The answer to this question is to use java.util.Calendar.SUNDAY, java.util.Calendar.MONDAY, and so on:
import java.text.ParseException;
public class MainClass {
public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
java.util.Date today = new java.util.Date();
java.sql.Date date = new java.sql.Date(today.getTime());
java.util.GregorianCalendar cal = new java.util.GregorianCalendar();
cal.setTime(date);
System.out.println(cal.get(java.util.Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK));
}
}