In years past, when a solemnity fell on a Sunday during Advent, Lent, or Easter, the feast day would be transferred to Monday and Catholics were encouraged, but not obligated, to attend Mass.
But in the case of this year’s solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), which falls on a Sunday, the day will be observed on Monday, Dec. 9, and remain a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The decision stems from a clarification issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts in response to a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops earlier this year asking for guidance on the matter.
The response: “The feast must be observed as a day of obligation on the day to which it is transferred,” the Vatican stated.
That guidance marks a change from past USCCB guidance for American dioceses that “the obligation to attend Mass does not transfer as well” in such cases.
In a message sent to parishes Oct. 31, Father Juan Ochoa, director of the Archdiocese of LA’s Office for Divine Worship, explained that Catholics in the archdiocese will be obligated to attend Mass on both Sunday, Dec. 8 and Monday, Dec. 9.
Ochoa explained that all Masses on Dec. 8 should be for the Second Sunday of Advent. A vigil Mass for the Immaculate Conception cannot be celebrated at any hour on Sunday, Dec. 8.
Several dioceses nationwide have dispensed from the obligation to attend Mass on Monday, Dec. 9, citing the short notice, including the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and the Diocese of Tulsa.
