Attending Mass only once a month as EF mass too far away

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shinytoy

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bros

i saw on another forum that alot of catholics who ONLY attend TLM sometimes only attend Mass on eg every Thursdays or only once a month on Sunday because they believe that the Novus Ordo mass is not a true mass, and their only parish TLM is once a month or too far away or not on sundays.

Therefore they think they are allowed to only attend mass once a month due to the ‘distance’ exception and obtain the spiritual communion.

what do you think of this? i’ve met quite alot of people like this who say ‘i ONLY attend TLM so we only go mass once a month on Friday since thats the ionly TLM we have in our parish’.

i love TLM but my nearest regular sunday one is 2 1/2 - 3 hours away one way. would it be ok if i attend mass on eg Mondays (there is a regular one nearby) or only attend mass monthly (there is one in my parish once a month)???
 
The Faithful are obliged to assist at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. We can fulfill this at any valid, licit Catholic Rite. Exceptions can be made for serious illness or extreme distance - but not because we prefer a different form than what’s available.

You’re welcome to go to the EF when it’s available - but you have to get to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, whether it’s EF, OF, Byzantine, or whatever Rite or Form in union with the Holy Father.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P4N.HTM
 
Our blessed Saviour sanctified Sunday by deigning to rise from the dead on that day. The Heavenly Father - of whom we know so little except by the same Saviour - glorified His Son on the day of the Sun. To go to Mass only on a Monday, and only once a month, is an egregious way of breaking the third commandment. God our Lord does not suggest we keep the Sabbath holy; He does not say it’s His opinion that we honour Him most fully on the day of the Sun, but it’s a command from the great white throne of light. The abyss of His virtue and wisdom is so great that we should never question His lawful and just commands.

Monday is not the day the Lord rose, nor Thursday or Friday. Sunday is the most sacred day of the week, the apogee of all. It is the mystical eighth day beyond time, full of joy and hope. Those who refuse to fulfill their obligation (due to the third commandment) just because they can’t “stand” the 1969 Mass are committing a grave injustice by refusing to honour God on His Day, and by disobeying His holy Church, which has made these changes for our edification. I suggest these people just suck it up. 😛

It isn’t that difficult to pray in silence during the Novus Ordo Mass! 😃
 
GloriousOrder said:
Our blessed Saviour sanctified Sunday by deigning to rise from the dead on that day. The Heavenly Father - of whom we know so little except by the same Saviour - glorified His Son on the day of the Sun. To go to Mass only on a Monday, and only once a month, is an egregious way of breaking the third commandment. God our Lord does not suggest we keep the Sabbath holy; He does not say it’s His opinion that we honour Him most fully on the day of the Sun, but it’s a command from the great white throne of light. The abyss of His virtue and wisdom is so great that we should never question His lawful and just commands.

Monday is not the day the Lord rose, nor Thursday or Friday. Sunday is the most sacred day of the week, the apogee of all. It is the mystical eighth day beyond time, full of joy and hope. Those who refuse to fulfill their obligation (due to the third commandment) just because they can’t “stand” the 1969 Mass are committing a grave injustice by refusing to honour God on His Day, and by disobeying His holy Church, which has made these changes for our edification. I suggest these people just suck it up. 😛

It isn’t that difficult to pray in silence during the Novus Ordo Mass! 😃
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let me assure you it is, with all the babies screaming, twangy guitar style ‘hymns’ like ‘shine Jesus shine’, and miniskirted yobs chatting and yawning.

but i heard many others only attending TLM and going against the obligation saying NO isnt a valid mass.

also something i cannot understand, the vast majority of regular TLMs in the UK are NOT on sundays. so i was wondering if it would be ok to attend a regular monday mass, if the intention is there that i would want to attend on a sunday? i saw on another forum some folks saying you can attend saturday or monday masses with the intention you are doing it for sunday and it would still be ok?
it doesnt help that public transport into the cities is like once an hour on sundays either.
 
We should obey Holy Mother Church, not make up our own religion.

Do people not bring their screaming babies to the TLM? From what I have seen in the TLM parish in our city, many of the parishioners have many babies and toddlers, and they are not always quiet.
 
They are wrong, and they are not meeting their obligation. They need to attend mass every week, whether they want to or not. We should pray that all such people attend more regularly, and meet their obligation.
 
