Going to Mass With a Cold?

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Melodeonist

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I’ve been getting a cold for the past two days, and I don’t know if I should go to Mass. The cold’s not that bad, but I am coughing a good bit.

I also have work later. It would feel wrong to miss Mass but go to work. I honestly don’t want to miss work or Mass. I play music at the store I work at on Sunday as well, so I fear I would disappoint the customers. But then again, I don’t want to give anyone any “gifts”…

EDIT: Well, it turns out that they need me at work so I guess I’ll have to go to Mass.
 
If you are not so sick that can go to work and do things that you want to do, you can go to Mass. You can refrain from sharing a physical sign of peace and receiving from the cup to prevent the potential spread of germs. And make sure you have some tissues or a handkerchief, and maybe some cough drops, just in case. And no, they do not break the fast it you need them.
 
Two words…hand sanitizer! As long as you are not violently hacking and coughing, it should be ok…refrain from sharing the sign of peace and the wine as well.

Hope you fell better soon!
 
Melodeonist said:
I’ve been getting a cold for the past two days, and I don’t know if I should go to Mass. The cold’s not that bad, but I am coughing a good bit.

I also have work later. It would feel wrong to miss Mass but go to work. I honestly don’t want to miss work or Mass. I play music at the store I work at on Sunday as well, so I fear I would disappoint the customers. But then again, I don’t want to give anyone any “gifts”…

EDIT: Well, it turns out that they need me at work so I guess I’ll have to go to Mass.
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At the last Christmas vigil Mass at our parish, it was so crowded we ended up in the choir loft. A woman up there had a cold and was coughing. My husband shook hands with her during the Sign of Peace.

He came down with her cold and gave it to the rest of us. We had to reschedule my daughter’s bridal shower, and even though it was put on an alternate day, I was too sick to attend. My cold developed into pneumonia, and I ended up in the hospital for three days.

To make a long story short, I am still sick with pneumonia and have been told I most likely will be for the rest of the year. I am still on an antibiotic and two inhalers which I must take every day. I was sick at my daughter’s wedding, had to be escorted down the aisle slowly so I didn’t get out of breath.

Besides being sick for so long, this has cost us thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

I am begging you: if you think there is even a slight possibility you might be contagious, please stay home!!! My Spiritual Director once told me that if I so much as suspected I might be contagious, I was not to attend Mass. You are excused under that condition. Some people have compromised immune systems, and you could end up making someone very ill.
 
If you can go to work, you can go to Mass. In fact I’d say you should go to Mass, stay away from people as much as possible, and skip work. If you have a fever and a cough or something like that you should stay home from both places..
 
As others have said; if you can go to work, you can go to Mass; no excuse. Just refrain from offering your hand at the Sign of Peace & from receiving the Precious Blood. Just plain old common sense.
 
tawny said:
As others have said; if you can go to work, you can go to Mass; no excuse. Just refrain from offering your hand at the Sign of Peace & from receiving the Precious Blood. Just plain old common sense.
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This person also has a cough. A cold can be spread through a cough.
 
Kay_Cee said:
This person also has a cough. A cold can be spread through a cough.
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I quite agree. In a sense, going to work is irrelevant. What the ill person should ask is ‘Will I spread any germs by going to Mass?’. If the answer is yes, then they shouldn’t go to Mass, it’s as simple a that.

I sometimes think that going to Mass when ill is to avoid the pain of feeling guilty. That is to say, it’s verging on selfishness. What we should ask ourselves is ‘What is charity to our neighbour?’
 
Kay_Cee said:
This person also has a cough. A cold can be spread through a cough.
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In that case he shouldn’t go to work either and he shouldn’t go shopping. I caught a “cold” at a grocery store and was sick for three weeks. That person was obviously very sick. I don’t know how sick Melodeonist is or what he means by a cough. But if he is too sick to go to Mass he is too sick to go anyplace else.
 
paperwight said:
I quite agree. In a sense, going to work is irrelevant. What the ill person should ask is ‘Will I spread any germs by going to Mass?’. If the answer is yes, then they shouldn’t go to Mass, it’s as simple a that.

I sometimes think that going to Mass when ill is to avoid the pain of feeling guilty. That is to say, it’s verging on selfishness. What we should ask ourselves is ‘What is charity to our neighbour?’
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Yes! Thank you so much!

If that one person had stayed home from that Christmas vigil Mass, I wouldn’t be sick like this. As it is, I’m the one who ended up not being able to go to Mass for several weeks.

