So if I understand correctly, you are going to be out of town one weekend during August on a really brief vacation. Let’s leave your girlfriend out of this for the time being, because she is sort of irrelevant here (we’ll discuss her later)
I’m calling this a vacation because it’s different than having to go to a softball game in your town, or going fishing and wanting to leave early so that you can get them while they’re biting. It’s an
occasional thing that you are doing. Personally, I don’t see this as being any different than if you were to fly to the other side of the country for a week. Just a little bit shorter and a little bit quicker.
First of all, some people suggest you look up to see where there is a Mass nearby. That’s a really good idea. Let me throw in a couple of more resources:
- masstimes.org/
- There is an Android app for it too. (though I haven’t used it personally, it’s in the Play Store)
- There is also an iPhone app (and I don’t have an iPhone, so I have no idea if it works or not)
Let us say that there is not a Mass within a reasonable distance (don’t forget to include an Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy in that formula). Let us also say that there is not an Eastern Orthodox Liturgy (which is a valid celebration of the Eucharist…and it’s good if you can’t reach a Mass/Liturgy celebrated by a church in communion with the Holy Father, even though they won’t allow you to receive communion, chances are)
What is a reasonable distance/travel time? That is up to your conscience. Not up to me, not up to anybody else…including any other respondent on this thread. Think about this, though. The next time you go to confession…is it something that you would feel compelled to confess? If so, it’s not reasonable.
God does not ask us to do the impossible.
As a note: I was stationed on a mountaintop communications site in Turkey for a year. We did not have a Catholic chaplain there…less than 40 of us on site. Our support base, located down a treacherous mountain road about 2-4 hours away, only had a Catholic chaplain stationed there for 3 months out of my tour. The only other alternative was either the Vatican embassy or the Spanish embassy.
Is 2-4 hours doable? Well…when it was 4 hours, that meant there was a snowstorm. So, no, not doable. When it was 2 hours, still, it was tough. Did I make it? Occasionally. I’d have to reserve a truck, schedule a Turkish security guard – had to go through some pretty nasty areas to get to the support base, offer rides to anybody else who wanted to go down, park at the support base, get a cab to the Embassy, and hope to make it there all in time. And that is assuming I didn’t just come off of a mid-shift or scheduled to work either day shift or swing shift that day.
Did I feel guilty when I didn’t make it (which, in all candor, was most of the time)? No. Did I have reason to feel guilty? No. God doesn’t ask us to do the impossible.
As for your girlfriend…all I’m going to say is don’t put yourself in a near occasion of sin.
