Do I have to go to a Novus Ordo Mass on Sunday to fulfill my Ascension obligation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter hamburglar
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hamburglar

Guest
In my diocese, the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred from Thursday to the following Sunday (this upcoming Sunday). The parish I go to offered a TLM on Thursday, but I completely forgot about the Solemnity. If I go to the TLM on Sunday, the Mass offered will be the Mass of the Sunday after the Ascension whereas the Novus Ordo Masses in the diocese will celebrate the Ascension. If I go to the TLM celebration of the Sunday after the Ascension, does that fulfill my obligation for the Ascension?
 
I know this is a bit late, but you should really discuss this with a priest in your Diocese.
Simply telephone any local Catholic Rectory and ask to talk with a priest. If one is not available the Parish Office secretary should be able to accurately answer your question.
 
I believe in your diocese, the obligation was moved to Sunday. It doesn’t matter whether you normally attend an EF or an OF. Your obligation is to attend any Catholic Mass to fulfill your obligation on Sunday. It doesn’t matter whether the readings are for Ascension or within its Octave. That’s to the best of my knowledge.
 
Canon law is very clear that one’s obligation to assist at mass is satisfied by attending ANY “Catholic rite” on the holy day or on the preceding evening. In your diocese the holy day of obligation has been transferred from Thursday to Sunday. Thus your only obligation is to attend mass on Sunday. This obligation, as per canon law, can be satisfied at ANY Catholic rite… so whether you go to the Novus Ordo Ascension liturgy or the TLM “Sunday after the Ascension” liturgy or an Eastern liturgy celebrating something completely different, your obligation is fulfilled.

I will give you another example. December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, is in many places a holy day of obligation. If I am a Latin (Roman) Catholic who lives in a diocese in which this obligation applies, I must attend mass on either December 8 or on the evening of December 7. As a Catholic, however, I have the right to worship at any Catholic parish in any Catholic liturgy. If I happened to go to a Byzantine Catholic parish on December 8 and attended their divine liturgy, I would satisfy my obligation by assisting at mass in “a Catholic rite”, even if the texts of the liturgy at the Byzantine parish had nothing to do with the Immaculate Conception. (As it happens, the equivalent feast on the Byzantine Tradition, the feast of the Conception of St. Anne, is celebrated on December 9).
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.
Click to expand...
 
hamburglar said:
In my diocese, the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred from Thursday to the following Sunday (this upcoming Sunday). The parish I go to offered a TLM on Thursday, but I completely forgot about the Solemnity. If I go to the TLM on Sunday, the Mass offered will be the Mass of the Sunday after the Ascension whereas the Novus Ordo Masses in the diocese will celebrate the Ascension. If I go to the TLM celebration of the Sunday after the Ascension, does that fulfill my obligation for the Ascension?
Click to expand...
Simply put, there is no obligation. Your diocese transferred the Ascension to Sunday, which means the obligation for Thursday does not exist.

This is part of what makes the Ordinary Form the Ordinary Form: its Calendar is what governs matters of law such as obligations, not that of the Extraordinary Form.
 
porthos11 said:
This is part of what makes the Ordinary Form the Ordinary Form: its Calendar is what governs matters of law such as obligations, not that of the Extraordinary Form.
Click to expand...
Not so. Canon Law determines these things.
 
twf said:
Canon law is very clear that one’s obligation to assist at mass is satisfied by attending ANY “Catholic rite” on the holy day or on the preceding evening. In your diocese the holy day of obligation has been transferred from Thursday to Sunday. Thus your only obligation is to attend mass on Sunday. This obligation, as per canon law, can be satisfied at ANY Catholic rite… so whether you go to the Novus Ordo Ascension liturgy or the TLM “Sunday after the Ascension” liturgy or an Eastern liturgy celebrating something completely different, your obligation is fulfilled.

