My daughter will be out-of-town at a sport event. I will do everything I am able to attend Mass with her but competition schedule and/or travel during Mass times may make it diffiicult. Is this a venial or mortal sin? Could a priest grant a dispensation?
To answer the title question, the primary objective should be to order your life around attending Mass and not ordering Mass attendance around your life. In other words, you should be wondering how to fit vacations and sporting events into the weekly Mass cycle and not wondering how to fit going to Mass into taking a vacation or going to a sporting event. If the focus is on Christ and his sacrifice on Calvary re-presented in time and space, then other concerns may be necessary but are strictly secondary and are scheduled around Mass times. But if the focus is on going to a sporting event or taking a vacation, then one begins to calculate if one can “get away with” not going to Mass on any given Sunday or holy day.
In any event, you can use MassTimes.org to find out where and when Mass will be available in the city you are visiting during your daughter’s sporting competition. If you are unable to find a Mass to go to while you are out of town, that is just reason to miss Mass on a Sunday or holy day; but I hope, for both your sake and your daughter’s sake, that you will take seriously the obligation to do your best to find a Mass to attend on Sunday, even if it means accepting some inconvenience to your travel plans.
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