Going to church when you're sick?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kathrin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kathrin

Guest
Should you go to church when you’re sick?

How sick do you have to be to be excused from the obligation?

I’ve had a cold for a while, and now I also have a slight fever. I think I’ll be ok to go this weekend, I am asking just in case.
I went to work today too but missed out on daily mass because it would have been far away.

I am working on the weekend from 8 to 2. I will have to see how I feel; I am kind of needed.
If I feel well enough to go to work, or kind of can drag myself to work, but then tomorrow afternoon I don’t feel good, should go to mass if mass means going somewhere far away (in my town they only have a communion service this Saturday evening).
If I wait until Sunday to see if I feel better and go to a Sunday night service, those are even harder to reach.

Are there any rules? A priest once said to stay home so you don’t spreasd the germs. I WANT to go, but I wonder if I should if it means a long train and streetcar ride.

Or should a good Catholic stay home from work and save her strength for mass instead?

Kathrin
 
If you are not well you shouldn’t give what you have to others

You might only feel a bit sick but someone with delicate health could become very ill …If you are running a fever you need to watch mass on TV

Have som consideration for the elderly and those with health problems
 
Not all maladies are infectuous. There are probably a lot of other things to consider:
  1. The aforementioned probability of spreading germs.
  2. Whether one is truly in such physical pain or in a state of mental disassociation from the effects of the illness or medication to keep one from fully participating in the Mass or that might prevent others from doing so.
  3. Whether one would truly make the malady worse by exerting themselves in either getting there or participating.
Simply “not feeling good” or being tired is not a good reason.
 
redrosetea said:
If you are not well you shouldn’t give what you have to others

You might only feel a bit sick but someone with delicate health could become very ill …If you are running a fever you need to watch mass on TV

Have som consideration for the elderly and those with health problems
Click to expand...
Then I couldn’t go to work either… well no, maybe that’s different, I probably would have already given the germs to them long ago, I have had this cold since the beginning of the week, abouts.

If I feel really bad tomorrow I might call in sick though. That wouldn’t be too good though because one of my coworkers is even sicker… But I don’t think I could watch a mass on TV if I go to work.

I DO have consideration for the elderly and sick people though, I really do! I think about this a lot when I am sick. I even disinfect phone receivers after myself if I happen to have to use a public phone. I did that at work today too. I wash my hands a lot. I hold my breath when I am standing behind somebody elderly;) , things like that.

Maybe I could just sit by myself in a corner somewhere… provided I am feeling well enough to go.

Kathrin
 
The problem with deciding what we ought to do when we are sick is that being sick can cloud our judgment. Some of us tend to act a little too heroically and some of us tend to revert to children who want to stay in bed and be overly coddled.

So I suggest you think about what you would tell someone else who is exhibiting your symptoms. Would you want them in the same building as you? Would you tell someone like you to stay home? Would you tell them to go but stay in a back corner? Are you going to frighten people by being at Mass?

When I am sick but not so sick that I think I ought to stay home I usually try to attend a Mass that I expect not to be very crowded. That way I can sit far enough away from others that they don’t feel obligated to shake hands during the sign of peace and also so that I can inconspicuously sip from my water bottle when I feel a cough coming on.
 
I had just returned to church once after a bad bout of the flu…The woman behind me coughed and hacked the entire time

I really cringed at one point because I was fearful of contracting something else…I could hear her laughing…She never tried to explain if she suffered from asthma or allergies, but I was really afriad of getting sick again
 
SMHW said:
When I am sick but not so sick that I think I ought to stay home I usually try to attend a Mass that I expect not to be very crowded.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I thought that too.
The bishop says a mass in the area tomorrow night. I decided to definitely not go to that one…

Well, I guess I’ll just have to see how I feel tomorrow… and I also just realized that one Sunday night mass is quite easy to reach either. Maybe if I still have a fever tomorrow, I’ll be ok on Sunday. 🙂

But just generally speaking, it would be ok to stay home from mass because of a cold? Even if you went to work?

