Can I attend a non-local Tridentine mass instead of going to a local parish?

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I was skimming some online resources on EWTN at: ewtn.com/library/liturgy/liturind.HTM

And I ran into this:

Attending Mass at Other Parishes

It’s kind of vague, and I don’t quite understand. Can anyone clarify? Am I forced to attend my local parish for the Sunday obligation, even if I would rather attend the Tridentine mass at a different, further parish? The Latin mass is still being served within my diocese.

I wasn’t sure, but want to clairfy, because there seem to be some mistakes in the resource, such as at this link:
No. 51 of the circular letter states: “The washing of the feet of chosen men which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came ‘not to be served, but to serve.’ This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained.”
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About a year ago, however, the Holy See, while affirming that the men-only rule remains the norm, did permit a U.S. bishop to also wash women’s feet if he considered it pastorally necessary in specific cases. This permission was for a particular case and from a strictly legal point of view has no value outside the diocese in question.
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And I know for a fact that Pope Francis was perfectly fine with washing women’s feet.

Or are there no hard and fast rules concerning the EWTN resource I’m using, and shouldn’t be too concerned with observing it to the letter?
 
Your question is answered in your own link. Canon law is canon law.

Can. 1248 §1. 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.
 
Yes you can, but make sure it’s one approved by the Church (e.g. a diocesan priest, FSSP, ICKSP)
 
Thanks good to know. This is the part that confused me:
But this does not mean that they may be indifferent to the life of their local parishes. While speaking about the rights and duties of the faithful, canon law says:
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"Can. 209 §1. The Christian faithful, even in their own manner of acting, are always obliged to maintain communion with the Church.
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"§2. With great diligence they are to fulfill the duties which they owe to the universal Church and the particular church to which they belong according to the prescripts of the law.
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“Can. 210 All the Christian faithful must direct their efforts to lead a holy life and to promote the growth of the Church and its continual sanctification, according to their own condition.”
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While a detailed commentary on these canons is beyond the scope of this column, they do imply that Catholics should, as far as possible, strive to be in full communion with their local parishes and support their pastors.
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It sounded accusatory that in by no longer attending my local parish, I would be “indifferent.”
 
Ad_Orientem said:
Yes you can, but make sure it’s one approved by the Church (e.g. a diocesan priest, FSSP, ICKSP)
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I think technically, even the SSPX chapels fall under the approved EF Mass umbrella. The* Summorum Pontificum* provides that the EF can be celebrated by any priest without the local bishop’s permission. Couple that with the Remission of the Excommunication Latae Sententiae of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and this means that the priests of SSPX are validly (and licitly) ordained, and they have permission from the Holy See to celebrate the EF in their chapels. So the SSPX masses are both valid **and **licit.

A lot of this is explained on the Una Voce Website.

However, if the local Bishop provides for or makes available the EF under ordinary conditions, then you should go to the one provided by the Bishop (unless of course it’s a long ways away or otherwise difficult to get to).
 
10thCrusader said:
I think technically, even the SSPX chapels fall under the approved EF Mass umbrella. The* Summorum Pontificum* provides that the EF can be celebrated by any priest without the local bishop’s permission. Couple that with the Remission of the Excommunication Latae Sententiae of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and this means that the priests of SSPX are validly (and licitly) ordained, and they have permission from the Holy See to celebrate the EF in their chapels. So the SSPX masses are both valid **and **licit.

A lot of this is explained on the Una Voce Website.

However, if the local Bishop provides for or makes available the EF under ordinary conditions, then you should go to the one provided by the Bishop (unless of course it’s a long ways away or otherwise difficult to get to).
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I cannot speak to the accuracy of your interpretation above, however, whether it is allowed or not, I would be very wary of going to a church that is not in full communion with the Holy See.
 
As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with going to a different parish. However, for me personally I would have to have very strong reason to do so. Part of going to mass is the offering and I think that we should support our local church through tithing whenever we can. It is our local parish that is doing the work in the area in which we live, and I believe that it is important to support them in that work if at all possible.
 