I will give you another example. December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, is in many places a holy day of obligation. If I am a Latin (Roman) Catholic who lives in a diocese in which this obligation applies, I must attend mass on either December 8 or on the evening of December 7. As a Catholic, however, I have the right to worship at any Catholic parish in any Catholic liturgy. If I happened to go to a Byzantine Catholic parish on December 8 and attended their divine liturgy, I would satisfy my obligation by assisting at mass in “a Catholic rite”, even if the texts of the liturgy at the Byzantine parish had nothing to do with the Immaculate Conception. (As it happens, the equivalent feast on the Byzantine Tradition, the feast of the Conception of St. Anne, is celebrated on December 9).
Click to expand...
Thank you, this is what I was thinking was the answer. This came up before when I went to a Solemn Requiem Mass on the evening of October 31 and was informed that I fulfilled my All Saints obligation by going to this Mass. If I understand correctly, a lay person’s obligation to attend Mass is fulfilled by going to any Catholic rite, but a priest’s obligation to say Mass is only fulfilled by celebrating the actual liturgy prescribed for that day. Thanks a bunch!
 
hamburglar said:
In my diocese, the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred from Thursday to the following Sunday (this upcoming Sunday). The parish I go to offered a TLM on Thursday, but I completely forgot about the Solemnity. If I go to the TLM on Sunday, the Mass offered will be the Mass of the Sunday after the Ascension whereas the Novus Ordo Masses in the diocese will celebrate the Ascension. If I go to the TLM celebration of the Sunday after the Ascension, does that fulfill my obligation for the Ascension?
Click to expand...
The obligation was transferred. That is, if you’re a Roman Catholic in the US, you have no ascension obligation for Thursday.

Even if you normally go to the TLM, it’s not a separate rite nor separate church sui iuris, so it has no separate obligations.
 
hamburglar said:
. If I understand correctly, a lay person’s obligation to attend Mass is fulfilled by going to any Catholic rite, but a priest’s obligation to say Mass is only fulfilled by celebrating the actual liturgy prescribed for that day. Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...
You don’t understand correctly. A priest is strongly encouraged, to celenbrate Mass on Sundays and holy days, according to canon law. However, he is not canonically obligated to do. Therefore, there is no requirement for a priest to celebrate a specific Mass on a specific day.
 
ProVobis said:
Not so. Canon Law determines these things.
Click to expand...
True. What canon law does not say, though, is when the Ascension falls for the purposes of obligation. In the EF, Ascension is always Thursday. In the OF, it may or may not be transferred depending on the diocese in which you live.

The answer to this is that if the diocese transferred the Ascension in the OF to the next Sunday, then there is no obligation on Thursday, even if one regularly attends the EF. This is what I meant when I said for the purposes of obligation, it’s the OF calendar that determines these things, not that of the EF.
 
porthos11 said:
In the EF, Ascension is always Thursday.
Click to expand...
I’m not too sure about this. A diocesan priest once mentioned that if the parish celebrates the EF only on Sunday the priest may have a little leeway. I wouldn’t be surprised if some EFs tomorrow actually follow the readings of Ascension Thursday instead of its Octave.

In any case your obligation is fulfilled regardless of which reading is used in the OF or EF.
 
I would advise that you talk to a priest about this. There might be a way for the Mass of the Extraordinary Form to count towards your obligations in the future. I could be wrong about that though.
 
Aramis said:
The obligation was transferred. That is, if you’re a Roman Catholic in the US, you have no ascension obligation for Thursday.

Even if you normally go to the TLM, it’s not a separate rite nor separate church sui iuris, so it has no separate obligations.
Click to expand...
That depends on the diocese in which one live. For me, the obligation for the Ascention is not transferred to Sunday. Ours was held Thrusday.

I live in CT.
 
ProVobis said:
I’m not too sure about this. A diocesan priest once mentioned that if the parish celebrates the EF only on Sunday the priest may have a little leeway. I wouldn’t be surprised if some EFs tomorrow actually follow the readings of Ascension Thursday instead of its Octave.

