Though today is holy day of obligation, California Catholics exempt from duty to attend Mass. I wonder why?

This does not make sense! Why take away the worship of God and honor to Our Lady, Mary the Mother of God? No wonder Catholics are losing their faith and very few go to Sunday Mass. 

Deacon John

“Not celebrated”

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a holy day of obligation in the United States. But Catholics in California have been dispensed by their bishops from the obligation to attend Mass. 

The Diocese of Stockton’s Dec. 23, 2009 “Friday Diocesan Update” explained it this way: “Bishop Blair has dispensed the faithful from the obligation to attend Mass on Friday, January 1, 2010. The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, remains a holy day.” 

Says an item on the website of the Los Angeles archdiocese’s Office for Worship, “In the dioceses of the California province (including the Archdiocese of Los Angeles), the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (January 1) is not celebrated as a holy day of obligation.” 

The San Francisco archdiocesan website says, “Archbishop George H. Niederauer has determined that, in accord with the practice of neighboring dioceses, the obligation to attend Mass on Jan. 1, 2010, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God is dispensed.” 

The Sacramento diocesan website carried this note following a list of holy days of obligation: “Bishop Soto has determined that, in accord with the other dioceses of the province of northern?California, the obligation to attend Mass on January 1, 2010, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, is dispensed for the Diocese of Sacramento.” 

Other than explaining that the dispensation is “in accord with” the practice in other California dioceses, none of the diocesan websites answers the question, “Why?” 

In December 1991, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a list of holy days of obligation in the United States. The list was accepted by the Vatican in the summer of 1992, and took effect on Jan. 1, 1993. 

The decree, still in effect, lists the following holy days of obligation for Catholics in the United States: January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the Solemnity of the Ascension; August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; November 1, the Solemnity of All Saints; December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; and December 25, the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The decree provided for three exceptions: “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.” 

But today is a Friday -- not a Saturday or a Monday – so why the exception in California? “It’s nothing really sinister,” a former priest of the Los Angeles archdiocese told California Catholic Daily. "It’s really pretty mundane – for the convenience of the lay people.”

From http://www.calcatholic.com/

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