I realize a cold with a cough may seem like no big deal. Usually it isn’t, but it can be, and I am living proof. If I hadn’t gotten the right medical care, I most likely would have died–from someone going to Mass sick.
 
I sit in a corner, point to my throat, don’t sing or shake hands.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
I sit in a corner, point to my throat, don’t sing or shake hands.
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Exactly,. It has nothing to do with your plan to skip work on any given day.
And if you can go to work, you can go to Mass.
Sheesh.
 
I went to Mass shortly after making the OP. It turns out that my Boss called me and he actually asked if I wanted to stay home. I wanted to work, but I might as well relax so I get better. 🙂
 
I remember having bronchial problems from colds as a kid. As a result, I would cough my head off. It didn’t bother anybody, and my parents did not take it seriously at all. They just ignored it, figuring it would go away. I couldn’t help coughing constantly.

Now, at the church where I go there are a lot of elderly people. If anyone started coughing like I did back then, there would surely be an uproar. An usher would probably escort them out if too many complained.
 
Melodeonist said:
I’ve been getting a cold for the past two days, and I don’t know if I should go to Mass. The cold’s not that bad, but I am coughing a good bit.

I also have work later. It would feel wrong to miss Mass but go to work. I honestly don’t want to miss work or Mass. I play music at the store I work at on Sunday as well, so I fear I would disappoint the customers. But then again, I don’t want to give anyone any “gifts”…

EDIT: Well, it turns out that they need me at work so I guess I’ll have to go to Mass.
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Go to Mass.
 
I missed mass (several years ago)when I had a terrible cough…I felt guilty because it was Divine Mercy Sunday.

I would take tissues, hand sanitizer and do NOT do the sign of peace.
 
I think it is an act of charity to those around you to stay home from Mass when you have an active cold. My son has asthma and a small cold to someone else puts him through at least 3 nebulizer treatments a day. They are expensive and adversely effect his behavior. I can think of at least 2 separate times that our family changed where we were sitting before Mass because someone around us was coughing quite a bit and we could smell their sore throat lozenge or Vicks or whatever it was. Also think of people like my 80 year old grandmother who has a weak immune system, and not only the elderly but anyone going through chemotherapy.

I don’t know what is causing your cold, but viruses can live outside the body for up to 24 hours. Your hand into the water font. Your hand touching the pew in front of you when you kneel and stand up. Your hands touching the missallettes. And then others will come at a later Mass and touch all these same things. This is why my family & I don’t go to church when we’re sick, as a courtesy & charity to others.
 
If a person is sick and possibly contagious, please stay home from Mass.

At work, I can phone into meetings and avoid close contact with others. That’s not the case at Mass.
 
I don’t agree with the “if you can go to work, you can go to Mass” mentality. If you’re coughing frequently from a cold or flu and work in such a way that you’re isolated from people - like answering the phone or otherwise working at your own desk in a cubicle or not interacting with customers, then you may be able to go to work but shouldn’t go to Mass. I’m one of those people that have gotten sick from people in Mass coughing right behind me or next to me. So, no I don’t want someone else’s germs.
 
Kay_Cee said:
At the last Christmas vigil Mass at our parish, it was so crowded we ended up in the choir loft. A woman up there had a cold and was coughing. My husband shook hands with her during the Sign of Peace.

He came down with her cold and gave it to the rest of us. We had to reschedule my daughter’s bridal shower, and even though it was put on an alternate day, I was too sick to attend. My cold developed into pneumonia, and I ended up in the hospital for three days.

To make a long story short, I am still sick with pneumonia and have been told I most likely will be for the rest of the year. I am still on an antibiotic and two inhalers which I must take every day. I was sick at my daughter’s wedding, had to be escorted down the aisle slowly so I didn’t get out of breath.

Besides being sick for so long, this has cost us thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

I am begging you: if you think there is even a slight possibility you might be contagious, please stay home!!! My Spiritual Director once told me that if I so much as suspected I might be contagious, I was not to attend Mass. You are excused under that condition. Some people have compromised immune systems, and you could end up making someone very ill.
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I had pneumonia myself six years ago. I fully sympathize with your plight. I tell people “if you want to know what it feels like to be 95 years old, catch pneumonia”. After that experience I will never criticize someone using a handicapped parking spot that is not visibly handicapped. Walking from my car to a store when doing errands had me wheezing for breath, so I can understand that someone with compromised cardiac or lung function needs to park nearer to their destination even they don’t appear to be handicapped.

Your story is a reminder that not everyone has 100% perfect immune systems and react benignly to common germs.

Use judgement folks! Your cold may end up being your pew-mate’s pneumonia or worse.
 
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