|
From the Pastor: Liturgical Mess re: Obligations
Our Lady, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been the patroness of our country for longer than most of you have been alive. The first Bishop of the United States, John Carroll, placed the diocese of Baltimore, which comprised the original 13 colonies, under her protection in 1792. By 1846 the number of dioceses had increased, as had the population, and the Bishops, gathered in Baltimore for their 6th Provincial Council, placed the entire nation under the Immaculate Conception’s care. The next year this was approved by Pope Pius IX. The Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8 and it is supposed to be a Holy Day of Obligation. But this year, since the Eighth falls on a Sunday (next Sunday), the Novus Ordo calendar calls for it to be transferred to the following day, Monday, December 9. And, while you may think that the US Bishops would be pleased, nay, eager, to at least promote that transferred day as a Holy Day, they instead shrugged their collective shoulders and declared that, since the Feast was transferred to a Monday, and they can’t expect people to attend Mass two days in a row {shudder}, the obligation was lifted. Even our Patronal Feast Day wasn’t worth the trouble of taking the day (or even just a few hours) off work, or so it seemed to imply. Fortunately for those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass, that whole thing was avoided because in the 1962 liturgical calendar, the Immaculate Conception Feast “trumps” even the Second Sunday of Advent. So on our Sunday calendar we had planned, as the Ordo properly showed, to celebrate the Mass of the Immaculate Conception and join to it (called a “commemoration”) the three proper prayers of the Second Sunday of Advent (the Communion, Secret, and Postcommunion prayers). Monday, December 9, was then to be the normally scheduled feria (daily) Mass of the Monday of the second week of Advent. Until the following happened... One of the US Bishops, Paprocki by name, thought that (I am speculating on his reasons, here) it was ridiculous to ignore our Country’s Patroness on her Feast Day, so he asked Rome to clarify. Here is the response, as shown in a news article by Kate Quiñones of Catholic News Agency which is easily accessed online. The Vatican has clarified that Catholics in the United States must still attend Mass on holy days of obligation even when they are transferred to Mondays or Saturdays, correcting a long-standing practice in the U.S. Church. In its complementary norms, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stipulates that when certain feast days fall on a Saturday or Monday, the obligation to attend Mass on that day is “abrogated.” Dec. 8 is typically a holy day of obligation celebrating the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, but this year the feast day lands on a Sunday in Advent. As a result, the USCCB transferred it to Monday, Dec. 9, according to the 2024 USCCB liturgical calendar. In its complementary norms the USCCB does not list the Immaculate Conception as a solemnity to which the abrogation normally applies. Nevertheless, the bishops’ calendar this year stated that “the obligation to attend Mass … does not transfer” to Monday, Dec. 9. Yet the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts, in a Sept. 4 letter to Springfield, Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, stated that all of the feasts in question “are always days of obligation … even when the aforementioned transfer of the feast occurs.” Paprocki, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, had in July written to the Holy See seeking clarification on whether an obligation transfers when the feast itself is transferred. Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the prefect of the legislative text dicastery, told Paprocki that “the feast must be observed as a day of obligation on the day to which it is transferred.” Iannone noted in the letter that certain feast days are established by canon law as days of obligation. These “must be observed” and “the canon does not provide exceptions,” he noted in the letter. Iannone clarified that if someone is unable to attend Mass for a “grave cause” such as illness or caring for an infant, then they are excused, as “no one is bound to the impossible.” Several U.S. dioceses are already stipulating that Mass attendance is obligatory on that day... I will stop quoting the article at this point because, although not mentioned explicitly, Bishop Parkes has sent word to us that in the Diocese of St. Petersburg we will be observing the Immaculate Conception on December 9 as a Holy Day of Obligation and celebrating the Mass of the Second Sunday of Advent on the 8th. TLM communities were, years ago, informed that we were to follow the Novus Ordo calendar as to which days were Obligatory. So for the upcoming dates in question, it seemed that at the TLM we would be celebrating the Immaculate Conception on Sunday yet have an obligation to attend Mass on Monday even though that Mass would not be the one of the Feast! Instead of that weird scenario, I have changed our liturgical calendar at Epiphany to basically follow the Novus Ordo calendar. On Sunday, December 8, we will celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Advent. On Monday, December 9, a Holy Day of Obligation, we will celebrate the transferred Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Another Fine Mess. Oh, wait, that was from just two comedians, not a whole Conference full. (Only the elders will get that reference. Sorry.) With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka Comments are closed.
|
Author:
|
RSS Feed