EWTN the biggest televisor of masses in the world has chosen to celebrate the Ascension on Sunday it should be Sunday everywhere To have Diocese of Rochester NY I live in saying it is Thursday but EWTN on the cable I get saying it is Sunday it is making more and more people frustrated and confused. Who is right? People have voted overwhelmingly for Sunday in the parish I live in because that is when the feast of the Ascension church envelopes are turned in the collection basket. every year but it just does not sink in to the Diocese of Rochester NY
A Feast of Confusion
Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Thursday, May 13, 2010 10:25 AM
Is today a Holy Day of Obligation in your diocese? Or is today Ascension Thursday minus the obligation while you wait to celebrate the feast on Sunday?
As someone who has always been confused by the movement of the feast (and it’s not moved for me—we’re heading to Mass at noontime today), I appreciate Fr. Z.‘s annual rant in which he explains why he thinks moving the feast day is a bad idea:
Folks, I know the argument. The bishops hope to expose more people to the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord. Because it is too hard to go to Mass also on Thursday, they moved the feast to Sunday. Well… in most places they moved it to Sunday. What is even more confusing is that it isn’t transferred in some dioceses. In the 1983 Code of Canon Law c. 1246, Ascension Thursday is indicated as one of the few Holy Days of Obligation. Again, I know the laudable reason for moving the feast.
However, perhaps it is the influence of reading so much St. Augustine over the years, but my present view of human nature suggests to me that when Holy Mother Church’s pastors lower expectations regarding the liturgy, people get the hint: it just isn’t that important. Maybe none of it is important.
Thus, I am left with the opinion that the option to dislocate such an important and ancient feast is an arrogant novelty.
I am curious to know your thoughts about the moving of the feast of the Ascension. Is today a Holy Day for you?
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