...is a Bank Holiday. Our holiday system has gone loopy in recent years. First came the abolition of the Whitsun weekend - we now have a random holiday weekend which is meant to be called (I think) the Late Spring Bank Holiday which is too muddly and bureaucratic, so people tend to call it Whitsun even though it isn't. Then today we have the May Day Weekend, but we've never celebrated the horrible lefty-MayDay-socialist drivel here,DG, and the ancient Catholic pre-Reformation dawn gatherings of branches and flowers to decorate houses with greenery etc are a thing of the past, banished 450 years ago, so the day doesn't work very well. Catholic parishes and schools honour Mary in May, but the Bank Holiday isn't a suitable day for doing so - as all the schools are closed - so it al falls a bit flat. There are still some May Queen celebrations and Maypole dancing, and it would be nice to see more of that...
And soon Ascension Day will be coming up....so....
...while on the subject of holidays...we know that Govt bureaucrats are hopeless but what about the Church? Please, please dear Bishops: GIVE US BACK OUR HOLY DAYS! The plan for moving them to "the nearest Sunday" hasn't worked. Most people don't notice an Ascension Sunday as being particularly different from any other Sunday....what makes a difference, especially to children, is having a special attendance at church on a THURSDAY! Oh, and PS: lots of children at our Catholic schools don't get taken to Mass on a Sunday anyway, so having a Feast Day on a weekday was an opportunity for taking them, and showing them something of the glories of the Church...and now they have been robbed of that chance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Joanna, I have always admired English & really all UK & Irish Catholics for what they have endured since that ghastly event the reformation. I am watching the Tudors (a cable TV presentation) with a large imput from Irish & Canadian film makers, (hurray) they are finally showing the history more accurately, I believe. I have NEVER heard of the stunning "Pilgrimage of Grace" until now! I am 59 yrs old! & some
thing of a history buff & generally well informed. Propaganda has most of us believing that the Faith was easily eradicated from Britain & a British Catholic as rare as a hens tooth. The story behind the P of G is told over several episodes with even a visit to Robert Aske from Lady Mary Tudor, Robert's depiction as devout Catholic & loyal subject (lied to by Duke & King) is particularly unsettling, sadly his execution (which I have not yet watched in its entirety) shows him a mostly broken man muttering that he did wrong. They have even presented martyrs John Constable & Lord Darcy for the noble Yorkshire men that they were.
This series is on "Showtime" here in the US (a cable outlet) Perhaps you can obtain it & finally see some history that shows Henry for the ghastly individual he was, even beheading the mother & governess of Mary Tudor, Reginald Pole's mother, an older lady & mother of 5 children he did this to her! Dear God! Anyway my admiration for your Catholic antecedents only increases & I take some comfort in reading that a Catholic Mass has/will take place in the York minster again. Robert, John, Lord Darcy, Mary Tudor are broadly smiling now.
Please, please, please, give us back our Holy days! Amen!
It is one of the memories I have of my first year attending Church, those special evenings during the week when Mass would be on. I didn't understand too much about *why* Mass was on, but couldn't fail to feel the specialness of the occasion. I really miss it.
If a campaign is started to bring back our Holy days, then 'I'm in'!
The Spring Bank Holiday has been the last Monday in May since 1965 - hardly recent.
Joanna, i would so support a 'give us back our Holy days ' campaign. As a 'cradle' Catholic bringing up a family these days are so special , they help to build the seasons of our Catholic faith but also give us days to 'celebrate' as well as Sundays. You are so right when you say that our children in catholic schools miss out - I use to work in a Catholic Primary school where all the Holy days were celebrated with Mass a wonderful opportunity to share with the Eucharistic with the children especially the large numbers that are never brought to Mass on a Sunday.Not any more .... how sad
Dear Joanna,
Most of the Holy Days have been gone for 10 or 15 years here in Australia now and yes, it has weakend the faith. There is also nothing but confusion - sometimes there is a Holy Day if it falls on Tues, Wed Thurs but not Monday or Friday. The whole thing is a mess! Sad to see they have gone in England as well - you hung on to them there longer than most.
The other problem is that it is called a "feast day", but we didn't feast. Children really notice things like that.
If school is to be held on a holy day, then at least the dinner should be nicer than usual.
The post-conciliar revision of the calendar had as one of its main objectives the restoration of the commemoration of the Resurrection of the Lord on Sundays to pride of place. The decision of the bishops some years ago to transfer all Holy Days that fell on Saturday or Monday to the nearest Sunday flew in the face of that objective, and the more recent transfer of the weekday Feasts of Our Lord to the nearest Sunday makes a bad situation worse. BRING BACK THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTERTIDE, I say (as well as the others).
Post a Comment