Category: Liturgical Year

A reader e-mails this press release from The Catholic League:

December 9, 2005

HOLIDAY CAROLS

In keeping with the spirit of political correctness, the Catholic League recommends the adoption of the following songs at Holidaytime:

“I’m Dreaming of a White Holiday”; “O Holiday Tree”; “All I Want for The Holiday Is My Two Front Teeth; “We Wish You a Merry Holiday”; “The Twelve Days of the Holiday”; “The Holiday Song”; “Rockin’ Around The Holiday Tree”; “You’re All I Want For The Holiday”; “Baby’s First Holiday”; “Do They Know It’s The Holiday”; “Merry Holiday Darling”; “I’ll Be Home For The Holiday”; “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like The Holiday”; “Blue Holiday”; “The Holiday Waltz”; “Holly Jolly Holiday”; “So This Is The Holiday”; “Merry, Merry Holiday Baby”; “Have Yourself a Merry Little Holiday”; “Twas the Night Before The Holiday”; “Holiday Serenade”; “Feliz Vacaciones.”

SOURCE.

Can you think up any more holiday songs that the Catholic League might ought to add to their list?

I’ve had a number of requests for lists of stores that are and aren’t honoring the holidayChristmas season by calling it "Christmas."

Now I’ve found one!

Concerned Women for America has developed a list of stores that are honoring the Christmas spirit by referring to Christmas–as well as stores that are hypocritically trying to get your Christmas money out of your Christmas pocket without ackowledging the Christmas that you are celebrating.

In other words: The Politically Correct Commercializers.

My own philosophy is that if any business wants my Christmas dollars then they can darn well ackowledge that they ARE Christmas dollars–either by sending me a CHRISMAS catalogue or by wishing me "Merry CHRISTMAS" or what have you.

But none of this "Holiday catalogue" or "Happy holidays" crud.

Any business going that route will get NONE of my Christmas dollars.

And, since boycotts are no good unless you tell the person THAT and WHY they’re being boycotted, I plan on telling such business that’s what I’m doing.

I, for one, refuse to sit by and allow Christmas to be banished from public consciousness and be added to the social "taboo" list the way that Christian concepts have in so many areas in our society.

As bad as the commercialization of Christmas is (something we must also all fight), having it vanish from our culture in a fit of political correctness is not acceptable.

GET THE LIST.

Don’t forget to go to Mass if you didn’t go Monday evening.

If you’re a Latin rite Catholic in the United States, that is.

It’s the solemnity of All Saints, so be sure to either go to evening Mass today or make plans to go to Mass tomorrow.

HERE’S THE LAW ON THE SUBJECT.

Is Halloween too spooky for children? One Penn State psychologist thinks so.

"It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.

"In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.

[…]

"According to Clark, who interviewed parents and children after three Halloweens, younger children may be unwilling participants in the whole ritual.

"The key ingredient in the recipe of Halloween fright is, of course, death.

"’Intriguingly, Halloween is a holiday when adults assist children in behaviors taboo and out of bounds,’ Clark writes in the anthropological journal Ethos. ‘It is striking that on Halloween, death-related themes are intended as entertainment for the very children whom adults routinely protect.’"

GET THE STORY.

After reading through this story, I wondered why the results of so many scientific studies seem to point to the solution of simply using common sense. Basically, it boils down to parents making sure their children learn the difference between reality and make-believe, and that they be on guard against well-intentioned people who expose children to more Halloween fright than the kids can handle. Then again, these days common sense is all too often an uncommon commodity.

REINVENTING THE HALLOWEEN LIGHT.

Happy Halloween! (Or, have a happy All Hallows Even, if you prefer.)

JIMMY ADDS: My own theory on the spookiness of Halloween celebrations is that it’s part of the same psychological process that leads humans to watch drama (which always involves dramatic tension–if the drama is any good) and to "play fight" as children. It’s a way of exposing oneself to dangers in a simulated, safe manner and thus learning to cope wiht the emotion of fear that accompanies them so that you’ll be able to handle it when you face REAL dangers. Such simulated danger situations are part of life–and of growing up. That’s not to say that some kids may not find the whole experience too scary. I know that when I was a small boy I was quite scared of some Halloween stuff, though that didn’t stop me from wanting to stay up late every Friday night to watch monster movies on Boo Theater.