To pretend that only the TLM is the proper Mass and the new form is unacceptable is objectively grave sin: the denial of the authority of the Holy Catholic Church. Subjective God is the judge.
 
Cat said:
We should obey Holy Mother Church, not make up our own religion.

Do people not bring their screaming babies to the TLM? From what I have seen in the TLM parish in our city, many of the parishioners have many babies and toddlers, and they are not always quiet.
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I’ve seen babies at TLM in Raleigh, generally they’ve been fewer in number and more quite. I think the people complaining about screaming babies must be post VII children like my self who never actually experienced the church of the past. Mass before Vatican II would certainly have been full of babies and toddlers, who are not always quite.

However on the otherside of the coin, people back in the day were better about disapline in general than we are today. i.e. parents back then wouldn’t tolarate noise in church today, where many parents today seem to think it’s ok if their child is screaming and jumping in the pew because “they’re just being kids, you should let kids be kids”… Except you should also begin teaching things like social graces, and reverence for the mass at an early age too.
 
Do these canon laws apply to you?
Can. 844 §2 Whenever necessity requires or a genuine spiritual advantage commends it, and provided the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, Christ’s faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a catholic minister, may lawfully receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
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Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.
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§2 If it is impossible to assist at a eucharistic celebration, either because no sacred minister is available or for some other grave reason, the faithful are strongly recommended to take part in a liturgy of the Word, if there be such in the parish church or some other sacred place, which is celebrated in accordance with the provisions laid down by the diocesan Bishop; or to spend an appropriate time in prayer, whether personally or as a family or, as occasion presents, in a group of families.
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Personally, what I would do is to check out ALL available Masses in the area. There are numerous Masses said at hospitals, nursing homes, etc. that usually welcome the outsiders. You might be able to avoid the more annoying people there.
 
There’s no “loophole” where attending a Mass on a day of the week can count for Sunday (unless it’s 4 or after on Saturday).

Some people may claim the N. O.is not valid…or not a true Mass…they are wrong. Holy Mother Church recognizes the validity of the N.O.

We cannot skip Sunday Mass because it annoys the heck out of us.

Opportunity to offer it up for the poor souls in purgatory.
 
The fact that “some people” or “other people” come up with a rationalization which spunds good to our fallen minds does not mean their argument has any foundation at all.

The rule of the Church is Mass on Sunday or vigil Mass Saturday evening. There is no exception for not liking that particular Mass–and that was explained to me by a traditional priest at confession before a TLM 3hours away from my home, because I had dkne just that.

If there is a vigil Mass (Sat. eve) near you, that one usually has the least number of noisy, screaming, crying future Catholics 😉
 
ProVobis said:
Do these canon laws apply to you?
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I guess I’m a little confused on the applicibility of these cannons to the subject matter of the thread.

i.e. mass being attended once monthing only, on thursday. These canons certainly don’t provide a provision for this behaviour. More over, even when one does attend say an E. Orthodox church in liu of a Catholic one it is typically only in the case no there being no catholic church available, or at least no Church with a pastor that isn’t a heretic, celebrating a heretic mass. Even then, it would be done with the permission of the local Orthodox Bishop, and preferablly having talked with the local Catholic bishop as well (so the problem can be fixed).
 
Cat said:
We should obey Holy Mother Church, not make up our own religion.

Do people not bring their screaming babies to the TLM? From what I have seen in the TLM parish in our city, many of the parishioners have many babies and toddlers, and they are not always quiet.
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Quite true. Our TLM mass has several families who bring small ones…I recall one particular Sunday when there was a couple of little ones somewhere in the back of Church who were just not going to be happy…

I refer to such as the “Children’s Extemporanious Screeching Choir”. We have them at our OF mass as well…😛

To the OP…As the others have said, the Church has two forms of mass. The Ordinary Form (OF or NO) and the Extraordinary form (EF or TLM). BOTH are valid forms of mass and should be held in equal esteem.
Personally rejecting one or the other and trying to make this an excuse for not attending weekly is a grave sin.

I understand that there can be problems with a local parish, and perhaps you need to look around at different parishes and different mass times. But please do not fall into this trap.

