Universal law provides that the days of penance in the Latin rite are every Friday of the year and the whole season of Lent (canon 1250). But universal law isn’t the only kind of law. There is also particular law, or law that applies to particular territories or groups of people within the Latin rite.
Such as the diocese of the United States.
It may come as a surprise to some, but today–Monday, January 22–is a day of penance according to the particular law of the Latin rite in the United States.
According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 21 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day (GIRM 373).
The law does not require fasting or abstinence today, though a person may do these if he chooses. Strictly speaking, the law does not require that individual Catholics perform penance as a matter of obligation on this day, but it’s certainly in keeping with the spirit of the day to do it voluntarily.
For those from other nations–or those who are simply wondering why January 22 was picked–the answer is that it’s the anniversary of
THE EVIL DECISION.
Please pray for an end to abortion.
ONE BISHOP SPEAKS.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)
I am a little irked that absolutely NOTHING was said yesterday in the homily at our parish about respect for life issues. We came home and watched Fr. Anthony’s homily on EWTN–excellent as always. And thank you, Jimmy for this information–I never would have known!
I am a little irked that absolutely NOTHING was said yesterday in the homily at our parish about respect for life issues. We came home and watched Fr. Anthony’s homily on EWTN–excellent as always. And thank you, Jimmy for this information–I never would have known!
Sorry to hear that. While it was not mentioned in the homily at our parish, there were flyers in every pew anouncing it and including some prayers for that day.
I would never have known either except for the fact that it’s listed on the calendar that Catholics United for the Faith sends out to its members. I certainly didn’t hear anything from the pulpit yesterday.
More and more I find myself making a practice of reading a sermon online before I leave for Mass. Father Martin Fox posts his Sunday homilies at Bonfire of the Vanities:
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2007/01/hear-respond-act-sunday-homily.html
I also make it a practice to preread the Mass readings at:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml
Yay, internet access!
My parish provided “Catholic” calendar has green for the day. I guess I should clue them in.
This year I was fortunate to receive a calendar from my Catholic auntie (I’m not Catholic…yet…) from Tan Books that notes today being “Day of Penance for the Sin of Abortion.”
Nothing was said about this at my local church…(I do attend a Catholic church)
Thanks for the update!
How strong a word is “should” as in “The Mass ‘For Peace and Justice’ should be celebrated”? On the US bishops website they have the readings for the day as “Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time.” Should they have the have the readings For Peace and Justice?
I’m with you, Jimmy, I hate the alternate responses for the exact reasons you gave. My parish has a particularly annoying way of responding to petitions: The cantor sings, “We pray to the Lord” (to a typically insipid modern melody), and the congregation responds also in song. This might not be so bad, but it’s done in such a way that the word “Lord” in “we pray to the Lord”, and the word “Lord” in “Lord, hear our prayer” are made to overlap, so it comes out, “We pray to the LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER”. It’s gimmicky, lame and silly. It comes across all the siller because its creator probably thought it was clever. (I know, I’m a spiritual fruitchucker. I try not to be but it’s extremely hard.)
Sorry, I put that last comment under the wrong topic.
Am not aware that any publicity on this was forthcoming in the Diocese of Orange. Not a surprise because one need not do penance here unless one kneels before Jesus in the Holy Sacrament.
I never would have heard of this if I hadn’t read the JA.O site today…I converted to Catholicism four years ago, and I’ve never heard of it -ever-.
It wasn’t mentioned at all yesterday at Mass…and we went to Mass at the Cathedral. For some reason, I always expect things to be done “right” at the Cathedral, but things are largely the same there as they are at any parish in my diocese.
This is all news to me–probably one of the Church’s best kept secrets, since NONE of this was mentioned at Mass this past weekend–nor was any mention of this in our parish bulletin, nor was any announcement made from the pulpit. I’m seriously beginning to wonder whether the Catholic Church is REALLY as pro-life as claimed, since many bishops and priests ignore these important issues, in the hope that they’ll just disappear.
“I’m seriously beginning to wonder whether the Catholic Church is REALLY as pro-life as claimed”
Well, I just got back from the March for Life in DC (Yes there was one with tens of thousands, I would say hundreds of thousands, even if the news don’t show it) and one thing that I noticed was that 90% if not more of the participants were Catholics.
