Feast of Immaculate Conception | Church Holiday December 8, 2016

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Aside from Solemnity of Mary Mother God | New Year's Day (January 1) and The Nativity of the Lord | Christmas Day (December 25). Feast of Immaculate Conception (December 8) is one of the three CHURCH Holiday of Obligation in the Philippines.

In the Catholic Church, Holy Days of Obligation are the days as regards which the loyal are obliged to participate in the Mass. They have in addition to abstain from unnecessary works, "which hinder the wonder to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lords daylight, or the in the works to era-privileged relaxation of mind and body."

On September 27, 1985, Pope John Paul II approved and confirmed the Norms Approved by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines for the Local Implementation of Some Provisions of the New Code of Canon Law. The entire text of this document can be found in CBCP Monitor, Vol. VI No. 6 (November - December 1985), pp. 32 - 43. To this very day this document has not been overturned or abolished. This document says the following regarding Holy Days of Obligation (pp. 39-40):

Ironically, while December 8 (an official Holy Day of Obligation) is not an official holiday in the Philippines, November 1, All Saints' Day, which is not recognized by the Philippine hierarchy as a Holy Day of Obligation, is an official holiday. As a result many Filipinos go to church on November 1 in the belief that it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

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