Does 8am Saturday TLM fulfill Sunday obligation?

[SerraSemper]

Any kind of Mass (nuptial, funeral, Divine Liturgy, etc.) qualifies as satisfying the Sunday obligation on Saturday evening. Evening is not morning. Therefore, 8 am does not qualify. There is some debate as to whether “evening” begins at noon, 2, or 4pm. I tend to favor noon or 2. People mistake liturgical requirements (the rubrics governing the readings and other things pertaining to the Liturgy) for the requirements regarding the precept of the Church regarding Sunday observance. The precept is short and clear. Any Catholic Mass/Divine Liturgy suffices. Just don’t get caught by surprise as I once did by attending a wedding in an Eastern Catholic Rite on Sunday afternoon, thinking that it would be a Mass. Their wedding ceremonies are separate from Divine Liturgy.

 

[Corki]

Okay - I got it. But wouldn’t it be illicit to use random readings, rather than those for the lectionary? I think the defeats the spirit of what was intended.

Yes, it would be illicit. But our obligation is not dependent on the licity of the Mass. That is the responsibility of the presider - not the individual Catholic trying to fulfill his/her obligation. There are lots of illicit things that occur at Mass. But it still “counts” for Sunday obligation.

There is no rule that we must attend a properly said Mass or a good Mass. We just have to attend a Catholic Mass.

 

[dixieagle]

Yes it is. The Saturday evening mass is, in effect, the Sunday Mass which is why it fulfills the obligation. You cannot attend a mass which has Saturday’s readings and fulfil your obligation.

Refer to the previously cited Canon Law. Readings are irrelevant with regard to fulfilling the obligation; it baffles me why people persist in perpetuating this erroneous belief.

 

[dixieagle]

What a nightmare! I have never known a wedding take place later than 2pm. A wedding would not be a wedding without time for all the photographs, the 8-course lunch, speeches, cutting of the cake, dancing, supper, more dancing and final salutations to the couple as they drive off into the night!

Actually, a significant number of Catholic (and other) weddings down here in the South take place at 7 pm or later. The receptions tend to be of the “cocktail party” (drinks and numerous hors d’oeuvres) type, rather than the sit-down meal that I grew up with in New England, and are generally shorter in length.

 

[SMHW]

Refer to the previously cited Canon Law. Readings are irrelevant with regard to fulfilling the obligation; it baffles me why people persist in perpetuating this erroneous belief.

Because people don’t know the difference between “should” and “must”.

Some well-intentioned person will say that we “should” go to a Sunday Mass and hear the Sunday readings. Somehow this gets translated into, “We must hear the Sunday readings to fulfill our obligation”.

 

[runningdude]

The argument that has not been addressed and is rather vital to the question; since this a matter of the EF, as govern by SP, what were the ‘previous’ guidance on the matter before the Pauline Mass (OF)?

The obligation to attend mass between approximately 4:00PM Saturday evening and 11:59PM Sunday night is part of the 1983 Code of Canon law, and not part of the 1962 Missal used in the Extraordinary Form. The current Code of Canon law overrides any “previous guidance” issued. A Saturday morning mass does not fulfill the obligation enshrined in the current Canon Law.