Losing Holy Days of Obligation

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Not sure if this subject came up before but I was wondering what anybody thinks of the somewhat new ruling about doing away with holy days of obligation when they are near Sundays.

I personally feel very disturbed by it. I believe it’s a convenient, modern day cop-out under the guise of obedience.

Our world needs more prayer than ever, not less. I’m sickened by it as I believe Our Lord is too. Whaddya think?
 
there is no decree to abolish Holy Days that fall on Saturday or Monday, rather, the obligation to attend Mass on that day is lifted, if the bishop so rules. Holy days in this country are solemnities, so the Holy Day Mass readings supercede, except for Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter and the observance may be switched to Sunday if the bishop decides to do so for pastoral reasons. there is nothing to prevent the faithful from assisting at Mass on the calendar date of the holy day, even though it is not obligated.
 
There are some practical reasons that bishops have had to reduce the Holy Days of Obligation. Those who have been reading the posts here realize that there is a great need of vocations. Some churches only get a priest every other week. There are priests taking care of multiple parishes. They can barely do the regular Sunday Masses. The bishops do not want to put a harsh burden on the faithful and make them feel guilty or cause them to drive 50 or a hundred miles to a church that has Mass. We are lucky in our little town to have a priest. The town next to us has two Catholic Churches and no priest. A retired priest comes just for the weekend. There are now more priests in this country over 90 than under 30. It is confusing to dispense some people and not others. We have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and during this time, we pray for vocations at our parish. In our diocese, we are holding on fairly well, but have many older priests and not too many Ordinations coming up.

May God bless you this Christmas and every day.
 
Yes. In colonial times, Roman Catholics had 13 holydays of obligation. After indepedence, it was reduced to 12 (St. George’s Day dropped). Its been downhill ever since 😃
 
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katherine2:
Yes. In colonial times, Roman Catholics had 13 holydays of obligation. After indepedence, it was reduced to 12 (St. George’s Day dropped). Its been downhill ever since 😃
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Yes and in preReformation England there were about 40 holydays of obligation!!
 
There are currently around 58 Holy Days of Obligation in the United States. This rule affects only 3 out of the 58.

Furthermore, as posted above, nothing prevents anyone from observing the actual day itself, so the only reason anyone would be upset about this is because they feel that other people should be forced to go to Mass 1-3 extra times a year.
 
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Timidity:
There are currently around 58 Holy Days of Obligation in the United States. This rule affects only 3 out of the 58.

Furthermore, as posted above, nothing prevents anyone from observing the actual day itself, so the only reason anyone would be upset about this is because they feel that other people should be forced to go to Mass 1-3 extra times a year.
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Silly, Sundays have always been holydays of obligation. Here we are talking abotu nonSunday holydays
 
At Mass Today the deacon made the announcements and said that Christmas and Sunday obligation can not be fulfilled at the Saturday vigil.He got me tickled because he said,“Holy Mother Church is very generous about the celebrations of Holy Days,but if you choose to go to Saturday evening Mass you will still have to fulfill your Sunday obligation, you will not be able to use the Saturday vigil to kill two birds with one stone”.😃 God Bless
 
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katolik:
Yes and in preReformation England there were about 40 holydays of obligation!!
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one reason for holy days during the feudal period was to give the workers days off during the year from their grinding labor, so often they were chosen to correspond with the agricultural cycle. Well into the last century the fiscal year in England, with beginning days for each quarter, corresponded to ancient holy days. there were also fasts and other periods when, among other things, no warfare could be conducted, to give a break in one of the more popular activities of the middle ages. Another example of the cultural heritage of Europe being lost by the EU insistence on rewriting history to exclude Christianity.
 
Unless you live in a place that does not have daily Masses (alas, they are becoming more numerous), you may attend Mass on any day that you wish to honor in that way.

I wouldn’t dream of missing Mass on Annunciation or Transfiguration.

As a Convert, I always find it odd, for example, that Catholics, chowing down on their T-bone on Friday, lament the passing of the no-meat rule. Nobody ever said you had to STOP observing this discipline.

I see in your post a regret that the Church is softening towards the secular culture, but nothing says YOU shouldn’t attend Mass on important Solemnities and feasts.
 
katherine2 said:
:amen: tell it!!!
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Wow. If you’re amen-ing mercygate then for once I agree with you on something! : thumbsup:

I’ll have to mark my calendar. 🙂
 
I also thought Karl’s blurb on the dispensing from obligations was rather insightful. I don’t think my bishop is worried about overworking priests or uneven dispensations. I think his main concern is his (probably correct) belief that barely anyone will show up at Mass, so the “pastoral” thing to do is to prevent them from sinning by removing their ability to do so; no obligation, no sin. Instead of combatting the culture’s desacralization the bishops are just giving in.
 
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Chitchat:
Our world needs more prayer than ever, not less. I’m sickened by it as I believe Our Lord is too. Whaddya think?
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I think that if the church believes it needs to threaten its members with eternal torture to get them to attend mass then there are some serious problems with the whole system. And what kind of prayer for the world do you get from such attendees?
 
My private guess is that Holy Mother Church has done what parents of teenagers usually do - pick her battles. Lift the burden of mortal sin from things that are disciplinary, and save it for things that are truly damaging like doctrinal dissent and grave immorality.
 
In Catholic countries, such as in Europe, holy days of obligation are secular holidays as well. Everyone has the day off work, so everyone can make it.

In the US, its quite a different story, and with a greater percentage of the population working than ever before, its very difficult for many Americans to make it to mass on many of the days.

It seems more than reasonable to suppress the obligation in light of the facts in this particular country.
 
Lisa–I’m a little confused–I’ve only been Catholic for a year, so maybe someone could clear this up. I thought the Saturday vigil always fulfilled the Sunday obligation? Why would Christmas be any different? Perhaps you meant to say that Christmas Eve vigil (Friday night) doesn’t fulfill the Sunday obligation?

Lol–if someone could answer me this real quick, it would help, as I’m planning to go to church Christmas Eve (midnight Mass) and then again on Sunday, but not on Saturday again.

It is confusing…
 
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