Kathrin
 
I have heard(maybe on these boards) it is acceptable to miss mass when you are sick as long as you don’t go out to go shopping, visit friends etc. later that day. It seems like a reasonable guideline. On a related topic, if one does go and they have to cough, cover your mouth with the inside of the elbow instead of your hand.🙂
 
nomie said:
I have heard(maybe on these boards) it is acceptable to miss mass when you are sick as long as you don’t go out to go shopping, visit friends etc. later that day. It seems like a reasonable guideline.
Click to expand...
See that’s what I mean 🤷 I was told at work that it was ok for me to come in (I called there too, because I wasn’t feeling good this morning, and was told it was ok, and that I could take breaks and stuff. That was nice.).

But that has not much to do with whether I am copntageous at church:shrug: .
 
I’m not sure I understand. If you are well enough to spend the day at work(with breaks etc.), I can’t see spending an hour or so at mass being a problem. If you are contagious at work then you would be contagious at mass too and that is not fair to either your co-workers or fellow parishoners. (I hope that does not come across as too mean:o )
 
nomie said:
I’m not sure I understand. If you are well enough to spend the day at work(with breaks etc.), I can’t see spending an hour or so at mass being a problem. If you are contagious at work then you would be contagious at mass too and that is not fair to either your co-workers or fellow parishoners. (I hope that does not come across as too mean:o )
Click to expand...
Ok I’ll try to explain… I called at work because I wasn’t feeling well this morning. I wasn’t feeling SO bad that I couldn’t mmake it to work. I was more worried about he germs.
My boss said that the people would have gotten the cold by now since I have had it for a while, which made sense. So I went to work. I wasn’t feeling all that great but ok enough.

I went to work because my boss gave me the ok, see what I mean? 🙂

Kathrin

p.s. And now I have to go to sleep…
 
Kathrin said:
Ok I’ll try to explain… I called at work because I wasn’t feeling well this morning. I wasn’t feeling SO bad that I couldn’t mmake it to work. I was more worried about he germs.
My boss said that the people would have gotten the cold by now since I have had it for a while, which made sense. So I went to work. I wasn’t feeling all that great but ok enough.

I went to work because my boss gave me the ok, see what I mean? 🙂

Kathrin

p.s. And now I have to go to sleep…
Click to expand...
I wonder if he polled the rest of the staff on that one…:rolleyes:
I also wonder how he or you know that this “it” you have is the same “it” you’ve had for “awhile”. One virus does not innoculate you against picking up another. (But, maybe you know why you’re having a relapse after all this time…) Would he have the same answer if you might be spending an extended period of time in close quarters with your best and oldest customer?

If you have a contagious disease, do whatever you have to not to spread it. Especially keep in mind that Mass is frequented by the very old, those in frail health, and those who are so young that everything goes into their mouths, including the pews. As bad as it is to give a bad bug to the people at work, it could be a lot worse to give it to that 85 year old lady who is usually so happy to see you sitting behind her at Mass. You could be keeping *her *from Mass and everything else she does for many weeks, even months.

a) If you have diarrhea or if there is any chance you’re going to need to throw up, stay home. If you haven’t kept food down for two meals in a row or can’t eat normal food, stay home then, too.

a) If you have a cough or runny nose so severe that it is going to be unavoidable that you will put an aersol of germs in the church, the kind that the other moms at a school wish your kid in the same school would stay home with, stay home!

c) If you have a lesser cough, cold, or upset stomach, you should still be double-sure to wash your hands and don’t touch anybody or anything if you don’t have to. If you keep your hands clean and dry, your chances of spreading disease via books is low, but if you use hand sanitizer, make sure you use a lot of it. If you don’t use enough to wet your hands with it for a few minutes of rubbing, it won’t do its job. (Do I have to say this? Bring more handkerchiefs or tissues than you think you’ll need, and take one of the seats closest to the bathroom.)

d) Stay especially far, far away from anybody who is very old, very young, or in frail health. This may just be a little sniffles to you. It may hit someone weaker than you are much more violently.

e) Be ready to leave in the middle of Mass, in case you realize that you are sicker than you thought.

