January First Not a Holy Day of Obligation?????

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 - Feast of Saint Genevieve

Whether you call January 1st the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord, or the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God , it is a Holy Day of Obligation..... or is it?

Someone recently told me that they were told, at a parish in California, that January 1st is no longer a HDO. What?!?! I thought the person heard the information incorrectly, and that what was really said was that it was not a HDO LAST year, since it fell on a Monday (because of the silly concession the USCCB made for us lazy Americans who think going to Mass two days in a row is much too difficult - the concession being "when January 1, August 15, November 1 fall on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to participate in Mass does not hold".) Sadly, that was not the case.

Apparently, for some reason, the bishops of California now have the option to make January 1st to NOT be a HDO. Or do they? How did they get the permission? I cannot find anything that says who gave the permission, why, or when.

Can anyone shed a light on this?

Here is some information I found:

http://www.adoremus.org/0302News.html#anchor3744804

What of Holy Days?

Many Catholics wonder what will happen to Holy Days of Obligation -- the few days of the liturgical year other than Sundays when Catholics are required to attend Mass. The obligation to attend Mass on New Year's Day was abrogated this year in the West Coast archdioceses of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

A November 30 communication to the priests of Los Angeles from Monsignor Terrance Fleming, the archdiocesan Moderator of the Curia/Vicar General, announced that Cardinal Roger Mahony was "dispensing parishioners in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from the obligation to attend mass on Tuesday, 1 January 2002, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which is normally a Holy Day
of Obligation".

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops lists January 1 as a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States. (The liturgical calendar is on the USCCB web site, liturgy section.)

According to the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar §55, "Only with the approval of the Apostolic See may a celebration be removed from the calendar or changed in rank".

The Los Angeles announcement to priests did not mention authorization from the Holy See for this change.

Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco also abrogated the January 1 Holy Day of obligation. Adoremus received several reports that bishops of other West Coast dioceses acted similarly.

For the past several years Catholics have been increasingly confused about the obligatory feasts - and whether they are to attend Mass on these feasts. Permission granted to US bishops to change the day of the celebration of the Feast of the Ascension to a Sunday, and to remove the obligation to attend Mass on All Saints and the Assumption if they fall on a Saturday or a Monday has contributed to confusion and misunderstanding.

The result has been to diminish the meaning and importance Catholics attach to the Church's obligatory celebrations.

And from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:
January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the
solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls
on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.

I did find information where the bishops were given permission to move Ascension Thursday to Sunday, but I cannot find permission for removing the HDO for January 1st.

Could someone please explain it?