Moving Holy Days

In many dioceses of the U.S. some Holy Days of obligation that fall on a weekday have the celebration of same moved to the nearest Sunday. Seems to me that my priest said this was to make it easier for people to make it to Mass. Has anyone heard any other reasons that this practice takes place? I personally think this is a weak reason to move a Holy Day celebration, but I do submit to my Bishop in this, as he does have the authority to do it.

BillC wrote:In many dioceses of the U.S. some Holy Days of obligation that fall on a weekday have the celebration of same moved to the nearest Sunday. Seems to me that my priest said this was to make it easier for people to make it to Mass. Has anyone heard any other reasons that this practice takes place? I personally think this is a weak reason to move a Holy Day celebration, but I do submit to my Bishop in this, as he does have the authority to do it.

I believe attendance for Holy Days is seriously lacking, at least, that's what I've noticed. Perhaps it IS due in part to make it easier for people to attend, but perhaps, by moving it to Sunday, the higher attendance in observance of the solemnities of the Lord, also creates a deeper spiritual understanding of the life of Jesus and strengthens the body of Christ. Of course, this is just a guess...

From what I have learned, the moving of the holy days is, frankly, to make it easier for Catholics. I think this was a bad move on the part of the bishops. How ironic, however, that most of the holy days in Europe are also civic holidays. Very nice for a population which has lost its faith (for the most part).