Catholic Bishops to Vote on Attendance at Mass on Holy Days : Policy: A proposal would abolish the requirement that church members take part in services on most feast days.

U.S. Catholic bishops will vote next week on a highly sensitive proposal to abolish the requirement that church members attend Mass on most holy days of obligation, feast days that usually occur during the week.

The item will be on the agenda when the National Conference of Catholic Bishops holds its annual meeting here. The four-day conference opens Monday.

The church now observes six such holy days, and the proposals to be voted on could cut that number to two: Christmas and the feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on Dec. 8.

If bishops accept one of two proposals on holy days, they will essentially be recognizing that many Catholics have stopped attending church on most of the special feasts.

Although there are no national statistics, several dioceses that have begun keeping track of church attendance on holy days report that it is less than half of regular Sunday attendance, said Father Michael Walsh, the bishops’ top adviser on doctrinal and pastoral concerns.

Past studies have indicated that slightly under half of the church’s membership attends Mass on any Sunday.

Church officials in favor of a change contend that pressures of modern life have made it increasingly hard for people to keep up with religious obligations during the week.

Walsh stressed that the feast days will remain on the church calendar, and people will still be able to observe them by attending Mass. At the same time, some bishops feel “there is something untoward” about insisting that Catholics fulfill an “obligation” that is apparently so difficult, he said.

A survey released here by the bishops’ conference shows that most bishops are open to change on the issue. More than a third of the 200 bishops surveyed said they regularly dispense Catholics from holy day obligations when the feasts fall on Saturday or Monday, back to back with the also-obligatory Sunday Mass.

Nevertheless, some Catholics object to any change. Opponents accuse bishops of toying with tradition. They fear that the holy days, a feature of Catholic culture as distinctive as Lenten ashes on the forehead, will go the way of the former custom of abstaining from meat on Fridays.

A recent editorial in Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newspaper, urged bishops to retain the obligation, despite poor response.

“That U.S. Catholics feel so little compulsion to honor this obligation to worship on the major feast days of our faith is a disgrace,” the editorial said. “But the fatal attraction of solving the problem by banning the obligation is one the bishops should avoid.”

At least one organization--the Maryland-based St. Augustine Center--plans to stage a demonstration during the bishops’ meeting. Catholics United for the Faith, based in New Rochelle, N.Y., has sounded a holy days alarm by spreading word of the bishops’ possible action to parishes around the country.

Under a plan worked up by two church committees, the bishops will cast separate votes on whether to retain three holy days of obligation--Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1; feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15; and All Saints’ Day, Nov. 1.

A fourth religious feast, the Ascension, would be transferred to a Sunday.

An alternative proposal would end the holy day obligations when they fall on a Saturday or Monday, adopting a policy in place in many dioceses.

Any change will require approval by two-thirds of active U.S. bishops and confirmation by the Vatican.

Although the international Catholic Church calendar lists 10 holy days of obligation, the Vatican leaves decisions on which to observe up to national bishops’ conferences. In Canada, Catholics are obliged to observe two holy days; in Mexico, three.

At their meeting next week the bishops will also consider whether to approve:

* Guidelines for bishops who want to make greater use of lay preachers during Sunday Mass.

* A statement in response to Indian concerns surrounding the 500th anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus.

* A pastoral letter on children, which highlights the “economic, social and moral forces” that threaten children in this country and around the world.

* A document on the environment, which would represent the bishops’ formal entry into the environmental debate.