Dear Chas:

Those with agendas always either misquote, quote out of context, or make up a quote that does not exist.

The good Cardinal did say these words, but the anti-Sunday lunes take it out of context. The Cardinal was talking about Church authority, the authority Jesus gave the Church to make decisions on the faith. The transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday happened based upon that God-given authority. There is no requirement that it be in the Bible.

The first Christians celebrated Saturday Sabbath in the Synagogue because they were Jews. These first Christians went to Synagogue on Saturday, and Christian worship on Sunday. When the Christian faith spread to the Gentiles, these Gentiles never celebrated Saturday Sabbath because they were never Jewish. This is a historical fact, as well as a biblical truth.

The word, Sabbath, by the way, does not mean "Saturday". The word means "to rest". Any day can be a Sabbath. The Jews rested on Saturday because they considered Saturday to be the seventh day. The problem with 7th Day Christians who think they are strictly following the Bible, is where in the Bible does God define Saturday as the 7th day. That is a tradition o the Jews, not an edict from God. There are many things not in the Bible. In fact, the bible itself says that not everything about the faith is in the bible (John 21:25).

Nevertheless, the Church was given the authority from God Himself to make decisions on faith, morals, and disciplines. Sunday is celebrated because it is more important than the 7th day. It is the day of the Resurrection, without which we would all end up in hell, including the Jews and the 7th Adventors.

The Jews actually have no authority anyway. The authority of the chair of Moses was transferred to the chair of Peter. That is why the veil in the Temple was rent in two, against the grain (which is impossible) when Jesus died on the Cross. The reign of the Chair of Moses and the Mosaic Covenant was over. This is why the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 and never rebuilt. Thus, the Jews have no authority to declare anything about the faith. I might add, the 7th Day Adventists, and all other Protestant groups also have no authority. The ultimate authority on this planet is given to the successor of Peter according to Jesus. Period.

The Cardinal is correct. There is no official transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in the bible. But, there doesn't need to be, and that was his point.

As is mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Sunday:

The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; in Apocalypse (Revelations) 1:10, it is called the Lord's day. In the Didache (14) [a first century Church manual] the injunction is given: "On the Lord's Day come together and break bread. And give thanks (offer the Eucharist), after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure". St. Ignatius [of Antioch, circa A.D. 110] (Ep. ad Magnes. ix) speaks of Christians as "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also Our Life rose again".

See the Catholic Encyclopedia articles, Sabbath and Sunday for more information.

This controversy today over the Sabbath is a modern man-made invention and doctrine invented by people without authority and without historical, theological, or biblical sense. It is the act of a coward to take the Cardinal's words out of context.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary