There are some rumblings (and a copy of the letter) on a music director Facebook group a few here are on.

I sent a question to my diocesan liturgy office and am waiting to hear back. I feel like this is a USCCB-needs-to-issue-a-ruling situation.

It’s not a I heard thusly. The protocol letter from the former PCLT, which is binding, is public whether it should be or not, as often happens because as the OP says, relevant parties have been informed.

What will happen in practice this year is another question.

The USCCB has no authority to issue a ruling. Dispensations — which must take a particular form to be valid — can be granted, but not willy-nilly, and locally. (I suspect that a draft will be given by the USCCB to bishops, however.)

It wasn’t even the prior understanding. The USCCB changed this in advance of 2013. Now Paprocki asked in his capacity as chairman of the Canonical Affairs committee, on behalf of the conference, and Rome clarified.

This is great! Now how can we get USCCB to fix Epiphany and Ascension?

How will this affect the traditional Latin Mass? According to the calendar of the 1962 Missal, when December 8th falls on a Sunday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception takes precedence over the Second Sunday of Advent (general rubric 15). Will we be obligated under pain of mortal sin to assist at the Mass of a third-class Advent feria, or is there a provision for the bishop(s) to order a votive Mass of the same mystery celebrated the previous day?

It matters not what texts are used in the celebration of Mass on any day; only that one of those four possible combinations of Mass attendance be fulfilled.

But certainly, as Patrick has pointed out above, it is absurd that those who use the traditional calendar and have therefore fulfilled both their holy day and Sunday obligations simultaneously, should be required to attend Mass again on Monday.

For my part, I'm very surprised to be reading that Monday will (may?) be obligatory. The ordo for the Ordinariate has it marked as moved, obligation dispensed. Since many American dioceses dispense for holy days adjacent to Sundays in the first place, it seems odd for Rome to suddenly be strict about this. Of course, I'll be playing and singing either way...

The table of liturgical days, in the Roman Missal, determines whether the feast is transferred in the OF; and the Sundays of Advent rank very high (#2).

Immaculate Conception is a solemnity of Our Lady so that's pretty high (#3), but still not high enough to bump a Sunday of Advent.

Note, in the list, that Sundays of Ordinary Time are at #6, so during much of the year solemnities of Our Lord Jesus Christ or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and local solemnities (patronal solemnities) can bump Sundays.

For what it's worth, a source in my diocese has written:

the US bishops just received the note from Bishop Paprocki, clarifying that Monday December 9 is a holy day of obligation, on October 10. Rita Thiron from the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions just sent it out yesterday. [Oct 14] It is a holy day of obligation, we just had that discussion internally at the Archdiocese [...] yesterday over e-mail, and a draft notice of the change is in the works. Neither the Ordo nor any other resources reflect the change because we just received notice of it.

After consulting two canon lawyers and the General House, the FSSP Provincial has recommended that US apostolates observe the second Sunday of Advent December 8 and Immaculate Conception December 9 unless given a contrary directive by the local ordinary.

Wow. That’s going to go over poorly.

Perhaps. The notification does mention that "there is a doubt of law regarding which Mass formulary should apply, in which case one cannot insist morally that the law obliges."

@trentonjconn

For my part, I'm very surprised to be reading that Monday will (may?) be obligatory. The ordo for the Ordinariate has it marked as moved, obligation dispensed. Since many American dioceses dispense for holy days adjacent to Sundays in the first place, it seems odd for Rome to suddenly be strict about this. Of course, I'll be playing and singing either way...

The "Monday/Saturday dispensation" in the US has never applied to the Immaculate Conception because it is the patronal feast of the Church in the US. FWIW, it doesn't apply to Christmas, either.

Removing annually or only in certain cases the obligation cannot apply to Christmas and a Marian holy day chosen by the conference. The bishops could have chosen New Year’s as the HDO to keep every year as it’s a public holiday, but they chose Dec. 8 due to the patronage. Hawaii follows the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific’s rules: only Christmas and Jan. 1.

^that should be the answer. Ironically the problem with modern practice wherein the feast and therefore the obligation have to be moved, defying the wishes of anyone who actually cares, is that the pre-55 is not a solution since public Masses (but not private ones — certainly not private in the most strict sense) are of the feria, not of the octave.

