In DPPL 19, the Church speaks of sacred places. A brief word on time:
20. The rhythm associated with the change from day to night, from one month to another, or of the seasons is often associated with various forms of popular piety. Such can also be true of particular days recalling joyous or tragic personal or community events. Above all, the “the feast days”, with their preparations for various religious manifestations, have contributed much in forging the traditions peculiar to a given community.
My sense is that for many in the US, secular events have taken over in the public consciousness, as well as personal anniversaries. I greeted a Dominican yesterday with “Happy Feast Day,” and she seemed surprised a lay person would be aware of it.
The full document, the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, is online at the Vatican site.
From RFK, two weeks before the assassination of MLK:
“Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”