Dear Parishioners,
Holy Days of Obligation
Fr. Mike Schmitz speaks about holy days of obligation in the video above. He addresses why Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday are NOT holy days of obligation. Those days that ARE holy days of obligation are connected to the resurrection and are days of feasting.
Ascension Obligation?
A parishioner asked if she was obliged to attend Mass tomorrow if she happened to be in Connecticut. The Ascension is still celebrated on Thursday, 40 days after Easter, in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. However, in New Jersey and all the other states of the USA, the celebration of the Ascension has been transferred to the following Sunday.
So, what happens if you're travelling? Are you obliged the follow the rules from where you live or where you are? The answer is tricky.
Cathy Caridi makes some very interesting arguments on her Canon Law Made Easy blog at
Holydays of Obligation, Part I. Basically, you should follow the rules where you live even if you're traveling. So, we NJ resident Catholics would not be obliged to attend Mass on Ascension Thursday in those places that still celebrate it on Thursday. However, if we happen to be visiting that other place for more than three months, we are then obliged to follow the local rules. So, if you started visiting someone in Connecticut on February 17th, you would be obliged to attend Mass tomorrow in Connecticut because you would have been residing there for more than three months.
To make things more complicated, a different canon lawyer gives a slightly different interpretation at
QUAERITUR: Ascension Thursday/Sunday obligation when travelling. Complicated!. He argues that someone from Connecticut would not be obliged to attend Mass tomorrow if they were here in New Jersey because tomorrow is not a holy day of obligation in New Jersey. However, Cathy Caridi would argue that the Connecticut Catholic would be obliged to attend Mass in New Jersey tomorrow because the Ascension is a holy day of obligation tomorrow in Connecticut.
Why the Confusion?
If you want to know when this all got so confusing, then read
this page at the USCCB website. The bishops of the United States changed the holy days of obligation in the United States on December 13, 1991. Later on July 5, 1999, they allowed individual provinces to move the Ascension from Thursday to the following Sunday. Most did. New Jersey just did at the start of the pandemic and permanently last year
Doubt & Clarity
While I've tried to clear things up for you, I'm unable to make them as clear as I would like. Please pray for our bishops to make holy days of obligation clearer. Until that great and glorious day, I invite everyone to come to church every day of the year. Participating in daily Mass is the best way to worship God. Even if you can't come every day, consider coming more often than what is obliged. It's the closest we get to Heaven until that wonderful day when the Lord brings us home to Himself.
God love you,
Fr. Jim