They would celebrate the feast liturgically on the Sunday, but the obligation would still have to be observed on the Monday, but they would use the Mass of the day.

Third-class feria of obligation—which would at least justify altar flowers and instrumental music ;)

In the Cleveland Diocese we are celebrating Immaculate Conception on Monday 9. My parish is having a 7pm evening Mass in the NO. I'm not sure what the TLM guys are doing.

I have never figured out what an external solemnity on the day itself would look like.

Might this apply to October 7 when it falls on a Sunday? The external solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary is observed on the first Sunday of October, but a second-class Sunday takes precedence over a second-class feast of Our Lady, so it remains an external solemnity, the Office and additional Masses being of the Sunday.

This would be so much simpler if we could multitask and do two things at once by commemorating a Sunday on a Feast or visa versa.

Yes, only the US. Immaculate Conception is not a holy day of obligation in Canada.

it's very stupid because it's a public holiday. For whatever reason, it was exempted in the Napoleonic concordat, so it's the only public holiday in France formerly on a day of precept which is not a modern day of precept.

I also hate getting stuck with evening Masses as a result of musicians (pros, of course) not wanting to reduce their partying.

Does anyone know if one were to attend a Mass for Sunday on Saturday evening and/or Sunday before 4:00 p.m. and then attend another Mass on Sunday evening would satisfy both obligations even though all Masses through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday are for the Second Sunday of Advent?

Indeed. The canon says any Mass in any Catholic rite. It also removed prohibitions which limited where Mass could be said so as to fulfill the obligation. (I think that people excused from the obligation actually do a disservice by arranging for Mass outside of sacred spaces, whether that be a church or oratory or chapel.)

The Ecumenical Directory no longer makes an exception allowing for one to fulfill the obligation at services of the Eastern churches not in full communion. But the ones which are so are all, obviously, on their own calendar and there’s hardly any overlap. Yet you can attend to fulfill the obligation.

But also, it’s even better: there is disagreement about what time one may attend in order to fulfill the obligation for the next day. Americans tend to say after 4. Spanish canonists, 2 or 2:30. The British… noon.

That’s basically my view too… course, I don’t like the transfer at all.

OK I’m going to say this bluntly: that is one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve ever heard on this forum.

The feast is ancient. Today is the forefeast of the Maternity of Anna, tomorrow the feast of the Conception of Mary for the Byzantines.

It is obviously not superfluous if it is a big deal, and has always been so, in the East and in the West, irrespective of the elevation of the Immaculate Conception to a dogma. That does, however, make it all the more so important in the West in particular.

The calendar from the 1880s to the 1950s allowed any double of the I class to trump the II, III, and IV Sundays. The 1960 rubrics partially reversed the rollback in the 1955 reforms. For 1960, a singular exception exists for today. The 1969 reform removed this, but the Immaculate Conception is simply on the 8th. Transferring it causes confusion even for people who understand the liturgical rules in place. It’s also not such a sacred cow that the principles remain untouched. Italy rightly asked for and received an indult, as it did in 2013 and in 2019, keeping the feast today.

I don’t know.

Maybe I’ll ask Gregory DiPippo (but “one ping only”) to confirm that. In any case, sure. Advent is older but has long has a very self-aware Marian character. While it’s almost impossible for this to occur in the 1911 calendar since there are too many double feasts (not resolved in 1962 at all!), plus Ember Saturday which excludes this by rubric as well, the Mass on Saturday is still Our Lady on Saturday.

From the 1920 rubrics:

[In] Advent, even if the Office is not said of Our Lady on Saturday, the principal Mass
is nevertheless said of Our Lady, with a commemoration of Advent, unless there occurs
an Ember day or a Vigil, as said above.

Then you have the number of Marian feasts in Advent, the O Virgo Virginum antiphon, I believe maintained by the Norbertines well into the modern era, the Rorate indult granted fairly generously…

It was pleasant to see a packed house at my home parish last night. I figured it would be fuller considering there was no anticipated Mass this year, but it was nice to see nonetheless on a Monday night.