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."
[
The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1951 printing, page 50. ]
Q. How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday which Protestants allow of; and therefore THEY FONDLY CONTRADICT THEMSELVES, BY KEEPING SUNDAY STRICTLY, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church."
[
Henry Tubervill, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, 1833, page 58. ]
Thomaston, Georgia
May 22, 1954
Pop Pius XII
Rome, Italy
Dear Sir;
Is the accusation true, that Protestants accuse you of? They say you
changed the Seventh Day Sabbath to the, so-called, Christian Sunday:
Identical with the First Day of the week. If so, when did you make the
change, and by what authority?
Yours very truely,
J. L. Day
The Reply:
THE CATHOLIC EXTENSION MAGAZINE
180 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois
(Under the Blessing of Pop Pius XII)
Dear sir:
Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the
Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:
> (1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith
> and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath.
The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe Sunday, stultifies
them in the eyes of every thinking man.
(2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith.
Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church,
as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church instituted by Christ, to teach
and guide men through life, has the right to change the Ceremonial laws of
the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday.
We frankly say, "yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she
made many other laws, for instance, the Friday Abstinence, the unmarried
priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic
marriages, and a thousand other laws.
(3) We also say that of all Protestants, the Seventh-day Adventists are
the only group that reason correctly and are consistent with their
teachings. It is always somewhat laughable to see the Protestant Churches,
in pulpit and legislature, demand the observance of Sundays of which there
is nothing in the Bible.
With best wishes
Peter R. Tramer, Editor
"Finally, at the last opening on the eighteenth of January 1562, all hesitation was set aside.
The Archbishop of Reggio made a speech in which he openly declared that tradition stood above scripture. The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the church had changed... Sabbath into Sunday, not by the command of Christ, but by its own authority." [ Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, Kanon und Tradition (Ludwigsburg: Druck and Verlag von Ferd Riehm), 1859, page 263 in the German ]
Note: This document hasn't been rigged towards plugging the Seventh-day Adventists; since this time there are now other religious groups that keep the Saturday Sabbath as well.
For details, please see link below:
http://www.wwco.com/religion/believe/believe_39.html