In any case your obligation is fulfilled regardless of which reading is used in the OF or EF.
Click to expand...
It’s called an External Solemnity and this is often practiced. In the EF, however, the 1st Class feast is never moved. It is always celebrated on Thursday, and if the priest so desires, can also celebrate the Mass for the Ascension on Sunday.

But yes, if your diocese moved the OF Ascension to Sunday, then there was no obligation on Thursday and one’s obligation is always fulfilled on Sunday regardless of what Mass is celebrated.
 
The FSSP priest used the Ascension Day readings at this afternoon’s EF Mass. FWIW, I wish he hadn’t but then I’m not the one who’s saying the Mass.
 
porthos11 said:
True. What canon law does not say, though, is when the Ascension falls for the purposes of obligation. In the EF, Ascension is always Thursday. In the OF, it may or may not be transferred depending on the diocese in which you live.
Click to expand...
My periodic traveling got me thinking about this.

**Scenario #1: **
In my home diocese the celebration of Ascension is transferred to Sunday. But what would be my obligation if I was on an out-of town trip that week, and unknowingly visiting in a diocese where the obligation had not been transferred?

My home parish announces Ascension will be celebrated the following Sunday.
On Monday morning I catch an airplane to another city (perhaps Boston, New York or Philadelphia), located in a diocese where Ascension is celebrated on Thursday.
I don’t go to mass on Thursday because I am unaware of the non-shift.
The following Sunday, before I get on the airplane to return home, I attend Sunday mass. But the readings are for the Sunday after Ascension. Oops.

Did I just commit a sin?

Scenario #2:
Some countries celebrate different Holy Days of Obligation than the United States. If I am planning to travel outside the US, do I have an obligation to check the local rules at my destination and find out whether they have a Holy Day of Obligation during my trip? (This came up in the opposite way when I was visiting Canada on Assumption and discovered the churches only offered daily mass.)

I am traveling outside the United States.
I am visiting England on June 29th, which is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and a Holy Day of Obligation in England.
The United States doesn’t list June 29th as a Holy Day of Obligation so I go about my ordinary business not thinking about attending mass.

Did I just commit a sin?

In both cases I am following the norms for attending mass as celebrated in my home parish, and in both cases if I were at home there would be no question of sin. But since I am visiting away from home am I obliged to follow the local rules at my destination?
 
Scenario 1: To the best of my knowledge, no.

Scenario 2: Also no.

AFAIK, the obligation to attend Mass other than Sunday is only applicable if (1) you live within a diocese which imposes the obligation AND (2) you are physically located in a diocese which has imposed the obligation on that day. Both conditions must hold.
 
Nan_S said:
My periodic traveling got me thinking about this.

**Scenario #1: **
In my home diocese the celebration of Ascension is transferred to Sunday. But what would be my obligation if I was on an out-of town trip that week, and unknowingly visiting in a diocese where the obligation had not been transferred?
[snip]

Scenario #2:
I am traveling outside the United States.
I am visiting England on June 29th, which is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and a Holy Day of Obligation in England.
The United States doesn’t list June 29th as a Holy Day of Obligation so I go about my ordinary business not thinking about attending mass.
Click to expand...
It depends upon how long you’re going to be travelling.

Quasi-domicile is obtained by either being present (intended or not) for 90 days, or upon arrival with intent to remain for 90+ days. (CIC 102 §2)

So, if you’re planning on a 4 month trip to Rome, you acquire quasi-domicile upon arrival; you are obligated from arrival to follow the local calendar…

But if you go for a week, and get stuck for 4 months due to an illness or legal issue, you only acquire quasi-domicile on day 90.

If you go for a week, but get a job offer and stay, you acquire quasi-domicile when you make the decision to be there for at least 90 days.

But, in any case, the culpability for this sin may be reduced by ignorance.

Also note: if you are not of the same rite as the local bishop, things get more complex. But that’s a digression for another day (and area of CAF).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top