Do I need to confess to missing Mass when I wasn't Catholic?

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First off, I am glad you are trying to go to Mass!

But here is the point. Sin is an evil act, or an evil refusal to act. It is deliberate disobedience to God.

Not every act that is stupid, or a mistake, or which goes against wise advice, is a sin.

If you are having trouble motivating yourself to do things that are a good idea, you need to find other ways to do it besides telling yourself that things which are not sins, are sins.

Most of us have seen people get their minds and hearts tangled up when they thought a sin was okay to do. But it also messes people up to think something neutral is actually evil. We do not want that to happen to you!

Can you tell yourself to go to Mass in a more positive way? Like, “This is my job this morning” or “this is my quest to get friends”? Or “here is my plan to get to Mass, Lord, so please help me to follow my plan”?

Keep forming habits of virtue! We will pray for you!
 
I think you misunderstand @thistle. He only said that staying home and not availing yourself of the opportunity to meet people isn’t a sin, and it isn’t. Now if you stay home to engage in sinful behavior, that’s wrong. But a person can stay home and do good things. Someone can pray, read the Bible, prepare and consume a meal, do the laundry—any of a number of meritorious or at least morally neutral activities and not commit sin, even if doing so necessarily means he isn’t going out to interact with others. The choice isn’t only between “go out and be with other people” or “stay home and sin.” There are many other options.
 
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jesusmademe said:
Then staying home and sinning is ok?
You know nothing about my situation at all!
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Your profile says you are not yet a Catholic. That means you have no Mass obligation which means by staying at home you have not committed a sin by not going to Mass.
Only Catholics have a Mass obligation.
 
You are completely misunderstanding what people are telling you. By all means, go to Liturgy. But as you are not yet Catholic, you are not committing a sin by not going.
 
Pardon? When I replied to the OP the opening post had not been amended. My advice was appropriate as at that time it was not clear if the Op was a lapsed Catholic and under their priests advice were in RCIA, or only were baptised and otherwise did not know anything about the faith or any other pertinent info. So rather than give advice when all was not clear, I deemed it best to direct them to ask their questions to their priest or catechist.
Yet you come to the thread 5 DAYS after my post and see fit to label me and my post as neurotic. Did you not see 3 others liked the post you found so neurotic as well as a poster after me giving the similar advice ie to ask their priest.
Perhaps you’d like to reply to them and state their reply is also neurotic!
 
We don’t go to mass to see other people…that’s not the reason missing mass is a sin.
 
jesusmademe said:
But staying home when God is giving you opertunitues to meet friends and other people is a sin.
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No, it isn’t.

Staying home when you as a Catholic have an obligation to go to Mass is a sin against the third commandment of failing to meet the obligation.

Staying home when you have a social opportunity is NOT a sin against any commandment.

I don’t even understand where you would get something like that.
 
I did not attempt to label anyone neurotic. I wrote that to emancipate from neurosis. And that would be anyone, including myself. It is obvious from my post that only a person familiar could identify the state.
 
UpUpAndAway said:
Someone can pray, read the Bible, prepare and consume a meal, do the laundry—any of a number of meritorious or at least morally neutral activities and not commit sin, even if doing so necessarily means he isn’t going out to interact with others.
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I agree but this is just looking at the principles and not my situation
 
Your post was specifically in reply to my post.

And my post was simply - “That is something to ask your parish priest, or the catechist taking the RCIA class.”

To which you specifically replied with your opening statement of - “That is a neurotic thought.”

So even though you made this statement in direct reply to my post, I am to believe that you did not intend to imply, that in your opinion, I must be neurotic to advice a poster to speak to their parish priest or catechist … I fail to follow that logic.
 
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1ke said:
Staying home when you have a social opportunity is NOT a sin against any commandment.
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This is your opinion.
I cannot simply live my life as a loner. It is ok for some people to be loners but not me.
Again, you are talking about principles and not my situations.
 
Actually my neurotic comment was not related to your advice at all. It was to the thoughts and worries about missing mass under the circumstances. The idea mortal sin might come into play. So again, sorry if I was not clear. Thoughts should be of the fatted calf with a new Catholic.
 
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jesusmademe said:
I agree but this is just looking at the principles and not my situation
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I do not know the specifics of your situation and am responding in general.

You have made statements like “But staying home when God is giving you opertunitues to meet friends and other people is a sin” without specifying that you are talking only about yourself. We are responding in part so that other people reading this thread don’t think this erroneous, opinion-driven blanket statement applies to everybody everywhere in every situation.
jesusmademe said:
This is your opinion.
I cannot simply live my life as a loner. It is ok for some people to be loners but not me.
Again, you are talking about principles and not my situations.
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It is not a sin to be a loner. It may not be good for you, for me, or for someone else, but it’s not a sin.

You seem to see every action as either “good” or “sin.” Those aren’t the only categories that exist.
 
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jesusmademe said:
This is your opinion.
I cannot simply live my life as a loner. It is ok for some people to be loners but not me.
Again, you are talking about principles and not my situations.
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Nevertheless, it is not just an opinion – there is no commandment nor teaching of the Church that it is sinful to stay home rather than go out socially. If you end up sinning at home, the sin was not in the staying at home, but in whatever sinful behavior you chose to engage in.
 
So, let me get this straight: you go on CATHOLIC Answer Forums, presumably to get some CATHOLIC Answers to a question: is it a sin for a non-Catholic in RCIA to miss Mass on Sundays? When CATHOLICS on this forum this forum then unanimously tell you that NO it’s not a sin. Then you qualify the question a little and are still told that NO it’s not a sin. And then the CATHOLICS on the CATHOLIC Answers Forum are too legalistic? Give me a break and stop trolling this forum…
 
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