Facts and figures about the observance of Sunday worship

Official Statements on Sunday Observance and Church Authority

1. “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” —Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ News, March 18, 1903.

2. “Protestants do not realize that by observing Sunday, they accept the authority of the spokesperson of the Church, the Pope.” —Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.

3. “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [Saturday Sabbath to Sunday] was her act… And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” —H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons.

4. “Sunday is our MARK of authority… the church is ABOVE the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” —Catholic Record of London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.

5. “Protestants … accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change… But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that … in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope.” —Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.

6. “Of course these two old quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit – or blame – for the change.” —This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p. 8, June 1997.

Catechism and Theological Explanations

1. On Scriptural guidance and Protestant practice:
   Q. Have you any other proofs that they (Protestants) are not guided by the Scripture?
   A. Yes; so many, that we cannot admit more than a mere specimen into this small work. They reject much that is clearly contained in Scripture, and profess more that is nowhere discoverable in that Divine Book.

   Q. Give some examples of both?
   A. They should, if the Scripture were their only rule, wash the feet of one another, according to the command of Christ, in the 13th chap. of St. John; —they should keep, not the Sunday, but the Saturday, according to the commandment, “Remember thou keep holy the SABBATH-day;” for this commandment has not, in Scripture, been changed or abrogated… —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York, 1857, p. 101 Imprimatur.

2. On the Church’s power to institute festivals and the Sunday observance:
   Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
   A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; —she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority. —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York, 1857, p. 174

   Q. In what manner can we show a Protestant, that he speaks unreasonably against fasts and abstinences?
   A. Ask him why he keeps Sunday, and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or to abstain. If he reply, that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of Saturday or the Sabbath, but gives no command anywhere regarding Sunday or the first day of the week. If, then he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such was the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act consistently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so ordained? —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York, 1857, p. 181

3. On the Sabbath and Sunday observance:
   Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
   A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

   Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
   A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. —Rev. Peter Geiermann C.SS.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50

4. On Protestant inconsistency:
   Q. Must not a sensible Protestant doubt seriously, when he finds that even the Bible is not followed as a rule by his co-religionists?
   A. Surely, when he sees them baptize infants, abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, and observe Sunday for which there is no Scriptural authority; when he finds them neglect to wash one another’s feet, which is expressly commanded, and eat blood and things strangled, which are expressly prohibited in Scripture. He must doubt, if he thinks at all.

   Q. Should not the Protestant doubt when he finds that he himself holds tradition as a guide?
   A. Yes, if he would but reflect that he has nothing but Catholic Tradition for keeping the Sunday holy… —Controversial Catechism by Stephen Keenan, New Edition, revised by Rev. George Cormack, 1896, pp. 6-7

Catholic Commentary on the Authority Behind Sunday Observance

1. “The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians.” —The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV, p. 153

2. “The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.” —The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4

3. “All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible.” —The Catholic Virginian, Vol. 22, No. 49, Oct. 3, 1947

4. “… you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” —The Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, 88th edition, pp. 72-73

5. “Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third – Protestant Fourth – Commandment of God… The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” —Catholic Record, September 1, 1923

6. “But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? … They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away…” —The Faith of Millions

7. “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The Day of the Lord’ (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church’s sense of its own power. … People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” —Sentinel, Pastor’s page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, May 21, 1995

8. “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” —Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, letter, February 10, 1920

9. “The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.” —Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, p. 213