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Why Catholics Worship on Sunday? Tradition. Jun 20, 2008 6:37 pm
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As a Catholic some of my brothers and sisters in Christ do not understand
why the Catholic Church celebrates the sabbath on Sundays. Some believe it is because the Church simply changed the day of worship from Saturday, to Sunday. However, the explanation is quite different from what non-Catholics have said on this issue.

The Catholic Church never changed the day of the sabbath, rather it was Jesus Christ and the Apostles who founded this tradition.

Isaiah 1:13

"Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly."

Firstly, in the book of Isaiah God begins to show that he is not pleased with the Sabbath. The Catholic Church realizes that the old ways of the Jews was not sufficient nor pleasing to God.

This is one starting example of how God never intended for us to maintain all the traditions of the Jewish people.

Another thing the Catholic Church considers also is that the Sabbath was given, not to mankind, but specifically to Israel alone as a special covenant sign between her and God. (Ex.31 :13 ,17)

Also, if a person were to examine the New Testaments closely, as many scholars have, nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to worship or meet on the Saturday sabbath. Instead what we learn from the scriptures is that the Christians would meet on the first day of the week. Which was Sunday.

1 Corinthians 16 (Christians are giving money for the collection on the first day of the week.)

Acts 20 : 7 (Paul preached to Christians at Troa whose practice was to meet to break bread on the first day of the week)

John 20: 19,26 (Jesus after his resurrection met with the disciples on the first day of the week. Sunday.)

Romans 14: 15,6 (When Paul is discussing which day to meet, he does not say that we must meet on the Saturday Sabbath. He says "Let every man be
fully persuaded in his own mind."

SDAs claim that the Catholic Church after Constantine in 320 AD changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. This simply is
not true. There are at least ten citations from the Early Church Fathers from 90 to 300 A.D who all say that the practice of Christians everywhere was to meet on Sunday, not the Jewish Saturday Sabbath. There is one thing that is certain of the Early Church, and that is that it met on Sundays. Among them were the following leaders in the early Christian Church.

St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (110)

St. Justin Martyr (100-165)

Epistle of Barnabas (120-150)

St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons 178

Bardiasan (born 154)

St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (200-25

Eusebius of Caesarea (315)

Peter, Bishop of Alexandria (300)

Didache of the Apostles (70-75)

Epistle of Pliny (112)

Col. 2:16-17 shows conclusively that the sabbath law is no longer binding:

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

So based on this verse alone, it simply is not fair for any denomination of Christianity (Seventh Day Adventists mostly) to chastise the Catholic Church for not observing the Jewish Saturday Sabbath.

Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; John 20:1,19- the Gospel writers purposely reveal Jesus' resurrection and appearances were on Sunday. This is because Sunday had now become the most important day in the life of the Church.

This idea that Jesus did not rise from the dead on Sunday is simply not the view of the early Christian Church. While there are some that would try to contest this, this fact remained uncontested (as many of the early Christian doctrines) until 1,600 yrs after the Church is established.

Acts 20 - this text shows the apostolic tradition of gathering together to celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday, the "first day of the week." Luke documents the principle worship was on Sunday because this was one of the departures from the Jewish form of worship.

Heb. 4:8-9 - regarding the day of rest, if Joshua had given rest, God would not later speak of "another day," which is Sunday, the new Sabbath. Sunday is the first day of the week and the first day of the new creation brought about by our Lord's resurrection, which was on Sunday.

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death--whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master." Ignatius, To the Magnesians, 9:1 (A.D. 110).

This is yet another shinning example of why Catholics practice worship on Sundays. Saint Ignatius one of the original Christian Fathers mentions no longer observing the Jewish Sabbath, but Living int he observance of the Lords Day (Sunday).

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27)



In her book Cosmic Conflict, published in 1844, Seventh-Day Adventist prophetess Ellen White argues that the early Christian Church became apostate at the time of the decree of Constantine (p. 551–554). This opinion is refuted by current scholarship even from Seventh-Day Adventists. S. Bacchiocchi, a leading sabbatarian SDA scholar, writes in From Sabbath to Sunday (1997) that the change in worship days began around the year 60 in Rome but was not generally accepted until after the decree of Hadrian in 135 (p. 303–321).

There is a glaring inconsistency in Mrs. White’s belief that the church apostatized in 321: She accepts specific doctrines approved by the Catholic Church after the date of alleged apostasy. Three examples will suffice to make the point: (1) the canon of the New Testament was approved in 393 at the Council of Hippo; (2) the doctrine of the Trinity was defined in 325 at the Council of Nicea; and (3) the doctrine of the true manhood true Godship of Jesus was defined in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon.

Sabbatarians hold that the Sabbath is part of the decalogue, which is the immutable law of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the ten commandments are "fundamentally immutable" (no. 2072). However, the Church considers the Sabbath to have two aspects: an essential part to worship the Lord on one day per week and a ceremonial part as to the exact day.

I hope this helps some of you understand the position of the Catholic Church. The decision to worship on Sunday is a tradition that
was handed down by the early Church to which the Catholic Church still maintains to this very day as it did 2,000 yrs ago. Whether people
agree that it is right is another matter of course. However this is overwhelming evidence that proved the Early Christians seemed to know
that the Lord's day was seen as Sunday in the New Covenant.
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