Not An Obligation...

We celebrated the Mass of the Ascension at Blackfen, in the Extraordinary Form of course... It was wonderful, and the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate made a visitation to the parish to sing the propers for the Missa Cantata. Fr. Tim quipped that they are one of the Orders that has refused to observe the Vocations Crisis...

As Fr. Tim had pointed out about four times during his sermon last week, there was absolutely no obligation to go to Mass on Thursday, it was not the Holyday of Obligation, that would be Sunday... Plenty of other bloggers have indicated what they thought about Ascension Thursday Sunday, and Christ ascending to heaven 43 days after the Resurrection...

And the number of people who turned up for the Mass rather indicates what their thoughts on the matter were... There were at least 65 people present at this non-obligatory ex-Holyday. Methinks their Lordships have shot themselves in the collective foot: by transferring the obligation to Sunday, they have opened up the possibility for extra Masses to be scheduled on the old Holydays... but in order to celebrate the Feast, they have to be from the old calendar... so many more people than would otherwise have made the effort to attend the Extraordinary Form have done so... and will have rediscovered the beauty of their Catholic liturgical heritage...

Oooops. Somehow I don't think that was the intention...