Dear Fellow Parishioners,

As we approach the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it’s worth noting that the time markers of this time of the year have changed. Now that school starts in the middle of August, the Marian feast and the return to school are nearly simultaneous. This year’s Back to School Mass will take place this Sunday, August 10 at 9:00 a.m. Later that same morning, the Hispanic Community will sponsor our Assumption procession through the streets of Petaluma, scheduled to arrive at the church in time for the 12:00 noon Mass in Spanish. The impressive image of Our Lady of the Assumption, which has been in the church sanctuary for the past several days, will have pride of place in the procession, and will remain in the church until Friday, August 15th, the actual feast day.

As for the feast day itself, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the four interrelated Marian Dogmas of the Catholic Church: 1) Mary as Mother of God (432 A.D.); 2) Mary’s Perpetual Virginity (553 A.D.); 3) Immaculate Conception, i.e., that Mary was conceived free from original sin (1854); and 4) Assumption, i.e., that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven (1950). There are many other Marian dogmas (i.e., “teachings”) that arise explicitly from scripture, like the Annunciation, and therefore do not require further definition by the Church. On the other hand, there are many passages of scripture which are cited in support of the doctrine of the Assumption.

The equivalent belief in Eastern Christianity is known as the “Dormition,” i.e., Mary “falling asleep” until raised to the glory of Heaven.

The definition of the dogma of the Assumption has its own history. In 1946, Pope Pius XVII sent an inquiry to the bishops and heads of religious orders throughout the world asking whether they would support a definition of the Assumption of the BVM, and the worldwide response was overwhelmingly positive. Furthermore, in the Holy Year 1950, Pius XII prayed for a sign from God as to whether He wanted this definition at this time. A 5-year-old Marian visionary, Gilles Bouhours, who had been cured of encephalitis when a Little Sister of the Poor placed under his pillow a holy card and a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, was granted an audience with Pius XII in May 1950 supporting the definition of the dogma, which the pope interpreted as the sign he was looking for. On November 1 of that year, Pius XII made the definition final with the encyclical “Munificentissimus Deus.”

The most interesting aspect of this doctrine is that it leaves open the question as to whether Mary actually died before being assumed into heaven. The public statements of John Paul II, while not authoritative on this point, indicated his own belief in the “mortalist” position – i.e., that Mary actually died before being assumed, body and soul, into heaven, thus leaving Catholics free to believe as they wish on this point.

Blessings, Fr. Bill Donahue