Explaining Sunday obligation to Protestant family

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I’m a disabled adult living with my Baptist parents. Mom is gracious enough to take me to the vigil Mass. Today, we had a sudden thunderstorm. I deferred the decision on whether it was safe to drive to her. Dad, however, told me to tell her not to go because church would be there next week. It ended up being a moot point because she decided that it wasn’t safe to drive, and the only place remotely close around here that has an evening Mass on Sunday is in an area she doesn’t feel safe to visit. But how can I explain that we have a different theology of church attendance where I can’t just decide that I don’t want to go one week and that is not a matter of feeling miserable or guilty if I don’t go?
 
Try to find a way to Mass. I would imagine there is someone at your parish who lives near you who would be happy to take you to Mass, or, perhaps your town has a disabled transport service. Call a cab or a uber.

I’d not make this a “hill to die on” with your parents. Your obligation does not exist if you have no way to get to Mass.
 
You can try to explain that you’re following the commandment to keep the Lord’s day holy. A Protestant might understand that better than explaining that the Catholic Church requires it.

In your case, however, where you are dependent on someone else for transportation your options are limited. I don’t know if it might be possible for you to call a taxi or Uber, or ask at your parish if someone could occasionally give you a ride, just to have some other options.

If it’s too dangerous to drive, that’s a completely good reason to m miss Mass. You don’t have to and should not endanger your life.

Finally, I hope you pray for and frequently thank your mother for taking you to Mass when it’s not her religion or perhaps even her desire to go. She’s going out of her way to accommodate you.
 
I know there’s no obligation in unsafe weather or when she can’t so I’m not sweating it. We live in a rural area so Uber/parishoner/etc aren’t an option. What I’m at a loss for is when Dad doesn’t seem to understand why I won’t just decide not to go and deferred to her or why I asked if it’d be ok if I still went to Mass after a birthday party (I felt obligated to ask but would have been fine with a no). He’s in church every time the doors are open but he doesn’t grasp and is somewhat contemptuous of the concept of mortal sin. Mom is ok with “I have to go unless there’s a good reason.”
 
Would it help to explain what it means to you to go to Mass? They’re not Catholic so they don’t necessarily care what the Church has to say. But they do care about you.

I don’t know what reasons for attending Mass are most important to you – that’s something you’ll need to think about. But what if you said something like “this is my opportunity to fill myself spiritually. I come together with other people to pray and worship God, I hear Jesus’ words in the gospel, and then I receive him in the Eucharist. Then I feel like I’m ready to face the challenges of the week. Without that, I feel empty and weak.”

Be honest about why it matters to you.
 
Talk about it as a love relationship. That’s why it matters to you.
For Catholics, the Eucharist is the “Source and Summit” of our Faith. When I receive the Eucharist, I am receiving Jesus Christ.
It is written in the Scriptures, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6.
The Mass stands outside of time. We partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the form of bread and wine. It is very much a matter of Faith for us as Catholics, one that many who Jesus speak of the necessity of “eating the Flesh of the Son of Man” could not accept.
We truly return to the Last Supper, to Calvary. It is not a new sacrifice, as some of our separated brothers and sisters believe. It is not symbolic.
I am strengthened by the Eucharist. Unlike normal food that becomes a part of who I am, when I partake of the Eucharist, I more fully become a part of Christ.
It is about more fully developing that intimate relationship that we all crave.
When I attend Mass, I am fed by both the words of Scripture, and by Christ Himself.
Anytime they want to join you, they are likewise invited, although they cannot partake of the Eucharist because of the lack of unity at this time.
 
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