It’s that time of year again … when autumn leaves begin to crackle, scents of apple and cinnamon fill the kitchen, and howls of Christian indignation over Halloween split the silence. What’s a faithful Christian to do when his kid pleads to take part in the annual Free Candy Fest? Should he let his kid dress up in the Most Popular Costume of the Year and beg treats from the neighbors? Should he make the child dress up as a saint and go to an All Saints’ Eve Party? But what if he’s not a Catholic and doesn’t believe in letting his kid admire saints? Perhaps he should honor the Great Pumpkin by throwing a Celebration Of Autumn Day or honor Martin Luther on Protestant Reformation Day?

Personally, even before I became Catholic, I never saw why there was such confusion over Halloween. It was just a day for little kids to dress up and charm the neighbors into forking over miniature chocolate bars. For older kids and grownups, it was a time to indulge in a little black humor. A relative of mine, when she hit the age in between being too old for kiddie costumes and yet still young enough to enjoy trying to shock adults, dressed up as Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, wore a sign that said "Friday the 13th, Part 12: Jason Raids the Animal Shelter," and carried a stuffed-toy "Pound Puppy" tied to a length of rope. (You’ll be happy to know that she is now a well-adjusted wife, mother, and contributor to society.) After seeing that, I really could not get freaked out by kids dressing up as spooks and hobgoblins.

But now that I am a practicing Catholic, I do realize that not everyone, especially every Christian, is comfortable with allowing such, uh, dark creativity for their own children.  (To be clear, in retrospect, I too would be uncomfortable allowing children of mine to pick out costumes of the type my relative chose that year.)  Saints’ day parties, fall festivals, and, for Protestants, Reformation Day celebrations are perfectly reasonable alternatives to the traditional Halloween activities. One Christian company in New Zealand is even offering a "Light Party":

"When Halloween comes along, we face a tradition that encourages poor behaviour, ‘rewards on demand’ by trick or treating and celebrates evil by wearing scary masks or costumes.

"Many parents are not happy about this negative influence and are looking for a positive alternative …

"Are you looking for a celebration to bring your community together? Now you too can help to bring your church and community together to celebrate all that is good on October 31 with a Light Party™!"

THE LIGHT PARTY SITE.

I just wish that all of these people busily searching for alternatives to Halloween traditions that they feel are no longer appropriate for Christian families would realize that they are reinventing the light bulb. Halloween began as a Christian alternative to the prevailing pagan autumn holidays.  Halloween originally was a Christian light struck in the darkness; not the darkness itself.  Rather than eradicate Halloween, perhaps the job of Christians ought to be to reclaim it.

IS CATHOLICISM PAGAN?

CAN CATHOLICS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN?

UPDATE: I goofed in naming the horror series that inspired my relative’s costume.  It was Friday the 13th, not Halloween.  I’ve fixed the post.  Nod and gratitude to the reader who caught my error.

Although August 15 is the celebration of the Assumption of Mary, there is no obligation to attend Mass today in the United States. Among the complementary norms for the U.S. is the following:

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15,
the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All
Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass
is abrogated [SOURCE].

Now, I’ve had some folks write in asking whether there is an obligation to rest today. You might think that, for the general law regarding holy day obligations reads as follows:

Can.  1247 On Sundays and other holy days of
obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and
affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the
Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

Since the complementary norm mentions the suspending of the obligation to attend Mass but not the obligation to abstain from certain works and affairs, you might conclude that the latter obligation is still in place.

Unfortunately, the situation is more complex than that. For a start, the canon is badly drafted. You’ll note that the canon refers to avoiding works and affairs that interfere with "the joy proper to the Lord’s day." Well, the Lord’s day is Sunday and Sunday only. Not other holy days. This raises a question of whether the second obligation specified in the canon is directed to Sundays or to all holy days.

The answer is that it does apply to other holy days; I’m just pointing out how sloppily the Church drafts its law on this subject so the reader will be put on guard against trying to read the law over-precisely when it comes to this stuff. The Church is painting with broad brush when it comes to the law on this topic. It hasn’t sat down and spelled matters out rigorously.

It’s really hard to imagine that the bishops would say "It’s asking too much to tell people they have to go to Mass on Monday when they just went on Sunday, but we will ask them to treat Monday just like Sunday in all other respects, with all the rest requirements that we haven’t preached on for forty years and when 99.44% of people are required by their employers to work on this day."

It’s not plausible that the bishops intended to put people into a multi-bind situation where they are NOT required to go to Mass BUT are required to rest EXCEPT for the fact that their employer requires them to work AND the people are almost totally unaware of the obligation to rest in the first place due to lack of preaching and knowing what the obligation even means in our culture. If it seems hard to you to imagine how you’d be expected to conduct yourself on such an overly complicated day, it’s for very good reasons and the same reasons suggest that that’s not what the bishops intended.

