Today is the feast of Ss Peter and Paul, one of Britain's few remaining holy days of obligation where attendance at Mass is compulsory – other than Sundays, of course.
Over the past few decades, bishops' conferences have reduced the number of these days, with major feasts such as Epiphany, the Ascension and Corpus Christi transferred to Sundays, in the hope of making Church life more convenient for the faithful.
"How many people really have time in our modern world to attend Mass on a weekday?" the bishops' thinking goes. "If we move the obligation to Sunday, more people will turn up, and will therefore be less likely to fall away from the faith."
