Is it ever ok to walk out of Mass?

[Oren]

I was at Mass this Saturday and we had a priest from out of town come to say Mass. In his homily he said the exact words ‘The Church is wrong.’ He was talking about when St. Paul said that there is no male or female anymore and he said, the Church has gotten this wrong, the Church is wrong. I suspect he was talking about women priests, but he never came out and said that. But by just hearing him say in a homily that the Church is wrong, I wanted to walk out. I did not walk out. I didn’t receive communion though and I don’t know if that was the wrong thing to do either. So, would this be an instance where I was wrong in not receiving communion? Also, if I had walked out, would that have been wrong or ok?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

The only time we can justify walking out of Mass is if the Mass is not said by a priest with faculties. Such a Mass cannot, normally, fulfill our Sunday obligation (exceptional circumstances can lead to exceptions). But in the case of our local parish, it is generally assumed that the priest saying Mass has faculties to say Mass.

In the situation you present, the priest almost certainly has faculties. If he is saying what you think he is saying then he is gravely wrong, however, the Mass itself is still valid and fulfills your Sunday obligation. The Eucharist is still the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ so by abstaining you are only depriving yourself of that grace.

You might want to ask him what he meant by his comments. If he is indeed preaching things contrary to the Church teachings then you might want to find another Mass to attend just so that you can be assured of getting orthodox teachings…