A blog article at Christian Century ("Against Passion Sunday") in 2011 prompted a variety of responses to the current practice of celebrating the last Sunday in Lent as Palm/Passion Sunday.
Many remember that these two events were not always part of the same day. Their memories are correct. Prior to Vatican II, it was typical practice to read a passion narrative on the Sunday prior, then celebrate Palm Sunday as a day in itself to kick off Holy Week. But beginning with the publication of the three year Roman Catholic lectionary in 1969, followed by the ecumenical three year lectionary and calendar projects that culminated in the Common Lectionary (1983) and the Revised Common Lectionary (1992), that changed.
Somehow, folks have gotten the notion that the primary reason this changed was a concern that persons may not be likely to come to services on Good Friday where they would hear the entire Passion narrative. Low turnout, it is thought, prompted "the lectionary people," for convenience sake, to put the Passion narrative into Palm Sunday as well so that more people would have a chance to hear it.
Given the variety of folks who seem to say this, apparently that story has gone viral in number of circles.
I'm one of "the lectionary people," the active United Methodist representative to the ecumenical Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) that created and continues to support the Revised Common Lectionary. Currently, I also serve as CCT's Chair.
As one of "the lectionary people," I can tell you that's not why those who came before me did what they did. Not at all.
Read more at this link.
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