On Monday, December 9, 2024 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary – the obligation to attend Mass is dispensed. In October, a new clarification came forth from the Vatican’s canonical department (see below), indicating that December 9, 2024 would now be a holy day of obligation, where previously it was not.
Because many parishes had already set their liturgical schedules for December, Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre dispenses the faithful of the Archdiocese of Louisville from this obligation on December 9, 2024. When this situation occurs in subsequent years, the local Church will observe the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception as a Holy Day of obligation, even when it is transferred to Monday.
From the USCCB (Oct. 15, 2024): “Earlier this year, Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, wrote to the Holy See seeking clarification about the obligation to attend Mass when a holy day of obligation in Advent, Lent, or Easter falls on Sunday and the Solemnity is transferred to Monday. In a memo to the U.S. bishops dated Thursday, October 10, Bishop Paprocki communicated the Dicastery for Legislative Text’s response: ‘the feast must be observed as a day of obligation on the day to which it is transferred.” In light of this new directive, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Monday, December 9, 2024 is to be observed as a holy day of obligation.’”
