The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be celebrated Monday, December 9, 2024.  

There will be two Masses celebrated at Saint Paul on Monday, 9:00 AM and 7:00 PM. A Rosary Led by the Knights of Columbus will follow the 9:00 AM Mass.  

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, falls on Sunday this year which coincides with the Second Sunday of Advent. The USCCB has indicated Immaculate Conception will be celebrated Monday, December 9 and will be recognized as a holy day of obligation. To view the USCCB information Click here. 

In recent weeks, the obligation for the Holy Day has attracted much attention and comment, even to point of potentially misleading the faithful.  To ease the conscience of Catholics who are may have been subjected to misleading information, our Cardinal has written the following:

Dispensation - Cardinal Gregory has decreed that all Roman Catholics of the Archdiocese of Washington, no matter where they may be, and all other Roman Catholics actually present in the Archdiocese on the feast day, are dispensed from the obligation to attend Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Monday, December 9, 2024. 

Saint Paul will celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with two Masses on Monday, December 9, at 9:00 AM (Rosary led by the Knights of Columbus will follow) and 7:00 PM. We honor Mary because God favored her with a special grace (at the moment of her conception), and her decision to cooperate with it has blessed humankind.

Prayer on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
 
Father,
The image of the Virgin is found in your Church.
Mary had a faith that your Spirit prepared and a love that never knew sin,
for you kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception.
Trace in our actions the lines of her love, in our hearts her readiness of faith.
Prepare once again a world for your Son who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen