Attending Mass at your local parish

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MelissaCaritas

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The 1917 Code of Canon Law required that the faithful attend Mass at their local parish. The 1983 Code seems to have dismissed that requirement: 1248 states that “A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.” My reading of this is that no matter which parish you go to, as long as it’s a valid, licit Mass, you have fulfilled your obligation.

This does not fully address the situation in which I find myself, nor does it satisfactorily answer the objections a friend of mine raised to a choice that I have made, and I want to examine whether or not my choice is correct.

My husband and I married a little over a year ago. We were married in my home parish, which is on the campus of the University that he and I attended. We do not currently live anywhere near that church, so attending Mass there regularly would be decidedly less convenient. We began attending Mass at his home parish, which happened to be the closest one to our current residence. After over a year, we are expecting our first child (hurray!) and are moving to a house that will better accommodate our growing family.

The new house is a bit further from our parish, but not so far as to be an unreasonable distance. We would like to continue to attend Mass there, as we very much like the pastors (three EXCELLENT, good, and holy priests, assisted by two or three wonderful deacons), the liturgy is spot-on as far as adherence to the norms, and we have begun to put down roots. Specifically, my husband has gotten involved with the Knights of Columbus and I have begun assisting as a lector.

The parish that would be, territorially, our local parish when we move, is in no way objectionable. There are no issues of liturgical abuse, theologically unsound homilies, or anything of that nature (well, there was one year that they substituted one of the readings for something St. Francis wrote…it was his feast day, and the pastor there is a Franciscan, but the lector should have been instructed NOT to announce “The Word of the Lord” at the end!). Aside from that one instance (that has not, to my knowledge, been repeated), we have no objections to attending Mass at this parish. We just LIKE our current one.

My friend believes that we have a duty to attend Mass at the local parish - he cites obedience to and respect for the Bishop as primary reasons. The two parishes are in different dioceses - we live in a very large metropolitan area.

My question is this - to what extent do we have an obligation to support our soon-to-be local parish, and participate in the life of the community there? To what extent is that obligation waived, due to our participation in the community life at our current parish? Do we have an obligation to have our child baptized in the new local parish? Can we in good conscience continue to attend our current parish? Is my friend making too big a deal of this?

Perspective appreciated.

Debbie
Tiber Swim Team, Class of '04
 
MelissaCaritas said:
The 1917 Code of Canon Law required that the faithful attend Mass at their local parish. The 1983 Code seems to have dismissed that requirement:
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I was around long before 1983, and that was definitely not my understanding of the rules in place before 1983, which were essentially what they are today.

Do you have a citation for this? I’d be very suprised if I was wrong.
 
The only reference I can cite is Patrick Coffin and Fr. John from this evening’s broadcast of Catholic Answers Live. Perhaps I misunderstood what I thought they told me?
 
Debbie

First, you have to understand how Catholic parishes work. A parish is a territory. It is all of the people living within a certain geographic area. Therefore, the parish where you are a member is the parish where you live. It doesn’t matter where you lived before, and it doesn’t matter what parish you “prefer” (whatever the reason). I can quote the relevant parts of canon law if you need them.

It also makes no difference where you happen to be “registered” because parish registration has absolutely nothing to do with parish membership. You are a member where you live, regardless of whether or not you’re registered there, or whether you’re registered somewhere else. I know you didn’t ask about this, but I bring it up because there’s a bit of misinformation that often gets posted here at CAF telling people to register at a parish of choice.

Since you’re newly married (congratulations!) it’s important to think about the future. Where you go to Mass today might not make all that much difference–and yes, you are free to attend Mass at any parish anytime you please–it becomes very important for such things as your future children’s (again, congratulations!) baptisms, First Holy Communions, etc. etc. You have a right to have your children baptised at your own proper parish (assuming everything else is in order), but you need your own pastor’s permission to have them at another parish. Baptism is just one example. My point is that by getting yourself too involved in a parish that’s not your own proper parish right away, you’re opening yourself up to a great deal of potential difficulties for the future. This is especially true because you mentioned that the parish where you will live (which will become your proper parish) is in a different diocese from the one where you currently attend (at the moment, that seems to be your proper parish, from what you write).

Yes, Catholics do have an obligation to support their parishes, but that’s really not the point at the moment. The point is that your parish is the parish where you live, not the parish that you happen to choose; unless of course, you decide on a house based on the parish.

The only exceptions to the above would be what the Church calls “personal parishes.” No, that doesn’t mean “someone’s private property” despite the name:). What it means is that the parish is determined by “persons” instead of territory. These are usually parishes established for a certain nationality, or parishes established for the Extraordinary Form (the “Latin Mass”), or the Anglican use. From what you’ve posted, these don’t seem to apply.

Just to reinforce what I wrote above. Keep in mind that if you attend a parish that is not your own proper parish, you are opening yourself up to many, many potential problems in the future–especially with a little one on the way.

No doubt, there are going to be some responses here suggesting that you ignore canon law and just do as you please. This question comes up fairly often. Before you consider their advice, ask yourself a simple question: When I encounter problems six months, or five years in the future because I followed the advice of some stranger on CAF, and ignored canon law, will that stranger be there to support me when I do have problems?

Edit: You may visit any Catholic parish anywhere. You’re always free to do this.
 
Kielbasi said:
I was around long before 1983, and that was definitely not my understanding of the rules in place before 1983, which were essentially what they are today.

Do you have a citation for this? I’d be very suprised if I was wrong.
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If memory serves, I think it was the Easter Duty that was supposed to be fulfilled at one’s proper parish, and the other pastor was supposed to inform the proper pastor that this was done, should there be any question about it. Not exactly an “everyday” sort of thing.
 
Thank you for your kind reply. I would love to see the references in Canon Law, if you please.

I’m not sure I understand what someone in my situation is supposed to do. We began attending Mass at our current parish with an eye to the future - we anticipated buying a house in that parish’s territory. And so we got involved.

Life happened, and now we are not going to be living in that territory…but we have ties to this parish. Are we supposed to just sever those ties and move on, just because we are moving somewhere we weren’t planning to move? What does that mean for the parish we’re moving to? Should we bother getting involved if we are going to be obligated to just chuck it all and start over at another parish if we move again?
 
Go where you are comfortable and where you are involved. If you are involved, you are active. If you are active, you will have no problems with baptisms, 1st communions, confirmations, etc.

I have never stepped foot into my geographic parish. I went to the parish where we were welcomed, met great people, had a very holy priest, got involved, etc. Our children went to that parish school. They each were baptized, had 1st communion there, and went through confirmation there. There were NEVER any issues, problems, questions, or concerns.
 
MelissaCaritas said:
Thank you for your kind reply. I would love to see the references in Canon Law, if you please.

I’m not sure I understand what someone in my situation is supposed to do. We began attending Mass at our current parish with an eye to the future - we anticipated buying a house in that parish’s territory. And so we got involved.

Life happened, and now we are not going to be living in that territory…but we have ties to this parish. Are we supposed to just sever those ties and move on, just because we are moving somewhere we weren’t planning to move? What does that mean for the parish we’re moving to? Should we bother getting involved if we are going to be obligated to just chuck it all and start over at another parish if we move again?
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The point is that your parish membership is the place where you live.

Did you register to vote for your current residence? Does your drivers license reflect your current address? How about tax returns, won’t these also change to reflect your new residence? What I mean by those questions is that whenever we move, there are many things that we have to either start over or make adjustments. If you move to a new parish, then that’s your actual, proper parish. It’s exactly the same thing that you will be living in a different municipality. You can’t claim residence in your old location just because you were attached to it.

Parish membership isn’t about emotions or attachment to one or the other. It’s about which parish territory you actually live. I’m not trying to sound “cold” here or unconcerned about your feelings, but the simple fact is that a parish is a territory because that’s how the Church defines a parish.

I’ll get back to this with the canons.
 
Wanted to add that we never had to get anyone’s permission to have everything done at our “out of geographic” parish. In fact, I never even knew which was our geographic parish until about 6’months ago. I’ve lived here for 20+ years!!
 
Here are a few examples.

I’ve posted some canons about pastors because keep in mind that when the Church says that you have certain rights with regard to pastors, that means your own proper pastor.

Can. 515 §1. A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.

Can. 518 As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.
Can. 519 The pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of the parish entrusted to him, exercising the pastoral care of the community committed to him under the authority of the diocesan bishop in whose ministry of Christ he has been called to share, so that for that same community he carries out the functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing, also with the cooperation of other presbyters or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of the Christian faithful, according to the norm of law.
Can. 102 §1. Domicile is acquired by that residence within the territory of a certain parish or at least of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there permanently unless called away or has been protracted for five complete years.

Can. 107 §1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor and ordinary.
Can. 212 §1. Conscious of their own responsibility, the Christian faithful are bound to follow with Christian obedience those things which the sacred pastors, inasmuch as they represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or establish as rulers of the Church.
§2. The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.
§3. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.
Can. 213 The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the sacraments.
Can. 529 §1. In order to fulfill his office diligently, a pastor is to strive to know the faithful entrusted to his care.
Therefore he is to visit families, sharing especially in the cares, anxieties, and griefs of the faithful, strengthening them in the Lord, and prudently correcting them if they are failing in certain areas. With generous love he is to help the sick, particularly those close to death, by refreshing them solicitously with the sacraments and commending their souls to God; with particular diligence he is to seek out the poor, the afflicted, the lonely, those exiled from their country, and similarly those weighed down by special difficulties. He is to work so that spouses and parents are supported in fulfilling their proper duties and is to foster growth of Christian life in the family.
Can. 530 The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:
1/ the administration of baptism;
2/ the administration of the sacrament of confirmation to those who are in danger of death, according to the norm of ⇒ can. 883, n. 3;
3/ the administration of Viaticum and of the anointing of the sick, without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 1003, §§2 and 3, and the imparting of the apostolic blessing;
4/ the assistance at marriages and the nuptial blessing;
5/ the performance of funeral rites;
6/ the blessing of the baptismal font at Easter time, the leading of processions outside the church, and solemn blessings outside the church;
7/ the more solemn eucharistic celebration on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
Can.* 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in the following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in cann. ⇒ 144, ⇒ 1112, §1, ⇒ 1116, and ⇒ 1127, §§1-2.

Can.* 1177 §1. A funeral for any deceased member of the faithful must generally be celebrated in his or her parish church.
§2. Any member of the faithful or those competent to take care of the funeral of a deceased member of the faithful are permitted to choose another church for the funeral rite with the consent of the person who governs it and after no-tification of the proper pastor of the deceased.
 
Catholic90 said:
Wanted to add that we never had to get anyone’s permission to have everything done at our “out of geographic” parish. In fact, I never even knew which was our geographic parish until about 6’months ago. I’ve lived here for 20+ years!!
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Stunning.

You are citing negligence and apathy in order to counter cannon law?
We just received permission from our parish priest to attend elsewhere and that is because a “parishioner” threatened me with death. (She’s nuts - but we take it seriously).

One would think it goes w/o saying that we avoid the knife wielding psychopath - but our Pastor did specifically give us permission to attend elsewhere adding that we be sure to still consider this parish as our “home parish”.

Think of it from a social perspective: if you attend church where you live, your kids will have classmates in your church; potential allies and friends. That is HUGE.

I could go on and on but I have to get the kids to bed.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Here are a few examples.

I’ve posted some canons about pastors because keep in mind that when the Church says that you have certain rights with regard to pastors, that means your own proper pastor…
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Isn’t there a canon law about using to much canon law?:confused:, just kidding. My only question is:
Is a territory by parish or by dioceses?

My local Church (2 miles away) has mainly Spanish masses so I have to go to one about 8 miles away in city traffic. Would I be ok?
 
Negligence??

How can one be negligent when one did not even knew something existed?

Going to our church has worked for us for 20+ years. I am certainly not going to switch now after 20 years though!!
 
I like to attend the numerous Catholic churches in my area, the mass is different. Some kneel some don’t in various Catholic churches. Some do sign of peace others don’t.
 
Father David, how do I find out what my geographic, proper parish is? Is there some kind of map on a diocesan website, or something where I can look up my location? Something like the way election districts are zoned out, which I gather is the type of thing you are referring to?

I ask, because I live out in the country. There is a parish in the nearby small town where I am registered (seven miles away,) and usually attend Mass on Sunday, unless I’m working (health care,) in which case I attend what I call the “last chance Mass” at a parish in the city where I work (thirty miles away, I have a long commute, and if I’m working on the weekend can’t make it to the vigil Mass on Saturdays at the parish where I’m registered.) Since the city parish also has late afternoon weekday Masses, as well as daily confession times and Eucharistic Adoration daily, in the afternoon, I go there frequently during the week, and actually “feel” (I know that’s a little nebulous,) most spiritually and emotionally connected with the clergy and some of the congregants there.

Geographically, the closest churches are an oratory (four miles away,) which does not always have Mass on Sunday, or a church in the next county (five miles away, still in the same diocese.) So it’s a little confusing to me.

I guess I’m somewhat a victim of what’s termed “urban sprawl.” It used to be so easy when I lived in New York City: There was a Catholic church pretty much within walking distance from whatever point you happened to be at!
 
FrDavid96 said:
Here are a few examples.