If common-sense precautions like wiping and turning the chalice are observed, the CDC says that a common communion cup does not pose a siginificant risk of transmitting infectious disease. Nevertheless, may we also ask that people who have “non-contagious” coughing fits during Mass still refrain from receiving the Precious Blood?* Do not think that the people who witnessed your maybe-contagious affliction do not notice, or will assume that you must not be contagious, since you elected to receive. You know you got some dust down the wrong pipe. We don’t. Even if you make sure that you are the last to receive, if the Precious Blood is not entirely consumed, the EMHC or ordinary minister will have to go after you.

*****(I say “we” because I trust I am not alone in this request.)
 
PS Make it a habit to cough squarely onto your shoulder, not onto your hand or wrist. If you do cough onto your hand, wash your hands well before you do anything else, even if you had a tissue or handkerchief in the way. Nobody wants your disease.
 
24 hours fever free before going anywhere! Fevers are usually better in a.m. and then spike in evening–if you have a fever Saturday, don’t go to Mass on Sunday.
 
First of all, thank you for all your answers! And again I want to stress that I am somebody who is extremely cautious about washing her hands etc.

So. It is now Saturday morning and I am feeling a lot better, so of course I am going to work. No fever!🙂 I still have a bit of a stuffy nose and a cough though.

So would you say, don’t go tonight, but wait until Sunday night? Even if I don’t have a fever all day today?

The reasons why it would be better to go today:
  • I am afraid something might come up and I will miss mass tomorrow
  • There is this homeless girl I have been trying to help. I didn’t go see her yesterday when I was sick, and I am not sure yet about today, but on Sundays when almost all the stores here are closed it is hard for her to sit around in the cold until the shelter opens at 8pm. People tell me not to feel so responsible for her, especially since she does have some moeny to spend, to sit ina cafe or so, but she says she had cancer and needs to eat good food and so spends a lot on eating out - I am not totally sure that this is true, some things she says don’t make much sense, but I do understand that she needs to go inside somewhere sometimes.
    Anyway if I still feel a bit weakened on Sunday it might be a little much going to see her AND then to mass, after work.
  • My brother might come to visit with my parents on Sunday night so I don’t want to get hoem TOO late.
  • The churches that offer masses tonight are more familiar to me.
(And of course I can’t go tomorrow morning as I am also working from 8 to 2. This is necessary work, by the way. And that is also why I made sure to call before coming in, I work at a group home with mostly psychiatric patients but there are some old people too.)

Hm.
So now I feel halfway ok.
The cough I have had for almost a week.
Yesterday I had a fever.

Now all the replies have made me even more unsure somehow LOL:rolleyes: So if I go tonight, would that be incosniderate?
And just generally, even with just the sniffles and a cough, should you stay home?

Argh.

🤷

Kathrin
 
sniffles and cough, no big deal. if your fever were going to come back you probably would feel it by 3:00 or 4:00pm–so see how you are feeling in the afternoon and then decide. just sit to your self and don’t shake anyone’s hand at sign of peace–just smile and say peace be with you.
 
Well it is 3pm now and I really feel like going tonight; I feel ok, I can’t say for 100% sure I ahve no temperature but I really don’t think so! Just cloggy nose and cough still.

But now I am worried it might be a sin if I go LOL!

Kathrin
 
Well, guess what I did, I went home in between to take my temperature just to be 100% sure… it was ok so I went back out and went to mass.

The priest had a cold too… he even had other people give communion.

I think I was ok. I was a bit worried about the hymnal book, but then I put it wayyy down somewhere where it is not likely to be taken again until there is a very very crowded mass.🙂

And still feeling better.

And thanks.🙂

Kathrin
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top