Okay, So What’s the Deal with Ascension Thursday, or Sunday, or Whatever?

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 10:47 am by Deacon Greg Kandra

Okay, So What’s the Deal with Ascension Thursday, or Sunday, or Whatever? 2016-05-02T10:47:10-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here in the Diocese of Brooklyn, we do it the old fashioned way, and have kept Ascension Thursday on Thursday. Other places, I know, have moved the feast to this Sunday.

What’s up with that?

Some internet digging revealed these nuggets. First, here’s an interesting time capsule from Ed Peters in the National Catholic Register in 1998, when a formal move was under discussion:

Over the last 10 years, however, proposals to transfer the feast of the Ascension to the Sunday after the traditional Thursday observance have enjoyed increasing support among a majority of U.S. bishops, but until this year, the measure failed to win the two-thirds plurality necessary for approval. Throughout these years, moreover, the debate on retention vs. transfer of the Ascension observance has been drawn almost entirely along East-West lines.

Bishops from the Eastern United States have tended to favor retention of the Ascension Thursday tradition. They point to the strong Scriptural arguments for placing the Ascension exactly 40 days after Easter, and to the significance of Pentecost falling exactly 10 days after the Ascension. Noting the Mass attendance on that day in many of their territories approaches that of Sundays, they feel the inconvenience put on priests who must offer the additional Masses midweek is not excessive.

Most Western bishops have disagreed with the demographic arguments. Noting that there is no secular counterpart to Ascension Thursday as there is, say, with the Solemnity of Mary falling on New Year’s Day, Mass attendance on Ascension Thursday in western dioceses, they say, is markedly lower than on Sundays.

Moreover, Western bishops reply that the higher concentration of priests on the East Coast allowed the clerical burdens consequent to a midweek holy day of obligation to be more spread out in the East than in the West. They also pointed to confusion among the high numbers of immigrant Catholics living in Western states, most of whom come from countries, such as Mexico, where the Ascension is already observed on a Sunday.

James Akin, a senior apologist at Catholic Answers Inc., in San Diego, expressed the concern of many observers by noting that, without adequate preparation for a transfer of the Ascension Thursday observance, the change could come across as “a piecemeal capitulation to modern standards of convenience.”

More recently, one blogger framed the situation this way:

It’s no secret that Mass attendance is low in many places on a holy day of obligation. Also, there are areas where the availability of priests is very low. There are rural areas where the parish boundaries cover hundreds of miles- the Saturday vigil Mass may be over 100 miles away from where the Sunday Mass may be the following morning. If you’re the priest, that’s hard to do; twice as hard if there’s a holy day of obligation during the week. For the priests that struggle to make it happen, they end up offering extra Masses for the people who aren’t attending.

Here’s my opinion on the matter. I’m not a big fan of transferring the solemnity to Sunday. Doing so does expose the occasion more to the faithful, but I think it also takes away from the universality of the Church, especially in modern times where more people are able to travel greater distances and have greater access to information via the internet. Instead, I’d rather promote the solemnity and encourage its celebration. Too many people think the that the Church calendar only runs on Sundays, not realizing that there are so many feasts and memorials during the week. Maybe people can’t make it to Mass that day, but they can celebrate a solemnity in other ways.

As for abrogating the obligation on certain holy days, I can understand this. This may be especially necessary in areas where there is limited access to sacraments for social, economic, or vocational reasons. If you’ve never experienced it, it’s hard to understand how getting to Mass may be difficult for either the priest and/or the faithful.

Also, it’s important to say that we shouldn’t participate in Mass just because the Church obligates us to do so…

Read on.

Photo: Pixabay

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 2, 2016

Beyoncé's 'Lemonade': A Modern Woman's Psalm?

Next Post

May 2, 2016 Ordination Update: 8 New Deacons for Jefferson City

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Mad Men" 9/11 advent All Things New Amazing video amazing videos amazon america Anglicans Anti-Catholicism art ascension thursday ash wednesday Atheists baltimore Bible Bishops Blogging bonnie engstrom Books bridgeport Brooklyn Chaplains children christian art christmas Church Churches CNEWA Converts criticism Deacons Death Penalty easter eastern christian Eastern Christians Ecumenism Education education Eucharist Europe euthanasia Evangelization Exorcism Family Feasts Gay rights Good Friday Great links Great Moments in Journalism Hanging with the saints heather renshaw Hispanic Catholics Hispanics History homelies Homilies Humor Hymn of the Week Immigration indianapolis Inspiration Interfaith news ireland Jesus Jews Journalism Judaism lent Liturgy logos Marriage Mary Media Medical news Mental health Middle East Monks Movies Music Muslims My world and welcome to it New Evangelization new york News Nuns Parenting Parish life peoria Persecution politics Politics Pope pope francis pope john paul Prayer Preaching Priests Pro-life Quote of the day radio rebecca frech ripp Ripped from the headlines rippred from the headlines Sacraments saints Scripture sex abuse Sex abuse crisis SEX ABUSE CRISIS TAGGED WITH: SEX ABUSE CRISIS The people in the pews the visitation project theatre This & that Thomas Merton Trappists TV Uncategorized uncategorized Vatican VATICAN vocation Vocations Voices & Views Women Worth a thousand words Writing Year of Faith year of mercy young people

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible is known as the 'Book of Wisdom'?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Job Proverbs Psalms Ecclesiastes

Books by This Author Books by Deacon Greg Kandra

See All Titles »