Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Ascension Thursday or is it Sunday

Well here we are some 40 days after Easter and Catholics are looking for Ascension Thursday.  Well, if you are in New York or Boston and a few other American dioceses, as well as the Vatican, it indeed is Ascension Thursday.  And if you follow the 1962 missal and calendar of the EF Mass, for you it too is Ascension Thursday.

However, if you are in most of the USA, including my home diocese of New Orleans, it is not Ascension Thursday.  If you are looking for the church's celebration of the Ascension, wait until Sunday.  Yes, the once Holy Day of Obligation has been moved to Sunday in most of the land and we just have to wait.

There are many thoughts, opinions and more concrete facts and words as to why Ascension Thursday is moved to Sunday, but paramount is to help us from sinning because for the most part, we Catholics  don't want to be told to go to Mass twice in one week.  Truth!

So the Church accommodates and helps us out and so we are confused universally.

For simplicity sake, if you are here in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and are not attending a traditional EF mass, then relax and you can wait to Sunday!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment