Catholic Authority and the Change From Sabbath to Sunday

The Catholic Church identifies the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday as a mark of its ecclesiastical power and authority to legislate in religious mattersEVRR475+1. This authority is not claimed to come from the Scriptures, but from the church’s own power to institute festivals and command them under penalty of sinEVRR475+2.

Official Statements and Catechisms

• A Doctrinal Catechism: Reverend Stephen Keenan’s catechism explains that the church could not have substituted Sunday for the seventh-day Sabbath—a change for which there is no Scriptural authority—if she did not possess the power to institute festivals of preceptEVRR475.

• Abridgment of Christian Doctrine: This work by Henry Tuberville states that the act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday is the very way to prove the church has the power to ordain feasts and command them under sinGC 448.1+1.

• The Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons: In 1895, the chancellor of the head of the Catholic Church in America confirmed that the act of changing the Sabbath is a mark of the church's ecclesiastical power and authorityEVRR475.

• Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today: Mgr. Segur asserts that it was the Catholic Church, by the authority of Jesus Christ, that transferred this rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrectionSBBS 477.2+1.

Tradition vs. Scripture

The church openly teaches that the Bible commands the observance of the seventh day and no otherAMS July 1, 1897, page 406.4+1. Because there is no "Thus saith the Lord" for Sunday observance, the church relies on its own "infallible authority" and tradition to justify the changeTTR 771.4+2.

• The Bible explicitly commands the sanctification of the seventh day Genesis 2:3+1.

• Jesus Christ Himself observed the seventh-day Sabbath as His custom Luke 4:16.

• His disciples continued to rest on the Sabbath day according to the commandment even after His death Luke 23:56.

• Despite this weight of Scripture, the church maintains that it has the right to amend the law of God and that Sunday is a "child of the papacy" nourished by the Christian world Daniel 7:257BC 910.4+1.

Implications for Protestants

Catholic writers point out that when Protestants observe Sunday, they are actually acknowledging the power of the Catholic Church to ordain feastsGC 448.1+1. By rejecting the "Bible Sabbath" for a day of the church’s creating, they are paying homage to the authority of the papacy, even if they do so in spite of themselves4SP 280.2+2. This change is cited as the highest evidence of the church’s authority over all Protestant bodiesChSa 166.2+1. It is cautioned that those who cling to this false sabbath once the light of truth has been revealed receive the mark of the beast Revelation 14:9-12Ev 235.2+1.