Comment

The following article is a response to Dies Domini by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi. Dr. Bacchiocchi is a graduate of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He recently retired as a Professor of Theology and Church History at Andrews University in Michigan. Numbers enclosed in parentheses, e.g. (#3), refer to the paragraph number in the encyclical letter. A LOOK AT THE POPE'S PASTORAL LETTER DIES DOMINI On May 31, 1998, Pope John Paul II issued a lengthy (almost 40 pages) Pastoral Letter "Dies Domini" where he makes a passionate plea for a revival of Sunday observance, especially attendance to Sunday Mass. This document has enormous historical significance since it addresses the critical problem of the prevailing Sunday profanation at "the threshold of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000" (#3). The Pope is keenly aware that the crisis of Sunday observance reflects the crisis of the Catholic Church and of Christianity in general. The "strikingly low" attendance to the Sunday liturgy reflects in the Pope's view the fact that "faith is weak" and "diminishing" (#5). If this trend is not reversed it can threaten the future of the Catholic Church as it stand at the threshold of the third millennium. The Pope states: "The Lord's Day has structured the history of the Church through two thousand years: how could we think that it will not continue to shape the future?" (#30). This Pastoral Letter, like all papal documents, has been skillfully ...