Is this creating the near occasion of sin?

[jmjconder]

Were your parishes and/or Diocesan offices open last Friday on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary ~ a Holy Day of obligation?

Without arguing the fact, a person could take the day off as a vacation day (though there would still have to be a person to cover as long as offices were open)…what are your thoughts on this?

Is this practice creating the near occasion of sin?

 

[PaulinVA]

Uhm, how about the positive example of the parish staff working and going to mass as well, just like we are supposed to do?

 

[jmjconder]

I did say there are not positive things going on in the parishes and dioceses.

I was very surprised to see that many Catholic offices were open on what the Church teaches is the same as a Sunday. Parishes and Diocesan offices are not open on Sunday’s so I wondering why they would open on a Holy Day of obligation and which forces some of their employee to be at work.

Does not seem to be in keeping with what the Church teaches about Holy Days.

 

[PaulinVA]

I was very surprised to see that many Catholic offices were open on what the Church teaches is the same as a Sunday…

I don’t have time to research this. Do you have somewhere that lays this out? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put that way before.

 

[jmjconder]

A great web-site that I rely on for many things is:

catholicculture.org/

This is what they say about Holy Days of Obligation…

**HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION
Feast days to be observed by attendance at Mass and rest, as far as possible, from unnecessary servile work. The number and dates of these vary among countries. In the United States there are six holy days: Solemnity of Mary on January 1; Ascension of Our Lord, forty days after Easter; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, August 15; All Saints’ Day, November 1; Mary’s Immaculate Conception, December 8; and Christmas, or the birth of Christ, December 25. On holy days the pastor of every parish is required to offer or have offered a special Mass for his parishioners. **

I have always known this and would have thought the Catholic Church would have kept “themselves from unnecessary servile work” on Friday and every Holy Day. I know they do on Christmas and New Years - is that because they are also National Holidays? Guess I was very surprised they were working.

Am I the only one?

 

[StCsDavid]

A great web-site that I rely on for many things is:

catholicculture.org/

This is what they say about Holy Days of Obligation…

HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION
Feast days to be observed by attendance at Mass and rest, as far as possible, from unnecessary servile work. The number and dates of these vary among countries. In the United States there are six holy days: Solemnity of Mary on January 1; Ascension of Our Lord, forty days after Easter; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, August 15; All Saints’ Day, November 1; Mary’s Immaculate Conception, December 8; and Christmas, or the birth of Christ, December 25. On holy days the pastor of every parish is required to offer or have offered a special Mass for his parishioners.

I have always known this and would have thought the Catholic Church would have kept “themselves from unnecessary servile work” on Friday and every Holy Day. I know they do on Christmas and New Years - is that because they are also National Holidays? Guess I was very surprised they were working.

Am I the only one?

It’s pretty much up to the pastor of each parish to determine the working hours of his staff. Sure, in an ideal world we would all take the day off on all of the Holy Days, and it certainly is a worthy goal; however, for the church offices, there are some practical issues to consider as well. For example, many of these workers get paid by the hour. They’re not exactly well paid to begin with. Do you make them lose a day’s wage?

 

[rwoehmke]

You will find that when it comes to employees, the Church does not often practice what it preaches. Lay people employed by the Church mostly still labor in a pre-social justice environment and the government correctly declines in most cases to get involved. If the new pastor likes you, you might keep your job. If he doesn’t, its there’s the door. Living wage? Good luck when most Catholics are so tight fisted that the eagle on their money groans in pain.