Palm Sunday error

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, one of my very favorite days of the year. My youngest was born on Palm Sunday. Yes, I know, every year it's on a different day and sometimes his birthday falls on Easter or just a plain old Lenten weekday but it's still special to me!

Anyway, even though our procession into the church is super lame I still like the whole palm thing, singing "All Glory, Laud and Honor" and watching EVERYONE kneel during the Gospel.

Before I left for Mass yesterday I went online to find a tutorial on making palm crosses. I wanted to wow my little friend "J" who has become quite attached to me. She is about 10 years old and always comes to Mass with her uncle. She has a mom but I've not met her. In any case "J" was totally bug-eyed when I whipped that cross into shape. (Whipped...hmm...bad choice of words.)

Anyway, I found the article here and I also found this.

I found it curious that someone with a good Portugeuse name like Barboza would write an article with a glaring error regarding the length of Lent. He wrote, "For Catholics, the holy day marks the end of the solemn, 40-day season of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, in which worshipers remember Jesus' last supper and his crucifixion and culminate the observances by celebrating his resurrection on Easter Sunday."

Umm...no.

I emailed him and corrected him, pointing out that the Sundays of Lent are not counted in the total 40 days and that Lent ends on Thursday night when the shortest liturgical season, the Triduum, begins.

He actually emailed me back! He said he was going to look into it. Maybe I've planted a seed?

Anyway, I won't be resting on my laurels...or is that...palms?!

Have a happy and holy day, everyone!

+++

UPDATE: The writer of the article emailed me again and this is what he had to say....

I contacted the Diocese of Orange about this and they said that while technically, yes, Holy Week starts on Thursday, they thought it was too nitpicky to require a correction. For the general purposes of a feature story explaining the difference between Lent and Easter, they said it's fair to say Palm Sunday serves as a transition between the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, though it sounds like Lent does spill over a few days past Holy Week. I do appreciate your vigilance on this one--thanks for looking out.-Tony

Kudos to Tony for pursuing this and BOO! to the Diocese of Orange for fudging the Truth!