Is it appropriate to email coworkers about a Holy Day of Obligation?

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coolduude

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I have a pretty basic question but it’s one that I can’t get a consensus on. I’m hoping you all on the forum can help me here.

I work at a Catholic school. Next week is the Solemnity of the Assumption, a Holy Day of Obligation. Is it appropriate for me to email my coworkers with the intention of reminding them of the Holy Day and also inviting them to Mass with me so they can fulfill their obligation? Not all of them are Catholic, but some of them are.

Note: I attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass on most occasions and I will be next week for the Holy Day. Take that as you will.

Thanks for the help!
 
If you are the administrator, it might be a good idea (as long as the priest agrees). If you aren’t the administrator, you might suggest he/she send such a notice. You really shouldn’t send a notice out on your own, however.
 
I agree with MaryT777. You shouldn’t do this on your own initiative. I’d ask the school’s superintendent/principal about it first. It would appear pushy at the least and intrusive at the worst without official permission. 🙂
 
My opinion:

The head of the school should send out the announcement as a reminder to all employees, not you (unless that is your position).

There should not be any mention of a particular liturgy except for any in the immediate neighborhood that employees could attend DURING THE WORK DAY-- for example, your school is a parish school.

As a practicing Catholic I would find it troubling that a co-worker feels the need to “remind me” of the holy day and “invite me” to his church.

Maybe I am the overly suspicious type or possibly a curmudgeon in training, but I have reached a stage in my life where I don’t feel any obligation to associate with my co-workers outside of work hours and suspicious of people who need to remind others “how to be Catholic”.
 
SonCatcher said:
If you are the administrator, it might be a good idea (as long as the priest agrees). If you aren’t the administrator, you might suggest he/she send such a notice. You really shouldn’t send a notice out on your own, however.
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Good idea. Except that I work at a Catholic university and the division in which I work doesn’t have a priest. It’s not like a parish school where your idea would make a lot more sense. The university has thousands of employees (and probably a good number of priests) and I work with just a handful of them. If I was at a Catholic grade school or high school I would do as you say and ask the head priest to send out a notice.
 
coolduude said:
Good idea. Except that I work at a Catholic university and the division in which I work doesn’t have a priest. It’s not like a parish school where your idea would make a lot more sense. The university has thousands of employees (and probably a good number of priests) and I work with just a handful of them. If I was at a Catholic grade school or high school I would do as you say and ask the head priest to send out a notice.
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I they have a chaplain or campus ministry office, those are the offices responsible, not you.
 
coolduude said:
Good idea. Except that I work at a Catholic university and the division in which I work doesn’t have a priest. It’s not like a parish school where your idea would make a lot more sense. The university has thousands of employees (and probably a good number of priests) and I work with just a handful of them. If I was at a Catholic grade school or high school I would do as you say and ask the head priest to send out a notice.
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Perhaps you could get permission to post a notice in the university’s/college’s online bulletin board, if it has one. Still, I’d present the idea to whoever is your superior for approval.
 
coachdennis said:
I they have a chaplain or campus ministry office, those are the offices responsible, not you.
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I forgot about campus ministry. You’re right- they should send out a notification. I know they haven’t for other Holy Days, but perhaps if I email campus ministry and ask them to send something out they will. Assuming they do, would it be ok for me to invite my coworkers to Mass with me? Or should I let it be?
 
coolduude said:
I forgot about campus ministry. You’re right- they should send out a notification. I know they haven’t for other Holy Days, but perhaps if I email campus ministry and ask them to send something out they will. Assuming they do, would it be ok for me to invite my coworkers to Mass with me? Or should I let it be?
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I’d only invite a coworker who I know would like the invitation. Otherwise, it’d be putting your coworkers on the spot to ask them. People have their own parishes and their own schedules to keep. It would be intrusive, IMHO.
 
I get invitations to attend certain events or services at different churches in my work email. It doens’t bother me, personally, to recieve them but I wouldn’t do it myself.
 
I’m not sure if an email would be appropriate. It seems wrong to me. If you are close to any of your co workers, I see nothing wrong with inviting them personally to attend Mass with you though.
 
No, it’s not appropriate and not your place. Being that it’s a Catholic school, it should be on a bulletin somewhere, and at the very least on the calendar. They know already.
 
Rence said:
No, it’s not appropriate and not your place. Being that it’s a Catholic school, it should be on a bulletin somewhere, and at the very least on the calendar. They know already.
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It should be on a bulletin, yes. But the fact of the matter is that it’s not. That’s a problem.
 
If you know anyone you would like to personally invite that you think would be receptive, do that. I personally would find a school-wide e-mail off-putting unless it was from someone in charge of ministry or you were the person in charge of announcing a school-wide event or Mass. Do not take it upon yourself to “remind” other confirmed, adult Catholics of HDOs under any circumstance.
 
7armyrugrats said:
If you are close to any of your co workers, I see nothing wrong with inviting them personally to attend Mass with you though.
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Good idea. I won’t send any emails but perhaps next Monday or Tuesday I’ll ask around the office and see if anyone is interested in joining me for Mass.
 
coolduude said:
I forgot about campus ministry. You’re right- they should send out a notification. I know they haven’t for other Holy Days, but perhaps if I email campus ministry and ask them to send something out they will. Assuming they do, would it be ok for me to invite my coworkers to Mass with me? Or should I let it be?
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Let it be.
Mary.
 
lcburgundy said:
Do not take it upon yourself to “remind” other confirmed, adult Catholics of HDOs under any circumstance.
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I would generally agree with this, however I think you’re assuming that my Catholic co-workers are like a lot of the Catholics we find on this forum: Mass going, every Sunday, HDO attending, for every one, and they know Catholicism like the back of their hand. I do not believe that to be the case with my co-workers, but I am not omniscient and I could be very wrong.

Nonetheless, “reminding” is one thing (which I personally won’t do, now that I have a good amount of feedback on this thread), while inviting to Mass is another thing, and I may very well do that.
 
Yes, if it were a Catholic elementary school, the responsibility to send such an email (if there was one) would belong to the principal or pastoral administrator.

At a Catholic university with thousands of employees, you could perhaps ask your supervisor, but I would not take it upon myself to send an email to all my co-workers.

All this is not to say that Holy Days of Obligation are not important. Obviously they are. But – unless you are in a position of spiritual fatherhood to these people – it seems inappropriate to presume to offer a fatherly reminder. If it were me who received such an email, I would think it odd that one of my co-workers at a Catholic university thought I needed reminding or would not be attending Mass at my parish that day. 🤷
 
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