You've probably seen the Catholic liturgical calendar available from various websites. Maybe you've even received a Catholic calendar at church each year. I've always wanted to integrate such a calendar with my own personal calendar, so that when I look at my schedule on the web or on my phone, I can also see what's going on in the church.
Well, since I couldn't find such a solution, I created it. This is the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, maintained via Google Calendar. If you'd like these events to show up in your own personal calendar, on your phone and on any other device you have, use either of the two methods below:
If you use Google Calendar, just click the 'Add to Google Calendar' link at the bottom of the calendar below. This will cause a small popup like this one confirming your request to add the calendar:
If you use Google Calendar, just click the '+' icon at the bottom of the calendar below. This will cause a small popup like this one confirming your request to add the calendar:
Just click "Add" and you're all set. You'll see the new calendar in your account immediately.
If you don't use Google Calendar you may be able to click this link to subscribe. This works well on iPhones and most any other calendar that supports iCal. Depending on what device you're using, you may need to instead right click this link and select "copy link address" (or something similar). Then use the instructions for how to subscribe via iCal link to add it to your own calendar.
Warning: Be sure you understand the difference between subscribing and importing, as explained below.
Google makes it pretty easy to add this calendar to yours. But not all devices play nicely. So, it's important to understand how this works. There are two methods used when adding public calendars to yours: subscribe and import.
Subscribe - This is the recommended method. This causes a new calendar to be added to your account, separate from your own personal calendar (yes, you can have multiple calendars). So, for example, in your list of calendars, you'll see your own calendar (often just labeled with your name) and you'll also see "Catholic Liturgical Calendar". This is what most people want, as it has these advantages:
Import - This method takes a copy of every event and inserts them onto your own personal calendar. It's a one-time shot with no regular subscription. So the Catholic events will appear alongside everything else you've got going on. For most people, this is more cumbersome, especially if you change your mind and you no longer want the events. To delete these events, you have to manually click on each one and delete it. There are MANY events and this will take you a while.
🗓️ = indicates a liturgical season
🕇 = indicates a holy day of obligation (must attend Mass)
I'm located in the U.S. and therefore the information in this calendar is targeted at U.S. Catholics. My main source for calendar data is the USCCB as they seem like the best authority on such issues. However I also refer to other sources:
Sometimes these sources don't always agree, especially related to Holy Days of Obligation. Suffice it to say that I'm doing my best to make sure this calendar is as accurate as possible. And where there are discrepencies, I tend to go to the higher authority. I've included a couple of examples below of some discrepencies that I've encountered.
When some holy days fall on a Sunday during certain seasons (i.e. Advent, Lent), the holy day observation is moved to the following Monday so as not to take away from the importance of that Sunday's liturgy. The confusion happens when that Monday would then be viewed as a Holy Day of Obligation, requiring us to attend Mass two days in a row.
In July 2024, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance sent a letter to the Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts asking the following question: "If a Holy Day of Obligation in the Advent, Lent, or Easter season falls on a Sunday and the Solemnity is transferred to Monday, does the obligation to attend Mass still apply?" Long story short, the answer is yes. The Vatican basically slapped the USCCB's hands for eliminating the obligation as far back as 1992! We (U.S. Catholics) have been doing it wrong for 32 years.
Therefore, the Feast of Immaculate Conception, celebrated on Monday, December 9, 2024 (moved from December 8 because that's a Sunday) is indeed a Holy Day of Obligation even though many web sites of parishes and dioceses say otherwise. Some priests and bishops, after learning of this clarification from the Vatican, have decided to still defy the order. You can read this copy of the letter sent by USCCB along with the Vatican's response. More information is also available in this article from The Pillar: "Vatican letter settles and raises questions about U.S. Mass obligation".
This feast is designated annually on Ascension Thursday, the 40th day after Easter.
However, in many places of the world, including most of the United States, the feast is moved
to the following Sunday, calling it Ascension Sunday (the 7th Sunday of Easter).
This is a screenshot from the official Liturgical Calendar published by the USCCB:
If you know of any inaccurate or missing information, PLEASE let me know. I'm just a regular guy in De Pere, Wisconsin, trying to help my fellow Catholics by maintaining this Catholic Liturgical Calendar. I'm by no means in any type of official capacity in the church and as illustrated above, sometimes church officials get it wrong. I appreciate your understanding and, more importantly, your help.