Thus it’s no surprise when one discovers that there is a recognition at the USCCB also that both
obligations are gone when August 15 falls on a Monday. The Bishops
Committee on Liturgy Newsletter simply says:

 

August 15 (the Assumption) is a day of obligation only when it falls on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Sunday (35 Years of the BCL Newsletter, 1557).
 

It therefore appears that the most likely explanation for all this is that the U.S. bishops intend both obligations to be suspended when the day falls on a Monday (or a Saturday). They simply phrased themselves with customary sloppiness following the Vatican’s example.

At a minimum we have a doubt of law situation, and in that circumstance our old friend, Canon 14, kicks in to tell us:

Can. 14 Laws,
even invalidating and disqualifying ones, do not oblige when there is a doubt
about the law.

Bottom line, you don’t have to navigate the multi-bind kind of day mentioned above. Think about what God did for Mary and go to Mass if you want to, but don’t feel obligated to treat the day as a quasi-semi-maybe Sunday.
20

Although August 15 is the celebration of the Assumption of Mary, there is no obligation to attend Mass today in the United States. Among the complementary norms for the U.S. is the following:

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15,

the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All

Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass

is abrogated [SOURCE].

Now, I’ve had some folks write in asking whether there is an obligation to rest today. You might think that, for the general law regarding holy day obligations reads as follows:

Can.  1247 On Sundays and other holy days of

obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and

affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the

Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

Since the complementary norm mentions the suspending of the obligation to attend Mass but not the obligation to abstain from certain works and affairs, you might conclude that the latter obligation is still in place.

Unfortunately, the situation is more complex than that. For a start, the canon is badly drafted. You’ll note that the canon refers to avoiding works and affairs that interfere with "the joy proper to the Lord’s day." Well, the Lord’s day is Sunday and Sunday only. Not other holy days. This raises a question of whether the second obligation specified in the canon is directed to Sundays or to all holy days.

The answer is that it does apply to other holy days; I’m just pointing out how sloppily the Church drafts its law on this subject so the reader will be put on guard against trying to read the law over-precisely when it comes to this stuff. The Church is painting with broad brush when it comes to the law on this topic. It hasn’t sat down and spelled matters out rigorously.

It’s really hard to imagine that the bishops would say "It’s asking too much to tell people they have to go to Mass on Monday when they just went on Sunday, but we will ask them to treat Monday just like Sunday in all other respects, with all the rest requirements that we haven’t preached on for forty years and when 99.44% of people are required by their employers to work on this day."

It’s not plausible that the bishops intended to put people into a multi-bind situation where they are NOT required to go to Mass BUT are required to rest EXCEPT for the fact that their employer requires them to work AND the people are almost totally unaware of the obligation to rest in the first place due to lack of preaching and knowing what the obligation even means in our culture. If it seems hard to you to imagine how you’d be expected to conduct yourself on such an overly complicated day, it’s for very good reasons and the same reasons suggest that that’s not what the bishops intended.

Thus it’s no surprise when one discovers that there is a recognition at the USCCB also that both

obligations are gone when August 15 falls on a Monday. The Bishops

Committee on Liturgy Newsletter simply says:

 

August 15 (the Assumption) is a day of obligation only when it falls on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Sunday (35 Years of the BCL Newsletter, 1557).

 

It therefore appears that the most likely explanation for all this is that the U.S. bishops intend both obligations to be suspended when the day falls on a Monday (or a Saturday). They simply phrased themselves with customary sloppiness following the Vatican’s example.

At a minimum we have a doubt of law situation, and in that circumstance our old friend, Canon 14, kicks in to tell us:

Can. 14 Laws,

even invalidating and disqualifying ones, do not oblige when there is a doubt

about the law.

Bottom line, you don’t have to navigate the multi-bind kind of day mentioned above. Think about what God did for Mary and go to Mass if you want to, but don’t feel obligated to treat the day as a quasi-semi-maybe Sunday.
20

CNS is carrying the following story:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — An international Vatican advisory board said the sooner new English translations of Mass prayers are ready the easier they will be for Catholics to accept. Members of the Vatican-appointed "Vox Clara" Committee, which advises the Vatican on English translations, said they share the concerns of bishops about how the new texts will be accepted by their faithful, but they also "expressed their conviction that this reception would be impeded by delays in a timely completion of the project." The committee met July 5-7 at the Vatican to review "various and recent draft translations" of the Latin edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 2002. The missal contains all the prayers and readings used for Mass in the Latin rite [SOURCE].