By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
I awoke on a recent Lord’s Day to the sounds of lawn equipment humming from several different directions in the neighborhood. This while it was still cool enough to leave the windows open and the air conditioner off. One woman was on this, of all days, trimming her hedges in full view as we gathered at the hall after Mass for our customary parish family brunch. She does not attend Sunday Mass. Apparently, she seems to fail to keep the day holy in general.
Of course, there can on occasion be grave reasons for doing certain kinds of work on Sundays, but surely beautifying shrubs and cutting grass would be pretty close to the bottom of such a list.
For many, dropping out of Sunday Mass often begins a downward slide which ends in one more day nearly indistinguishable from all the others of the week.
Sunday has become the “leftover” day in an increasingly paganized culture. Now the leftover yard work, housecleaning, and other chores left undone throughout the previous six-day period are relegated by default to Sunday. This is when sleeping in has not become the priority for catching up on repose lost by using Friday and Saturday for partying.
A recent headline said the Archdiocese of Detroit has “declared war on Sunday sports.” What Archbishop Allen Vigneron has done is to put teeth into a document resulting from a 2016 archdiocesan synod and published one year later. In his more recent note calling a halt to Sunday sports in archdiocesan high schools and grade schools he launched a salvo that has created a media buzz.
“Sunday [is] a day set apart for the Lord, for family, and for works of mercy. In our time, Sunday has slowly lost its pride of place. In the Archdiocese of Detroit, we are committed to setting aside this day as much as possible for God-centered pursuits. In shifting away from the hustle of required sporting activities on Sunday, we will reclaim this holy day and create more time for families to choose activities that prioritize time spent with each other and our Lord,” he wrote.
The Commandments, especially that relating to the holiness of the first day of the week, are foundational for the life of human persons as well as for the ordering of time in view of eternity.
In his document The Day of the Lord, published May 15, the archbishop wrote:
“In shifting away from the hustle of required sporting activities on Sunday, we will reclaim this holy day and create more time for families to choose activities that prioritize time spent with each other and our Lord.”
The archdiocese has essentially launched a counterattack against a culture at war with God in many areas of life, but nowhere more dramatically than on Sundays, the “leftover” day of the week where the focus now seems for many to be recovering from the effects of the previous week or preparing for the next work week, beginning the following Monday morning.
It turns out that nothing is more important than rest for recovering from work or preparing for it. More work is not the answer.
In fact it is the world which has declared war on God with its rampant desecration of the Lord’s Day. Sunday is consecrated to the Lord not only by the worship of Mass, but also by its character as one of rest. Avoiding servile work and any activities which prevent the unity of the family made possible by doing so are enjoined on believers in obedience to the Third Commandment of the Decalogue.
One Detroit columnist doesn’t see it that way. Describing the position of the archbishop as “declaring war” on Sunday sports, this writer styles himself a hero throwing down the gauntlet against an unfair ruling, claiming that his “excommunication is probably already on the table.” The archbishop isn’t declaring war on sports that the family plays together, however, only on those that split them up and send various members in various directions. Teams based on the age of the children making up each team, as is the case with school sports, do indeed split the family apart. With one parent going in one direction and possibly the other parent taking a different child elsewhere for practice or competition, this encroaches unacceptably on Sunday priorities for people of faith.
Years of neglect have led to this impasse. The growth of Sunday sports is one more force pulling the family apart on a day when these most important relationships among the People of God should be nurtured and built up. This is impossible to do when individuals are going in different directions, making Sunday look and feel just like any other day of the week.
Sunday involves more than going to Mass. A reductionist approach has been accommodated for years with disastrous results. The letter of the archbishop of Detroit is long overdue and should be emulated by his brother bishops.
Time should nearly cease as Heaven breaks once more into our world liturgically and otherwise on Sundays. With the rest and relaxation of Sunday, which imitates God’s own rest after the work of creation was completed, we are to experience a communion with Him that flows from the grace of the Eucharist. As the Lord’s rest becomes our rest, we are able to anticipate and rejoice in the promise of eternal salvation.
The gift of Sunday each week is a privilege and grace to be defended and preserved. Parents are to be encouraged and supported in their efforts to sanctify the Lord’s Day within the life of the family through worship and rest. And they are to be corrected when they neglect or desecrate this most important day of the Christian week as Archbishop Vigneron has done. A Catholic columnist should be among the first to recognize this.
After all, it is healthy family life that feeds sports programs, especially those in our Catholic schools. Family life is strengthened by obedience to the Commandments. Weak and directionless families are increasingly unable to commit to anything beyond work. Sunday worship and rest open the horizon of individuals and families to the perspective of the Lord and eternal life, witnessing and reaffirming faith.
When the bishops change course and right the direction of the ship, they are to be supported and encouraged. That’s their task. Please pray for and encourage them as they continue in this work of shepherding the flock rightly. They need as much of our help as we can muster.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
@MCITLFrAphorism.
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