ST. JUDE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY    PAGE SEVEN           JANUARY 6, 2002 

"Why do some dioceses move Holy Days of Obligation, or not even celebrate them at all?    Why doesn't everyone do the same thing?"

The really short answer is that some dioceses do move Holy Days of Obligations.  No! not everyone does do the same thing.  Although the Church is universal, there are many local customs and Saints that each country--and sometimes just the regions of a country--will honor.     For example, Feast Days and Patronal Days may not be major Feast Days on the Church universal calendar, but they are celebrated as such in one place or another.  Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Holy Day of Obligation in some countries like Mexico.  (It lost by one vote at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore of being a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States.)  In Spain, the Feast of St. James the Apostle of Compostella is a very special Feast Day and Holy Day of Obligation.  St. Patrick's Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in Ireland.   

The Holy See has given local Conferences of Bishops a certain amount of discretion in choosing days which best reflect the local Church's experience and history.  The Holy See does mandate two Holy Days of Obligation throughout the world that no Conference of Bishops can change:  viz., the Feast of Christmas (December 25) and either the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) or the Immaculate Conception (December 8) be a Holy Day of Obligation in all nations of the world.  Any other Holy Days of Obligation are left up to the local Conference of Bishops for each country.  Each nation must have at least two mandated Holy Days of Obligations but they need not have any more.  Italy has only two Holy Days of Obligation:     Christmas and the Assumption.

Another reason today that Holy Days of Obligation are being moved is for the very practical reasons of limited attendance at a Holy Day of Obligation, and the current limited number of clergy available.  The 1984 Code of Canon Law for the Catholic Church (Canon 1246:2) states that if a Holy Day of Obligation or major Feast Day is not well attended locally, the local Conference of Bishops should consider moving the Feast to a Sunday so that more people will be available to celebrate that major Mystery of Faith.  Feasts currently moved to Sunday all over the United States are:  Epiphany (January 6), Baptism of Christ (January 13), and the Body and Blood of Christ (Thursday after Trinity Sunday).  A Holy Day not celebrated at all in the USA is:   Peter and Paul (June 29).

In addition, the Holy See recently decreed that local

Provinces (an Archdiocese and its Suffragan Dioceses, e.g. Los Angeles has five Suffragan Dioceses:   Monterey, Fresno, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego) of a country can agree to change Holy Days.  Today almost every Province West of the Mississippi has changed Ascension Thursday to its nearest Sunday.  Also, most Western Provinces have dispensed New Year's Day.  On the East Coast there is not as much agreement, so one Province may dispense and another may not.  It is a little more confusing for Catholics on the East Coast.

"To believe in God, is to know that all rules will be fair and that there will be wonderful surprises."  Ugo Betti.

Please come join us in preparing for next Sunday's Mass.  We meet to learn about and discuss the Readings for the upcoming Sunday Liturgy.  Each week we watch a 20 minute video, stopping the tape at appropriate moments to discuss the material presented.  We enjoy lively conversation, faith sharing moments, and good Christian fellowship, as we learn more about the Bible and thereby enable ourselves to be more fully prepared to celebrate next Sunday's Mass.

We will meet this Wednesday, January 9, 2002, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.  We will study the "Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord" (A)."  All are welcome!  No preparation!  No homework!

For more information, please contact Linda Odre at 805-373-1348, or Julie Feely at 818-889-2449.