *]Can a parish change the Sunday readings with approval?
    *]Is your participation in a mass on a holy day (such as Sunday) or the evening of the preceding day sufficient to satisfy your obligation, if different readings are used?

    I will defer to others on the first question, which probably involves the ranking of various levels of solemnities and feast days.

    I will answer your second question by quoting canon law. Note that there is no requirement as to the readings:
    Canon 1248
    The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.
    Click to expand...
 
One place where I was helping out, I found the diocese had published annually a little booklet for priests and pastors … with all of the readings for each day of the year, with approved alternates and the saint of the day, etc.

I would “guess” that unless you get it in writing, you’re not going to get an approved “deviation” from the assigned gospel and epistle readings.

Also thinking that priests, pastors and diocesan staff are too busy with their regular work to go through the labor of trying to get variances approved.

That said, there is probably nothing in the rules to prohibit a priest from referring to some other biblical passages during his homily. So a priest could talk about the parish’s patron saint, for example, as part of his homily.
 
I would think that, if it did not satisfy the Sunday obligation, they would have told us so. Also, I think somebody would have objected if they knew we were doing this without the bishop’s approval.
 
St. Michael & Archangels is a feast but if it’s your patron it could have been raised to the rank of solemnity. A solemnity can be celebrated on a Sunday in Ordinary Time: either the one before or the one afterwards. It’s called an external solemnity. This allows the solemnity to be celebrated on a day when more people go to Church.

As for fulfilling your Sunday obligation: it doesn’t matter what Mass was celebrated. Any Mass on Saturday evening or on Sunday fulfills the obligation. The orations, readings, and chants have no bearing on whether the obligation is fulfilled. You could’ve met your obligation at a Divine Liturgy in an Eastern or Oriental Catholic Church. They would most certainly have not been celebrating 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
 
JackVk said:
My parish picnic was last night, and so I went to the Saturday vigil Mass. However, we did not celebrate the 26th Sunday in Ordinary time. Instead, since our patron is St. Michael the Archangel, we heard the readings from the memorial of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels, which, as you may know, is this coming thursday, 9-29. My parish is, as far as I know, very faithful to the Holy See, so I’m assuming they had this approved by the archbishop and that this fulfills our sunday obligation? Or should I go to 5 pm Mass at the second closest parish tonight?
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Yes. It was not only licit, but the Church specifically says that this can be done in the General Instruction on the Calendar. It’s not in the GIRM itself, but it’s the document that tells us how to determine which days to celebrate. It’s printed on the opening pages of the Sacramentary (soon to be called the Roman Missal).

When the patronal feast of the parish falls on a weekday, the pastor is permitted to celebrate the feast on the Sunday before/after (during Ordinary Time).
 
FrDavid96 said:
Yes. It was not only licit, but the Church specifically says that this can be done in the General Instruction on the Calendar. It’s not in the GIRM itself, but it’s the document that tells us how to determine which days to celebrate. It’s printed on the opening pages of the Sacramentary (soon to be called the Roman Missal).

When the patronal feast of the parish falls on a weekday, the pastor is permitted to celebrate the feast on the Sunday before/after (during Ordinary Time).
Click to expand...
Thank you, Father. I saw your post on a similar thread from two years ago, and was wondering if that was a similar situation.
 
JackVk said:
Thank you, Father. I saw your post on a similar thread from two years ago, and was wondering if that was a similar situation.
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Don’t know w/o reading it.

In any case, what you describe in your original question is without-any-doubt perfectly legitimate.

If need be, I could quote the document, but it’s not online and I don’t have the updated Sacramentary at my desk. The official title is “General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar.”
 
Here’s a link to the relevant document online. Currently, the site is down.
 
JackVk said:
I would think that, if it did not satisfy the Sunday obligation, they would have told us so. Also, I think somebody would have objected if they knew we were doing this without the bishop’s approval.
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sadly, you can’t assume that anymore
 
Digitonomy said:
Here are a couple links to such a document - not sure if they are out of date, they seem to be from 1969.
CatholicCulture.org
St Charles Borromeo
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That’s it.

As far as I know, the 1969 version is still the current one. It’s the one printed in the latest version of the Sacramentary. I rather doubt it’s been changed because there’s really no reason to change it.

What MIGHT be changing however, would be the English translation of the document to be printed in the upcoming Roman Missal in English. A few words might change here-and-there but it would still be the same document.
 
Here’s the relevant section
  1. For the pastoral advantage of the people, it is permissible to observe on the Sundays in Ordinary Time those celebrations that fall during the week and have special appeal to the devotion of the faithful, provided the celebrations take precedence over these Sundays in the Table of Liturgical Days. The Mass for such celebrations may be used at all the Masses at which a congregation is present
Translation: The feast of the patron saint (or other title like “Sacred Heart”) of the parish is ranked as a solemnity within that particular parish. A solemnity “outranks” a Sunday in Ordinary Time. Therefore, the pastor of “St Michael Parish” can most certainly celebrate the Masses on Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Mass applicable to the actual calendar day of St Michael (Gabriel & Raphael) Sept. 29.

The key point here, though, is that it has to be during Ordinary Time. It can’t be done during Lent, Advent, Easter, etc.
 
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