I’ve posted some canons about pastors because keep in mind that when the Church says that you have certain rights with regard to pastors, that means your own proper pastor…
Click to expand...
Isn’t there a canon law about using to much canon law?:confused:, just kidding. My only question is:
Is a territory by parish or by dioceses?

My local Church (2 miles away) has mainly Spanish masses so I have to go to one about 8 miles away in city traffic. Would I be ok?
 
odile53 said:
Father David, how do I find out what my geographic, proper parish is? Is there some kind of map on a diocesan website, or something where I can look up my location? Something like the way election districts are zoned out, which I gather is the type of thing you are referring to?

I ask, because I live out in the country. There is a parish in the nearby small town where I am registered (seven miles away,) and usually attend Mass on Sunday, unless I’m working (health care,) in which case I attend what I call the “last chance Mass” at a parish in the city where I work (thirty miles away, I have a long commute, and if I’m working on the weekend can’t make it to the vigil Mass on Saturdays at the parish where I’m registered.) Since the city parish also has late afternoon weekday Masses, as well as daily confession times and Eucharistic Adoration daily, in the afternoon, I go there frequently during the week, and actually “feel” (I know that’s a little nebulous,) most spiritually and emotionally connected with the clergy and some of the congregants there.

Geographically, the closest churches are an oratory (four miles away,) which does not always have Mass on Sunday, or a church in the next county (five miles away, still in the same diocese.) So it’s a little confusing to me.

I guess I’m somewhat a victim of what’s termed “urban sprawl.” It used to be so easy when I lived in New York City: There was a Catholic church pretty much within walking distance from whatever point you happened to be at!
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I would suggest either to call the office of your diocese or go their website to find out which parish you are in.

You are free to visit any parish you find convenient, but for Baptism, Confirmation, etc., it is required to be in your “territorial” parish, as Father provided in the Canon Law.
 
Sorry to sound harsh, but I am seeing the effects of people leaving the local parish for any number of reasons.

Put it this way: Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself. Not love whoever makes you feel happy and welcome.

It is a divisive tool to scatter the sheep. How can we know our neighbors if we are attending Mass elsewhere?

One example. There is a nasty mean old man that is sowing discord in our parish. He lurks on the front step of the parish before Mass glowering at everyone; and he goes from person to person complaining and spreading ugly gossip. Why must people be cowards and leave? If they only became more involved with parish life they would see he’s full of hot air.

Additionally, you can think of it like a marriage: if you feel like you always have an out, you never really try to make it work. Your local parish NEEDs you. If not you, then who? Do you really need to cave to the “unwelcoming people”?

If there’s something you like at another parish, why not try to bring that to yours. Just please don’t expect to make it happen overnight or w/o lots of prayer.

Good question - and thanks for the great response, FrDavid96; I’m going to share this with our parishioners. Maybe it will help. (Oh and please pray for our parish - it’s in a bad way).
 
Catholic90 said:
Negligence??

How can one be negligent when one did not even knew something existed?

Going to our church has worked for us for 20+ years. I am certainly not going to switch now after 20 years though!!
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My response was more directed at a bad situation at our parish than at you personally. - Still, I did/do find it a bit shocking that you *seem *to be thumbing your nose at a Father and at cannon law. 🤷 Perhaps I’m reading you wrong, lol, goodness knows I come across all wrong at times.

Also, don’t you think the parish where you were attending should have informed you of the other Church? That’s where the negligence and apathy come from. It’s sad that separate parishes don’t help each other out more.

I wonder how things will go for you if in another 20 years you find yourself homebound with a new generation of parishioners that have no idea who you are, and with priests that are overtaxed by their “own” parishioners. I just did a funeral for a woman who went through this sad state. It was horrible. The children were all adrift and lost as well. Pray for them.

Everyone has different needs and issues. See, I’m about pushed to my edge, but I know I would be abandoning my neighbors for selfish reasons if I didn’t try my hardest to make things work.

Boy - I sure hate to sound judgemental - Please forgive my shortcomings with lack of time and inability to express myself better.
 
ricofall said:
Isn’t there a canon law about using to much canon law?:confused:, just kidding. My only question is:
Is a territory by parish or by dioceses?

My local Church (2 miles away) has mainly Spanish masses so I have to go to one about 8 miles away in city traffic. Would I be ok?
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It’s a simple matter to get permission from your local Pastor.
It helps him know how he’s not meeting the needs of all his parishioners.
This may help countless other neighbors of yours.

Win-win-win situation that way.
 
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