Bulletins

February 8, 2015

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This weekend we observe World Day for Consecrated Life but not because we celebrate Groundhog Day as a Solemnity. That would be silly.

What is in fact silly is how Sunday, February 8 has been designated “World Marriage Day” by the USSCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth while February 7 and 8 have been designated by the USCCB Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations as when “World Day for Consecrated Life” is to be celebrated in parishes. I wonder if the committee staffs are sending their softball teams to settle their turf battle in a grudge match on the Mall. Maybe they just exchanged angry letters.

The idea of celebrating “World Marriage Day” began in Baton Rouge, La., in 1981, when couples encouraged the Mayor, the Governor and the Bishop to proclaim February 14, St. Valentines Day, as “We Believe in Marriage Day”. Apparently, the event was so successful that the idea was presented to and was adopted by the National Leadership of Worldwide Marriage Encounter. By 1982, 43 Governors officially proclaimed the day and celebrations spread to U.S. military bases in several foreign countries. In 1983, the name was changed to “World Marriage Day”, designated to be celebrated each year on the second Sunday in February. In 1993, Pope Saint John Paul II, imparted his Apostolic Blessings on World Marriage Day.

On January 6, 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II decided that February 2, which for time immemorial had been a preferred day for the profession of religious vows, would be World Day for Consecrated Life. When that day falls on a weekday, parishes in the United States move the day to the following Sunday, which will be the second Sunday of the month only one year out of seven.

So, “World Marriage Day” is in fact an American designation originally associated in the city of the red club with February 14 but moved to the second Sunday of February while “World Day for Consecrated Life” is a global day which the shepherd with the white cassock linked to February 2 but is moved in this country to a Sunday. Do you think “World Day for Consecrated Life” would get bumped to the following weekend if the NFL decided Groundhog Day was going to be Super Bowl Sunday? That would be silly.

Holy Mary and Blessed Joseph,
patrons of marriage couples,
models of the interior life,
pray for us!

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard