Are we able to get dispensed from promises or vows?

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ResoluteSheep

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Awhile back I made a promise to God to give up a particular hobby

But now I’m having thoughts of returning to it but it won’t consume too much of my time
  1. Would this be considered a promise or vow?
  2. Is breaking promises or vows like this mortal sin?
  3. Are we able to be released from the promises or vows or are we bound by it for life?
  4. Will God be disappointed if I break this promise or vow?
  5. When are promises or vows valid?
 
ResoluteSheep said:
Awhile back I made a promise to God to give up a particular hobby

But now I’m having thoughts of returning to it but it won’t consume too much of my time
  1. Would this be considered a promise or vow?
  2. Is breaking promises or vows like this mortal sin?
  3. Are we able to be released from the promises or vows or are we bound by it for life?
  4. Will God be disappointed if I break this promise or vow?
  5. When are promises or vows valid?
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  1. A vow is a free promise made to God for the sake of some higher good, given that there was sufficient deliberation. So presuming the hobby you gave up wasn’t something like giving alms or praying the rosary, and you didn’t make the promise on a whim or in some fit of piety (with more serious matters requiring even more deliberation), and nobody was coercing you, then it is really a vow.
  2. Fulfilling a vow is a serious obligation of religion. Intentionally violating it, when you understand what you have done in making a vow (which it seems almost everyone does, unless perhaps it is an issue of despairing and not knowing there is a way to be dispensed), is mortal sin. It follows from the nature of a promise that it is binding, provided the work remains possible and no relevant circumstances are changed significantly (like if you vowed to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, but then you went bankrupt).
  3. Pastors and a few other people (your bishop, the pope, your superior if you are in religious life, etc.) are able to commute or dispense from private vows.
  4. Yes. Although you yourself are able to commute it (change it) to an equal or better work. (Canon 1197) But you would probably want guidance on that.
  5. It is “valid” when the conditions above are met.
Just speak to your pastor… Surely he will quickly dispense you. In the future, make resolutions to God rather than promises.
 
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