I always encourage people to attend their local parish because the friends they make their are their neighbors, go to same schools, etc.

However, no one is compelled to only attend their local parish. People do regularly go to Mass at other parishes for many reasons. If you are attached to the EF, you can attend that Mass regularly. As another poster said, I would ***strongly ***encourage you to only go to an EF approved by your bishop.
 
10thCrusader said:
I think technically, even the SSPX chapels fall under the approved EF Mass umbrella. The* Summorum Pontificum* provides that the EF can be celebrated by any priest without the local bishop’s permission. Couple that with the Remission of the Excommunication Latae Sententiae of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and this means that the priests of SSPX are validly (and licitly) ordained, and they have permission from the Holy See to celebrate the EF in their chapels. So the SSPX masses are both valid **and **licit.
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The excommunications of the bishops may have been lifted, but the priests remain suspended as per the same decree of remission. Therefore their Masses are valid, but illicit (because of the suspension) and their Confessions are invalid.
 
Sure you can; I highly recommend it.

My wife and I drive 30 miles each way (past at least 20 parishes in this historically Catholic state) to get to a tridentine Mass. We are fortunate that most of the parish drives at least 30 minutes to be there, so its made a thriving social hour after every Latin Mass so nobody misses out on the benefit of knowing everybody and their kids.

God bless.
 
porthos11 said:
The excommunications of the bishops may have been lifted, but the priests remain suspended as per the same decree of remission. Therefore their Masses are valid, but illicit (because of the suspension) and their Confessions are invalid.
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However, the Summorum Pontificum and following letters of instruction say you can fulfill your Sunday obligation by attending a SSPX Mass, if the EF Mass is not provided otherwise in your diocese.
 
minion said:
I was skimming some online resources on EWTN at: ewtn.com/library/liturgy/liturind.HTM

And I ran into this:

Attending Mass at Other Parishes

It’s kind of vague, and I don’t quite understand. Can anyone clarify? Am I forced to attend my local parish for the Sunday obligation, even if I would rather attend the Tridentine mass at a different, further parish? The Latin mass is still being served within my diocese.
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You are not required to attend Mass in your local parish, or even your local diocese for that matter. So long as it is a valid Catholic Mass (in either OF or EF form) and it is in a church that is in full Communion with Rome (e.g. not an SSPX etc.) then that fulfills your obligation.

You are perfectly entitled to attend a Tridentine Mass in a parish (or diocese) other than the one you live in. It still fulfills your Sunday obligation.
 
10thCrusader said:
However, the Summorum Pontificum and following letters of instruction say you can fulfill your Sunday obligation by attending a SSPX Mass, if the EF Mass is not provided otherwise in your diocese.
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Are you sure about that. I would have thought that if there was any form of mass (EF or OF) that you could attend in your diocese then you would be obliged to attend that before an SSPX Mass.

We are one Catholic Church, we are neither EF Catholics or OF Catholics, we are Catholics. Even if someone prefers attending the EF Mass, I would have thought that the fact that there were only OF Masses in the diocese, it would not be viewed that the person had no choice but to attend an SSPX Mass. Their Sunday obligation could easily be fulfilled by attending an OF Mass in a local Roman Catholic church.
 
Brendan_64 said:
Are you sure about that. I would have thought that if there was any form of mass (EF or OF) that you could attend in your diocese then you would be obliged to attend that before an SSPX Mass.

We are one Catholic Church, we are neither EF Catholics or OF Catholics, we are Catholics. Even if someone prefers attending the EF Mass, I would have thought that the fact that there were only OF Masses in the diocese, it would not be viewed that the person had no choice but to attend an SSPX Mass. Their Sunday obligation could easily be fulfilled by attending an OF Mass in a local Roman Catholic church.
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A few years ago Fr. Z’s blog showed a scanned copy of a letter from the Pontifical Council Ecclesia Dei saying that a Catholic could assist at an SSPX chapel if a) they had no access to a lict TLM, and b) if their motivation was solely love for the old Mass and not ill-will towards the hierarchy. I wish I could still find that post, I’d post it here.
 