Peace
James
 
It’s not surprising some people use distance/effort as an explanation as to why they cannot attend mass. I recall a rabbi commenting on this very same issue with regards to Orthodox Judiasim and attendance. He strong recommendation is that if you live too far, you move! Matters of the spirit are to be taken very seriously according to him and I cannot help but agree. When I was recently contemplating a move, the first thing I did was see if a Church was near my intended home.
 
shinytoy said:
bros

i saw on another forum that alot of catholics who ONLY attend TLM sometimes only attend Mass on eg every Thursdays or only once a month on Sunday because they believe that the Novus Ordo mass is not a true mass, and their only parish TLM is once a month or too far away or not on sundays.

?
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If they believe the OF is not a “true mass” they cannot, in their logic, claim the TLM, EF or any other form is a true mass because they have rejected the authority of the Church, given by Christ and protected by the Holy Spirit, under whom the Mass is conducted and the Eucharist confected. They have voluntarily separated themselves from communion with the Catholic Church in so rejecting that authority and by rights should not be receiving communion at all until they confess the fault and are absolved. They moreover, if they claim to be informing their conscience according to “traditional” Catholic teaching, must acknowledge that they are in grave sin by missing Mass at all on Sundays and Holy Days.
 
While there is no “loophole” regarding the “obligation” to attend Mass, there is also the following:
Can. 1245 Without prejudice to the right of diocesan bishops mentioned in ⇒ can. 87, for a just cause and according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop, a pastor can grant in individual cases a dispensation from the obligation of observing a feast day or a day of penance or can grant a commutation of the obligation into other pious works. A superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life, if they are clerical and of pontifical right, can also do this in regard to his own subjects and others living in the house day and night.
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There are people who are very sensitive to their liturgical surroundings, and it could be argued that the distractions (noise, demeanor, behavior, etc) as mentioned by the OP present an danger to his/her spiritual life. In such case the provisions of the Canon 1245 could possibly be invoked. That said, an internet forum is not the place to make such a determination. If the situation is truly as onerous as portrayed, I would suggest that the OP sit down with his/her pastor and discuss the matter privately.
 
As said before, no exceptions. If you are concerned about noise, try finding an early morning Mass on Sundays. In the States, most parishes offer a 7 or 730 a.m. Sunday mass. Due to the time, there typically is no music (so no offensive guitar twangs) and few families with little ones there (having a brother with 5 kids, I’ve seen how much time it takes to get them ready for Church in the morning!), so it should be quiet, peaceful, and most of all, a licit mass, unless your TLM friends know something about the Catholic Mass that the Holy Father doesn’t…
 
malphono said:
While there is no “loophole” regarding the “obligation” to attend Mass, there is also the following:

There are people who are very sensitive to their liturgical surroundings, and it could be argued that the distractions (noise, demeanor, behavior, etc) as mentioned by the OP present an danger to his/her spiritual life. In such case the provisions of the Canon 1245 could possibly be invoked. That said, an internet forum is not the place to make such a determination. If the situation is truly as onerous as portrayed, I would suggest that the OP sit down with his/her pastor and discuss the matter privately.
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I agree with you that an internet forum is not the place for the OP to be discussing this issue, that it needs to be done with their priest.

I also understand that people can be very sensitvie to their liturgical surroundings.
However, what do you think it was like at Calvary? I am pretty sure it was not a quiet subdued, place. In fact, I imagine that it had to be one of the noisiest places around.
 
Mumbles140 said:
As said before, no exceptions. If you are concerned about noise, try finding an early morning Mass on Sundays. In the States, most parishes offer a 7 or 730 a.m. Sunday mass. Due to the time, there typically is no music (so no offensive guitar twangs) and few families with little ones there (having a brother with 5 kids, I’ve seen how much time it takes to get them ready for Church in the morning!), so it should be quiet, peaceful, and most of all, a licit mass, unless your TLM friends know something about the Catholic Mass that the Holy Father doesn’t…
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nope, my local parish has 9am (the loud babies one) 12 noon (the yobs one) or 7pm with the guitar chorus.
the next nearest parish (NO) is over an hour away.

hmmmm. i really wish i could attend say a thursday TLM instead of sunday NO. i mean yeah the Father said you shold honor the Sabbath. but like surely by faithfully attending the Mass once a week (Thurs) i would be better off than the vast majority of UK Christians who attend once a decade for weddings/funderals only once once a year for Xmas? i mean you cant say that i’d be just as damned. in anycase, online i read that the sabbath is actually a saturday.
 
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