This past week all the pastors in the Archdiocese received an unusual document via email.. It began in all capital letters and bold-face type, A DECREE IN THE NAME OF GOD. AMEN.  Wow, that is about as official as a church document can get. If you go to a higher authority than God, all you get is empty space. The decree was two pages long and signed by Cardinal Cupich. It concerned the obligation to attend Mass on Monday December 9, the day on which the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is observed this year. So, why should that matter require backup from the loftiest celestial heights?

Well, let me share with you way too much information.  Long ago, the bishops of the United States established six Holydays of Obligation (January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; Ascension Thursday, forty days after Easter; August 15, The Assumption of Mary; November 1, All Saints Day; December 8, the Immaculate Conception; and December 25, Christmas). Holydays are days that Catholics are supposed to attend Mass, just like Sundays. Our modern notion of a holiday is derived from the tradition of holydays. Holydays were also days off from work in Catholic Europe.

Since in the United States we have never had an official religion, the holydays established by our bishops’ conference are generally not holidays. In fact, in strongly Protestant New England, some governing bodies forbade employers from giving employees December 25 off, because December 25 was considered a Catholic observance and a day that only Catholics attended church. Until fairly recently, most Protestant denominations did not have services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The Incarnation was celebrated the previous Sunday.

About 35 years ago, the United States bishops formed a committee to study the future of holydays in our country. Bishops with large urban centers generally wanted to preserve holydays, since they helped fill Cathedrals on week days, while bishops in mostly rural dioceses struggled to provide Masses that working people could attend. So, like most committees, they reached an awkward compromise that served mainly to confuse people. The Feast of the Ascension would move to a Sunday to give it greater significance in the Lent-Easter cycle. If January 1, August 15, or November 1 were to fall on a Saturday or Monday, there would be no obligation to attend Mass. If November 1 falls on Tuesday, we are obliged to attend Mass; but if it falls on Monday we are not. This on-again, off-again duty to attend Mass further diminished the significance of holydays and holyday attendance. Christmas, of course, remains a holyday, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls.

That brings us to the Decree on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast which honors Mary for being free from sin from her conception, is observed exactly nine months before the feast of the Birth of Mary on September 8. In 1848 the Bishops of the United States petitioned the Vatican to have St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception declared our national patroness. Why was that? Well, in your firth grade history, you learned that Columbus’ three ships were the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. What you may not have learned was that the full title of the third ship was “St Mary of the Immaculate Conception” Thus, because it is our national feast day, the duty to attend Mass on December 8 remains, even if it falls on a Monday or Saturday.

Now we need to introduce some additional evidence. If the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) or All Saints Day (November 1) falls on a Sunday, the Feast is celebrated on a Sunday and takes precedence over a Sunday in Ordinary Time. However, during the seasons of Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas, the Sunday liturgy takes precedence over the Feast. So, this weekend we celebrate the Mass of the Second Sunday of Advent and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to Monday December 9. Many Catholic calendars (including some very official ones) erroneously indicated that the obligation to attend Mass did not transfer to Monday. But that was not accurate. However, given all the contrary information out there, Cardinal Cupich elected to issue this decree dispensing Catholics in the Archdiocese from the obligation to attend Mass on December 9. However, please be careful. If you wander outside of Cook and Lake Counties on December 9, your dispensation will evaporate.

                                                                            Fr. Joe