Rich_C said:
A few years ago Fr. Z’s blog showed a scanned copy of a letter from the Pontifical Council Ecclesia Dei saying that a Catholic could assist at an SSPX chapel if a) they had no access to a lict TLM, and b) if their motivation was solely love for the old Mass and not ill-will towards the hierarchy. I wish I could still find that post, I’d post it here.
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Yes, but being allowed to assist at an SSPX Mass does not mean that it fulfills their Sunday obligation. I would interpret as meaning that they could do so in addition to fulfilling their Sunday obligation at an available OF Mass in a Roman Catholic Church.

Unless the letter specifically states that attendance at an SSPX Mass in those circumstances fulfills a person’s Sunday obligation, it cannot be assumed that attendance at an SSPX (even if allowed) does fulfill the Sunday obligation.

It would certainly seem quite strange that an SSPX Mass (which is illicit) could be viewed as fulfilling a person’s Sunday obligation except in extreme circumstances where there was no other choice. Since there are not two separate types of Roman Catholic (i.e. EF Catholics and OF Catholics) then it would be assumed that a licit Mass in either form in the diocese (or in neighbouring dioceses, if geographically nearby) would be expected.

We are one Church and an attitude of “I would rather attend an illicit EF Mass by a schismatic organisation than attend an OF Mass in my own diocese” is very divisive and disloyal, and not one that I would have expected Rome to endorse.
 
Brendan_64 said:
Yes, but being allowed to assist at an SSPX Mass does not mean that it fulfills their Sunday obligation. I would interpret as meaning that they could do so in addition to fulfilling their Sunday obligation at an available OF Mass in a Roman Catholic Church.

Unless the letter specifically states that attendance at an SSPX Mass in those circumstances fulfills a person’s Sunday obligation, it cannot be assumed that attendance at an SSPX (even if allowed) does fulfill the Sunday obligation.

It would certainly seem quite strange that an SSPX Mass (which is illicit) could be viewed as fulfilling a person’s Sunday obligation except in extreme circumstances where there was no other choice. Since there are not two separate types of Roman Catholic (i.e. EF Catholics and OF Catholics) then it would be assumed that a licit Mass in either form in the diocese (or in neighbouring dioceses, if geographically nearby) would be expected.

We are one Church and an attitude of “I would rather attend an illicit EF Mass by a schismatic organisation than attend an OF Mass in my own diocese” is very divisive and disloyal, and not one that I would have expected Rome to endorse.
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The mass is illicit from the perspective of those offering it, not from the perspective of those merely attending and recieving.
 
10thCrusader said:
On the Una Voce website I previously posted. Where is your reference that the SSPX is currently not licit for fulfilling the Sunday? (Post-Summorum Pontificum)
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Summorum Pontificum says nothing, zilch about SSPX Masses. Neither does Universae ecclesiae. As for Una Voce, they are a good, loyal federation obedient to the Church and her authority and the website you gave reflects that. There isn’t a single mention of SSPX Masses fulfilling one’s obligation or the licitness of their Masses.

As for my source on the liceity of SSPX Masses, the very same site has Pope Benedict’s letter, and in it is this sentence:

The remission of the excommunication was a measure taken in the field of ecclesiastical discipline: the individuals were freed from the burden of conscience constituted by the most serious of ecclesiastical penalties. This disciplinary level needs to be distinguished from the doctrinal level. The fact that the Society of Saint Pius X does not possess a canonical status in the Church is not, in the end, based on disciplinary but on doctrinal reasons. As long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church. There needs to be a distinction, then, between the disciplinary level, which deals with individuals as such, and the doctrinal level, at which ministry and institution are involved. In order to make this clear once again: until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and** its ministers – even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty – do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.**

unavoce.org/2009/03/20/benedict-xvis-letter-regarding-remmitting-excomm/

The bolded text makes it clear; that’s the very definition of “illicit.” And because confessions involve the power of jurisdiction, they can’t even validly absolve.

What the site does push for, and rightly so, are the FSSP for the FSSP are in good standing with the Church and you will be hard pressed to find better and holier priests around.
 
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