Q: Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and pastoral practice. I have a question concerning the celebration of the Cathedral Dedication transferred to the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The actual date of the dedication fell on a weekday however the celebration was transferred to the following Sunday. I understand that this can be done, however if a person attends Mass on the weekday which is the actual date of the dedication what Mass proper is said? Do they repeat the Mass on the Anniversary itself? Also, being at another parish in that diocese…we are told to celebrate the dedication as a Feast day…do we celebrate the feast on the same transferred date at the Cathedral or do we keep the original day during the week. I know this sounds ridiculously confusing…hopefully you can sort it out.
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A: Thanks for your comments on my blog.
The liturgical books don’t comment on what mass is said on the actual anniversary date when the celebration is transferred to the nearest Sunday in Ordinary Time. However, in my opinion, the meaning of the permission is that the day is transferred, not duplicated. Therefore, the parish would celebrate the mass of the weekday when the anniversary has been transferred to a Sunday.
All parishes of the diocese are to celebrate the cathedral’s dedication anniversary as a feast day (not as a solemnity). There is no permission to transfer that feast in the parishes, especially because any Sunday in Ordinary Time outranks such a feast.
So, yes, it’s possible for every other parish in the diocese to celebrate the cathedral’s anniversary together on a date that the cathedral itself has transferred to a different day.