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mdgspencer
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This is taken from Fr. Kenneth Doyle’s question column at Can a Democrat be pro-life? / Missing Mass while traveling - Catholic San Francisco - San Francisco, CA
Q. Now is the time of year when I book a summer tour for my family. I always try for a place where I know there will be an accessible Saturday evening or Sunday Mass; although my intentions are good, sometimes I am not successful. We then go to Mass as soon as we can on the trip, or right away when we arrive home. Is it OK to go to Mass during the week to make up for an unintentional miss on Sunday? (Johnstown, Pennsylvania)
A. If this happens only rarely, I think you are fine, and I admire that you want to “catch up” by attending Mass later. But what I would do – if you foresee that Sunday Mass will not be possible – is to talk to a priest ahead of time and get a dispensation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that “the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor” (No. 2181).
Relaxation and recreation are legitimate needs, but the Eucharist happens to be the one specific way that Jesus asked us to keep his memory alive, so I wouldn’t use this permission too often.
When I was in the seminary, one of the world’s pre-eminent moral theologians was a Redemptorist priest named Father Francis Connell. He had been dean of theology at The Catholic University of America and served as a “peritus” (expert) at the Second Vatican Council.
In 1965, in a book called “More Answers to Today’s Moral Problems,” Father Connell responded to the same question you ask. His answer was that, in the circumstances you indicate, someone would be justified in missing Mass, perhaps once or twice a year. (But he also said, “Certainly a person would not be excused from attending Mass merely because the journey to church would take an hour by car.”)
Q. Now is the time of year when I book a summer tour for my family. I always try for a place where I know there will be an accessible Saturday evening or Sunday Mass; although my intentions are good, sometimes I am not successful. We then go to Mass as soon as we can on the trip, or right away when we arrive home. Is it OK to go to Mass during the week to make up for an unintentional miss on Sunday? (Johnstown, Pennsylvania)
A. If this happens only rarely, I think you are fine, and I admire that you want to “catch up” by attending Mass later. But what I would do – if you foresee that Sunday Mass will not be possible – is to talk to a priest ahead of time and get a dispensation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that “the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor” (No. 2181).
Relaxation and recreation are legitimate needs, but the Eucharist happens to be the one specific way that Jesus asked us to keep his memory alive, so I wouldn’t use this permission too often.
When I was in the seminary, one of the world’s pre-eminent moral theologians was a Redemptorist priest named Father Francis Connell. He had been dean of theology at The Catholic University of America and served as a “peritus” (expert) at the Second Vatican Council.
In 1965, in a book called “More Answers to Today’s Moral Problems,” Father Connell responded to the same question you ask. His answer was that, in the circumstances you indicate, someone would be justified in missing Mass, perhaps once or twice a year. (But he also said, “Certainly a person would not be excused from attending Mass merely because the journey to church would take an hour by car.”)
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