Are you ever too old to attend Mass?

[Cercare]

My 84-year-old mother has been told that when you reach your golden years, you are excused from attending Sunday Mass. I told her that I’ve never heard of that and I always assumed that if you are physically able to attend Mass, are not sick, and you have no other valid reasons for missing Mass, you are obligated to attend Mass on Sunday (or Saturday night).

Does the Catholic Church excuse people from their Sunday Mass obligation based solely on their age?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Cercare:

Does the Catholic Church excuse people from their Sunday Mass obligation based solely on their age?

No. As you state, the Sunday obligation can be dispensed for just cause, which may include physical illness or an inability to go to Mass (e.g., no transportation), but there is no age limit on the Sunday obligation.

Perhaps there has been a confusion here of the Sunday obligation with the fasting obligations during Lent, for which there is an age limit after which the person is automatically dispensed. The Code of Canon Law states:

The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year.

Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance (canon 1252, emphasis added).