While I did not see a single pro abortion activist the news showed a snapshot of a pro life sign and one of a pro abortion one and led the story with: “Activists on both sides”.
We had our annual Respect for Life Mass here at the cathedral in Denver. Our pastor also read a portion of our archbishop’s column from the Denver Catholic Register before Mass. Catholic Democrat Bill Ritter recently replaced Catholic Republican governor Bill Owens as governor, defeating Catholic Republican candidate Bob Beauprez, and appears to be re-opening the door to federal funding for groups that provide abortions. Bill Ritter says he is pro-life. Our archbishop wrote, “…it’s very hard to reconcile anyone who is “pro-life” with any support for Planned Parenthood and its destructive record.”
Great to have Archbishop Chaput as our shepherd!
Mr. Flapatap, thanks for note from today.
You would think that tens or hundreds of thousands of people would warrant media coverage. Even in anticipation of the event. Instead here the news anticipated everything else except the March for Life.
I know that there are MANY thousands of Catholic laity who are staunchly pro-life. Sadly, in many places the silence and apparent discomfort of MANY bishops and priests, in addressing the pro-life issue is also quite apparent to me. In the past 30 years, I’ve only heard talk from the pulpit regarding ANYTHING culture of life twice!! It does make one wonder.
Let’s be charitable. There are so many rules and regulations around that it’s perfectly understandable that people would forget about a US-only penance day. Heck, if nobody ever knew to tell us about Friday “fish or a penitential practice”, why would they know about today being a day of penance?
Our bishop (Sioux Falls) preached a day of penance from the pulpit and the color of the day was penitential purple (concelebrated on a Monday noon with all of the priests attached to the Cathedral and a couple from out of town, in town for their “Monday off.”) A solemn chanted NO Mass, to boot, with all the Catholic school kids, Cathedral was packed.
My penance was sleeping on a bus for 2 consecutive nights while going back and forth from Ohio to DC.
Speaking of Father Fox, we walked with him. Or rather he walked with us, since there were 40-odd teenagers and we had a banner and everything and he appears and says “hi” and ends up walking along with us and leading the Rosary. Great, great priest. I really must drive down to Piqua and hear one of his Masses someday.
It was mostly Catholics, but I did see banners for Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Baptists; which I didn’t see last year.
Last year, there were about 20 counter-protesters sitting on the courthouse steps with 100,000 of us massed in front of them. It was kind of pitiful. This year, I didn’t see a single one.
Sorry if I’m kind of incoherent, as I said I spent the last 2 nights on a bus.
What if we let some federal taxes and economics decide the issue for us? I recommend the following solution that every politician can embrace: an excise tax on abortion.
Think about it: adoptions currently cost at least $10,000 (and that’s from China!); giving birth to a child costs at least $2000 (actually, closer to $4000); but an abortion is about $250. If we truly find abortions to be reprehensible or objectionable (or as the Catholic Democrats in Congress say “undesirable”), but not enough so that we want to outlaw it, we can treat it like alcohol and tobacco: slap a “sin tax” on it! I think an “abortion tax” should be high enough to make people really think about getting an abortion and consider taking more responsibility for their sexual behavior. Putting it at the same level as giving birth (much like a tariff that makes import cars cost the same as domestic cars) would be a good benchmark for being a deterrent to behavior that causes abortions. Therefore, a $250 abortion, plus the abortion tax, should be cost a total of $5000. If this doesn’t reduce the 1.2 million abortions/year in the U.S., it would at least raise $5.7 billion/year in taxes that could go to unwed mothers, underprivileged children, and aid to those seeking to adopt, not to mention shoring up Social Security (which is lacking funds due to 44 million workers that have been aborted since 1973).
I do not mean to make light of the abortion holocaust, but if we have to pay insurance for health care that funds birth control, income taxes that fund Planned Parenthood, and Social Security taxes to fund a “pension” we will never see, then someone should have to at least financially pay a substantial price for the consequences of their actions. (Then again, we are already paying higher health care costs, because some people decided to eat and smoke all they want, but have our health care plans and medicare taxes pay for their emphysema and obesity and related cardiac care.)
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