“Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life” (CCC 2186).
Good writeup. Where does working on the computer for side projects and startup grind fall? Its not physical work so it doesn't get included in servile work, however, it is work.
I've thought about this issue quite a lot recently, as well as the Catholic tradition of holy days of obligation. I believe what the church teaches in these regards. However I think they have become nearly meaningless, not due primarily to laxity in the practising laity, but simply due to the fact that we are now minorities across societies in the modern world: even in traditionally 'Catholic' countries. What I mean is that in the 21st century, in nihilistic atheist societies, telling Catholic miners and factory workers that they cannot work on Sundays when their jobs are now nearly universally '24/7', is just totally meaningless. I live in south Wales, and one of the biggest local employers is a brewery: they employ hundreds of local people permanently and full time, and several hundreds more on agency contracts. The brewery works day and night, all week, for every single day and night of the year. Including Christmas. The workers are nearly all shift workers: 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off. What does it mean to tell a working-class Catholic, on just above the minimum wage, that paying his mortgage in this system and unavoidably agreeing to work Sundays when rostered, is forbidden? It's utterly meaningless. It would have more meaning if the church said "industrialists and factory owners must ensure that (other than safety critical roles) their workforce must be free to observe the sabbath rest each Sunday". But even that would be bordering on the absurd: which industrialists would they be talking to? Some imaginary class of obedient and conscientious Catholic factory owners? Even if upper management in the developed world consisted of a majority of practising and well versed catholics (lol! Not even a remote chance), the truth is that Industry today is owned by huge conglomerates, themselves owned by shareholders including pension funds etc. I imagine the Catholic church (or at least her prominent members) are invested as shareholders in this system (where else are clergy pensions coming from?), and presumably without sin? And yet the factory worker at the very bottom of the pile, in a nearly entirely unchristian system, is forbidden from working on a Sunday. Yes, I'm aware that in this case the Catholic worker would probably be exempt: but in what possible modern case would he not be? The rule is therefore meaningless. We do not live in Christian societies and the church needs to stop pretending that we do.
The same is true of holy days of obligation: traditionally in Catholic countries these are feast days, and therefore holidays (indeed the origin of the term holiday). But this has not been true for decades even in Catholic countries, let alone in culturally protestant (and now atheist or nihilist) countries or societies. The resulting reality is that holy days of obligation are no longer days of joy or feasting, but just a frustrating anomaly in the working week, where catholics working normal jobs in societies no longer remotely interested in Thursday being "the holy feast of the Assumption", have to find time outside of all their other obligations to also attend mass. I believe the Catholic faith, but I dislike the church selling this to me as an occasion of joy or feasting: it may be my Christian duty, but frankly in the modern world it's just a chore and an inconvenience - our feast days are nearly entirely meaningless outside of wholly Catholic societies. They are just minority interest events which levy additional duties on catholics.
I tend to think that in these questions, and related ones, the Catholic teaching should now be "Catholic societies ought/must..." etc, but that "the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath" must be the interpretation for catholics in our majority nihilist, atheistic societies.
Lastly it has to be said that the above are peeves of mine which have made me think a lot, but they don't really require much sacrifice on my part personally. However, one area in which I am affected is sport: I have three sons, and I hope all of them play rugby, as I did. But youth rugby games, like football games (soccer) in the UK, are played on Sunday morning. They have been for decades. So my boys will either have to attend mass on Saturday evening or Sunday evening (when and where this is possible, as our dioceses run out of elderly clergy), or miss out on the primary coming-of-age activity for boys and young men in Wales: representing their village or town rugby team. My parents are clear on their understanding of this: as a boy I was not allowed to play rugby on Sundays, a fact that - to be honest - still makes me angry now as a 37 year old with 3 sons of my own. My non Catholic mates were all having fun and scrapping in the mud, and I was stuck serving in a white polyester alb at the front of a folk mass with a 'wet' priest and a congregation whose idea of a good Catholic boy was the sort of person who would rather ask for more homework than play rugby. I don't think this is a solution to the problem of our church essentially being now a missionary church in thoroughly atheistic lands. 'High mass at 10am' is a result of centuries of Christendom, which has now clearly fallen. I propose we go back to the pre-medieval tradition of Sunday mass being at dawn: and if we are to make mass convenient to catholics at all, I see no reason that it must be to the advantage of middle aged or retired liberals who want a Sunday lie-in, rather than making it a amenable as possible to our youth, in whom we hope to build a habit of mass attendance where it does not yet exist other than under obligation.
Thanks for the shoutout brother, really appreciate it! And excellent post, recently I’ve also made it a point to rest on Sundays so this comes at a great time. God bless you!
Good writeup. Where does working on the computer for side projects and startup grind fall? Its not physical work so it doesn't get included in servile work, however, it is work.
