Sunday, Oct. 16, is to be celebrated "as a Day of Thanksgiving to God in all parishes, churches, shrines and chapels within the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois for the life, teaching and ministry of Blessed John Paul II." This is according to a decree by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki sent to parishes and religious institutions in the diocese during the first week of September.

According to the decree, pastors of souls, all others who play specific roles in the liturgy and the faithful are to celebrate the day in accord with the Decree on the Liturgical Observance of the Cult of Blessed John Paul II, Pope issued by the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on April 2, 2011. The decree from the congregation gave "Diocesan Bishops permission to allow the celebration of the Holy Mass of Thanksgiving to God for the gift of Blessed Pope John Paul II on the days and in the places of his choosing within the time of a year following his beatification ... ."

Bishop Paprocki's decree underlined the events that led to the celebration of this thanksgiving Mass. Among these included the fervent request of the faithful to "His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to raise his predecessor to the dignity of the altars," after his death, and "when after the appropriate investigations into his life and holiness were complete, the Holy See set the date for the beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II." The numerous "requests from the faithful requesting permission to celebrate" his memorial outside of the Vatican City State and Poland also accounts for the celebration.

In honor of the day of his election to the papacy, Oct. 16, 1978, Bishop Paprocki decreed Oct. 16, as the date for the thanksgiving Mass in the Springfield diocese. This Mass is to be "celebrated both on the evening of Oct. 15, 2011 at the anticipated Masses for Sunday and throughout the day of Oct. 16, 2011," the decree explained. Attached to the decree by the bishop were the specific prayers and readings to be used for the celebration, which will supersede the readings for what would otherwise be the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.