A large number of Catholics in England and Wales do not agree with the decision of the Bishops’ Conference to suspend the weekday Mass, hitherto obligatory, for the feast-days of the Ascension, Corpus Domini and Epiphany and transfer them to the following Sunday. It is the priests, on the contrary, who approve the change. So says the Catholic weekly “The Tablet” which has conducted two surveys, one among its readers (a sample of 250) and the other among the priests gathered at the National Conference of Priests. For over 60% of the readers, all of whom regularly attend Sunday Mass, the bishops, by their decision to suspend weekday Mass, demonstrate that the Catholic Church is surrendering to secularism, does not take seriously the three feasts and does not take into consideration the laity’s point of view. In the view of Father Godric Timney, president of the National Conference of Priests, all obligatory feast-days, with the exception of Christmas, ought to be transferred to the following Sunday. The vice-president of the same organization, which represents all the priests of England and Wales, Tom Jordan, parish priest at Romford, in Essex, thinks that only rarely do the faithful participate in Mass during the week. There are also those among the clergy who think it’s “a pity that Catholic schools are losing the opportunity to teach pupils the significance of these important feasts for the Catholic calendar. “These solemnities are among the few occasions during the year in which it is possible to celebrate an important event for Catholic life”, explained Father Michael Dennehy, parish priest at Eastleigh, in the diocese of Portsmouth.
