My mom has the day off of work because she works with religious Catholics. I work at a public university and my lab does not have the day off. Also, I am a temporary hourly employee so any time I take off is time I don’t get paid, regardless of national or religious holidays. I can’t really afford to lose time/money because I am entering graduate school in the fall and I am trying to save up money/pay off credit cards before I get there.
So what do I do? Lose money I can’t afford to lose, or work on Good Friday?
I thought of going to an early mass and then working afterwards, to kind of balance both sides of it.
Thank you so much!
Per the Code of Canon Law:
Can. 1246 §1. Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints.
§2. With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.
Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.
Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.
You will note that Can. 1246 does not list Good Friday as a day of obligation. Therefore, there is no restriction whatsoever, regardless of your job, to observe the day as a day of obligation.
Having said that, though, you are not off the hook:
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, h
owever, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday.
Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Although there is no obligation to go to the Good Friday service or to take the day off from work, you are still obliged to abstain, fast, and devote yourself to prayer and works of charity on that day. A Christian is more than capable of doing that at work, in school, or other places.
Don’t get me wrong: if you are able to take that day off from work, that’s a good thing…better to devote yourself entirely to prayer and works of charity. However, it is not considered any type of obligation to take the day off from work.
Somebody responded that it wasn’t a sin to work on Sunday or Holy Days. I do not agree with that statement. Canon 1247 states that you are obliged not only to go to Mass but to abstain from unnecessary work on those days.
Please note that August 15th (Assumption), November 1st (All Saints) and December 8th (Immaculate Conception) are days of obligation in the US. And, if at all possible, you should make plans to take those days off (including, if money is an issue, setting aside a little bit each week so that it won’t be too much of a hardship when the day comes up).
The Commentary on the Code of Canon Law says: “Those whose livelihood requires them to work on holy days and/or Sundays are morally excused from the observance of the rest, but not necessarily from participation in the Mass.”
So the question is if you ask to take Aug 15th, Nov 1st, and Dec 8th off (assuming that they don’t fall on weekends…I don’t have a calendar handy), would your work require you to be present on those days? If you ask and your boss says “no,” then you would be excused from the requirement to rest. But if you don’t ask, are you truly required to work or are you just working because you want to work? There is a difference.
But none of that applies to Good Friday.
<–that is a “wink” emoticon, implying facetiousness… (I shouldn’t have to say that, but you never can tell)