Catholic mass on semester at sea

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annie3

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i am currently looking into a program called semester at sea or sas. sas is a program where you take 4 months out of your traditional school year to to travel on a ship all over the world while still learning what you need to. it’s basically a method of traveling abroad. i’m super interested in it but i don’t know if i’m able to do it because they don’t have a way for me to attend mass. we are not going to be at port every sunday and there’s no priest or church on the ship. what should i do? if anyone knows more about sas than me please tell me what to do. help!
 
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Not even considering Church, how are you going to take classes? There can’t be professors on the ship?
 
there are actually professors on ship. you have classes every day unless you are docking at a new port. it is a full learning experience. they teach anywhere they can find a suitable amount of chairs aboard the ship. students have homework everyday.
 
Very interesting, never heard of such a thing. The fact that you can also do study abroad where mass would also be offered though, makes this a non-starter choice. In other words, you want to study off campus and you can do so while attending mass so don’t chose the option where you can’t.
 
annie3 said:
what should i do?
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Well two things.

First understand that when there is no mass available, there is no obligation. You may go in this semester at sea and if you can attend mass in a port, great. If you are not in port, you cannot do the impossible.

Second, talk to your own pastor about it if you have concerns. Because you are likely to get some really ridiculous responses on this thread that are not in line with Church teaching.
 
Dolphin said:
The fact that you can also do study abroad where mass would also be offered though, makes this a non-starter choice.
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No, it doesn’t.

This is NOT Catholic teaching. Don’t put burdens on a person that the Church does not.

@edward_george1 please comment if you have time.
 
1ke said:
First understand that when there is no mass available, there is no obligation. You may go in this semester at sea and if you can attend mass in a port, great. If you are not in port, you cannot do the impossible.
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This is very true. But this also could be used as justification to say that you can go on vacation and skip mass because it’s vacation. If there is a mass available should be part of your decision. The “well no mass is available” is only a valid excuse if you are traveling and physically can’t make it or are sick. Not because you chose to go somewhere without a church, that was your choice and the obligation does not magically disappear. Nobody is forcing her to go on this ship where no mass is available.

Otherwise I might as well move to a city with no Catholic Churches because hey, since there is no church around I have no obligation to go to mass! Wrong - I chose to live in that city, it’s not as if I was born there and had no choice.
 
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Dolphin said:
Not because you chose to go somewhere without a church, that was your choice and the obligation does not magically disappear.
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This is simply NOT TRUE.

The Church does not restrict us from traveling to a location that does not have a mass available such as at sea or in a country where mass isn’t available.
 

“But if, through no fault of our own, we discover that there is no church, or that we’re unable to attend Mass at the scheduled time (for a good reason, and not, say, simply because we want to go swimming), then we haven’t deliberately violated this precept of the Church.”

She knew ahead of time, it wasn’t a surprise that there is no mass available. As such it is her fault as the article says. The obligation remains.
 
Dolphin said:
Otherwise I might as well move to a city with no Catholic Churches because hey, since there is no church around I have no obligation to go to mass!
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Sure. That is what you might do if you hate going to Mass. One would assume, though, that this isn’t the case (if so, you wouldn’t identify as a Catholic).

The information you are providing to OP is not Church teaching, at all.

OP…please check with the priest at your parish for further information and guidance.
 
Looked at their website. It is an expensive semester! As @1ke says, if there is no mass available, there is no obligation.
 
The Church does not obligate what is impossible.

You are free to attend the program; and when it is possible, you can attend Mass.

In port on a Sunday, for example. Also, many such ships will have some sort of worship available. I have run into priests on ships and we have offered Mass for some of the staff (which are often from traditionally Catholic countries).

While there may not be an official sort of worship schedule - there are often options that come up.

Deacon Christopher
 
In addition to the fact that your post is wrong on this issue and is not Catholic teaching, “Learn Religions” is not even a Catholic website. The two authors they identify on their website are a female Christian minister and a pagan. You should not be using this sketchy “Learn Religions” website as any sort of a reference to help anyone learn anything about Catholicism. It’s probably chock full of misinformation.
 
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thank you so much! it is really reassuring to get answers from actual deacons and ordained people.
 
annie3 said:
and there’s no priest or church on the ship.
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I will echo what Diacona 1ke and have said about the obligation. I would add that I spent a fair amount of time at sea when in the Marine Corps, and often no Catholic chaplain was available. In some instances we were able to organize a Catholic service of sorts (I am sure there is a technical name for it but I don’t recall it). Lay people read the readings and even read a “homily” provided by a priest (one of the chaplains?? not sure) As I recall (its been a while), at times we were able to have Communion, similar, I suppose, to EMHCs taking the Eucharist to a hospital or whatever.

Re-reading that, I realize its pretty vague, but my point is that perhaps your pastor, or some kind of Catholic chaplain with your school or program could point you to resources like those that we had in the military back in the day. If not, I would not eschew a valuable opportunity because of an (unfounded) concern about the obligation to attend Mass. Think of all the good Catholics in history that had to go without Mass at times to do great things (astronauts, explorers, etc).
 
TMC said:
Lay people read the readings and even read a “homily” provided by a priest (one of the chaplains?? not sure) As I recall (its been a while), at times we were able to have Communion, similar, I suppose, to EMHCs taking the Eucharist to a hospital or whatever.
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Word and Communion Service in Absence of a Priest 🙂
 
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