Sounds pretty much like a self-answering question to me.
Great article. Thank you!
I've thought about this issue quite a lot recently, as well as the Catholic tradition of holy days of obligation. I believe what the church teaches in these regards. However I think they have become nearly meaningless, not due primarily to laxity in the practising laity, but simply due to the fact that we are now minorities across societies in the modern world: even in traditionally 'Catholic' countries. What I mean is that in the 21st century, in nihilistic atheist societies, telling Catholic miners and factory workers that they cannot work on Sundays when their jobs are now nearly universally '24/7', is just totally meaningless. I live in south Wales, and one of the biggest local employers is a brewery: they employ hundreds of local people permanently and full time, and several hundreds more on agency contracts. The brewery works day and night, all week, for every single day and night of the year. Including Christmas. The workers are nearly all shift workers: 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off. What does it mean to tell a working-class Catholic, on just above the minimum wage, that paying his mortgage in this system and unavoidably agreeing to work Sundays when rostered, is forbidden? It's utterly meaningless. It would have more meaning if the church said "industrialists and factory owners must ensure that (other than safety critical roles) their workforce must be free to observe the sabbath rest each Sunday". But even that would be bordering on the absurd: which industrialists would they be talking to? Some imaginary class of obedient and conscientious Catholic factory owners? Even if upper management in the developed world consisted of a majority of practising and well versed catholics (lol! Not even a remote chance), the truth is that Industry today is owned by huge conglomerates, themselves owned by shareholders including pension funds etc. I imagine the Catholic church (or at least her prominent members) are invested as shareholders in this system (where else are clergy pensions coming from?), and presumably without sin? And yet the factory worker at the very bottom of the pile, in a nearly entirely unchristian system, is forbidden from working on a Sunday. Yes, I'm aware that in this case the Catholic worker would probably be exempt: but in what possible modern case would he not be? The rule is therefore meaningless. We do not live in Christian societies and the church needs to stop pretending that we do.
The same is true of holy days of obligation: traditionally in Catholic countries these are feast days, and therefore holidays (indeed the origin of the term holiday). But this has not been true for decades even in Catholic countries, let alone in culturally protestant (and now atheist or nihilist) countries or societies. The resulting reality is that holy days of obligation are no longer days of joy or feasting, but just a frustrating anomaly in the working week, where catholics working normal jobs in societies no longer remotely interested in Thursday being "the holy feast of the Assumption", have to find time outside of all their other obligations to also attend mass. I believe the Catholic faith, but I dislike the church selling this to me as an occasion of joy or feasting: it may be my Christian duty, but frankly in the modern world it's just a chore and an inconvenience - our feast days are nearly entirely meaningless outside of wholly Catholic societies. They are just minority interest events which levy additional duties on catholics.
I tend to think that in these questions, and related ones, the Catholic teaching should now be "Catholic societies ought/must..." etc, but that "the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath" must be the interpretation for catholics in our majority nihilist, atheistic societies.
Lastly it has to be said that the above are peeves of mine which have made me think a lot, but they don't really require much sacrifice on my part personally. However, one area in which I am affected is sport: I have three sons, and I hope all of them play rugby, as I did. But youth rugby games, like football games (soccer) in the UK, are played on Sunday morning. They have been for decades. So my boys will either have to attend mass on Saturday evening or Sunday evening (when and where this is possible, as our dioceses run out of elderly clergy), or miss out on the primary coming-of-age activity for boys and young men in Wales: representing their village or town rugby team. My parents are clear on their understanding of this: as a boy I was not allowed to play rugby on Sundays, a fact that - to be honest - still makes me angry now as a 37 year old with 3 sons of my own. My non Catholic mates were all having fun and scrapping in the mud, and I was stuck serving in a white polyester alb at the front of a folk mass with a 'wet' priest and a congregation whose idea of a good Catholic boy was the sort of person who would rather ask for more homework than play rugby. I don't think this is a solution to the problem of our church essentially being now a missionary church in thoroughly atheistic lands. 'High mass at 10am' is a result of centuries of Christendom, which has now clearly fallen. I propose we go back to the pre-medieval tradition of Sunday mass being at dawn: and if we are to make mass convenient to catholics at all, I see no reason that it must be to the advantage of middle aged or retired liberals who want a Sunday lie-in, rather than making it a amenable as possible to our youth, in whom we hope to build a habit of mass attendance where it does not yet exist other than under obligation.
Thanks for the shoutout brother, really appreciate it! And excellent post, recently I’ve also made it a point to rest on Sundays so this comes at a great time. God bless you!
Change the culture: Tell your employer you can’t work Sundays. Don’t spend money on Sundays. Don’t watch pro sports on Sundays.
Also not just service work, read Tanquery in this