Is missing Mass still a mortal sin?

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I have grown up believing that missing Mass on Sunday, deliberately or without a valid reason, is a mortal sin that must be confessed before receiving Communion. I have also always believed that if one dies in mortal sin they will go to Hell, so therefore if you miss Mass you should get to Confession as soon as possible. Am I right in these beliefs? Recently I moved to a new Parish and found it necessary to confess this sin. The first words from the priest’s mouth were, “You’re not scrupulous, are you?” I just said no but that I felt I needed to confess missing Mass before I return to Communion. He said that I shouldn’t let anything stop me from going to Communion and that, ‘we think a little differently on this subject now’. He said that Communion is what strengthens us against sinning and we should never exclude ourselves from it. I was so confused by this and I asked a very good and knowledgable Catholic friend about it and she said that she has heard the same thing and she believes the thinking has changed with regard to deliberately missing Mass being a mortal sin. If this is true then did I miss the Church’s official statement on this? Or was I simply wrong in my beliefs from the start? I should mention that I have been told that the priest in my new parish is very liberal. Confession does not seem to be encouraged either and there isn’t even a room set aside for it. He hears confessions in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel which is not closed off from the main body of the Church and so provides no privacy for penitents, which isn’t so much of a problem I suppose when there’s never anyone else there for Confession but *me.:confused: *
 
I never understood myself why Mass was a mortal sin until I became an adult and started missing often. NOW I understand why it’s a mortal sin because I felt so far away from God for so many years that I couldn’t find my way back. I believed and accepted the entire Catholic Faith, I never rejected any of it. But the longer I went without going to Mass, the harder it was to go at all even though deep down I wanted to go. This went on for almost 10 years of my life and my struggles were directly related to missing Mass in the first place. I am now struggling but getting to Mass every week, but it is HARD! You have no idea how much Satan tries to temp me on Sunday morning not to go.

So yes, missing Mass is a mortal sin and perhaps more serious than most Catholics realize.
 
Romani,
  1. Code: 
      Yes, missing Mass deliberately and without a serious reason is a mortal sin.
  2. Code: 
       Yes, mortal sins must be confessed and absolution received before one presents oneself for Communion.
  3. Code: 
       Yes, the Euacharist imparts amazing graces and strengthens us to resist sin.   Unfortunatey, we cannot receive the benefit of those graces unless we are in a state of grace and properly disposed to receive Communion.  (see 1 & 2 above)
  4. Code: 
        There is a certain breed of priest these days that seem to want to minimize sins when you bring them up in Confession.   This is not helpful in your spititual growth.   Try to find a more orthodox priest next time.   Hint:   if the priest EVER mentions Hell, Purgatory or Confession in a homily, he is worth a try.
P.S. You confessed, he absolved, your forgiven - no matter what he said in between. 🙂
 
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Romani:
He said that I shouldn’t let anything stop me from going to Communion and that, ‘we think a little differently on this subject now’.
Click to expand...
He may think a little differently on this subject now, but the Church does not. He is right that the Eucharist strengthens us against sin, but to receive it unworthily is the worst kind of sin. To alleviate any confusion, worthy reception of the Eucharist forgives venial sins, but not mortal sins. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 1394 and 1395.

You need to do three things:
  1. Get another confessor who will not confuse you as to what is sinful and what is not.
  2. Get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and start reading.
  3. Pray a lot for this priest and others like him.
God bless you!
Betsy
 
He of course is a priest and his absolutions are valid. I would suggest that you just quietly find another regular confessor and leave him in case of necessity.
 
Thanks, everyone. I hate it when priests give their personal opinions, especially in this Sacrament, because I love the Sacrament so much and when I go, all I’m really wanting to hear is what God requires of me and what the Church teaches. It gets really confusing when you have to sift through what they say to work out what God is saying and what is just their personal views. It must be especially confusing for new Catholics. My Catholic friend brought up the issue of never being able to understand why missing Mass was a mortal sin and said she doesn’t really see how it could be, but I told her that if that is what the Church teaches and we believe the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit, then we have to accept that this teaching comes from God, even if we don’t understand it or it doesn’t make sense to us. I don’t want to start making my own rules by picking out what I like or don’t like about Church teaching and even more importantly, the teaching of Scripture. (and believe me there are quite a few things in* there* which I’d like to see gone! I think that’s why I have such a big collection of Bibles - I keep hoping one of them will say something different!😃 ) I’d like to go to a different confessor but I’m stuck with this one, as I don’t have a car, unfortunately, to get to another parish. Just wondering still, if it still is a mortal sin, does that mean, as I said, that if I was to die before confessing it that I would, in fact go to Hell, or does the intention to confess it as soon as possible, eliminate that threat? Sorry! I just want to be clear on this whole issue.
Romani
 
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Romani:
Just wondering still, if it still is a mortal sin, does that mean, as I said, that if I was to die before confessing it that I would, in fact go to Hell, or does the intention to confess it as soon as possible, eliminate that threat? Sorry! I just want to be clear on this whole issue.
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Yes, it is still a mortal sin, covered under the Third Commandment. Now, remember, that a mortal sin requires 3 things: that the act be seriously wrong (missing Mass is seriously wrong), that you have full knowledge and understanding that it is wrong, and that you consent fully to committing the act. If you miss Mass because you’re sick, or the sidewalks are so icy that you can’t get there safely, or you’re taking care of a sick relative, or whatever other valid reason, there’s no sin. If you just skip it because it’s inconvenient or you don’t feel like it, or otherwise without a good reason, and you fully understand that it’s wrong, then you’ve committed a mortal sin. If you die before you repent, you go to hell. If you repent, make a sincere act of contrition and fully intend to confess the sin and then you die, you will not go to hell. Get to confession as soon as you can - this shows that you really mean it when you say you’re sorry.

Betsy
 
baltobetsy said:
He may think a little differently on this subject now, but the Church does not. He is right that the Eucharist strengthens us against sin, but to receive it unworthily is the worst kind of sin. To alleviate any confusion, worthy reception of the Eucharist forgives venial sins, but not mortal sins. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 1394 and 1395.

You need to do three things:
  1. Get another confessor who will not confuse you as to what is sinful and what is not.
  2. **Get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church ** and start reading.
  3. Pray a lot for this priest and others like him.
God bless you!
Betsy
Click to expand...

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is online. This online site has a search utility on it.

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

You can look at the Table of Contents, and from there click on the sections and pages that you want to read.

And you can type any word or phrase that you like in the text box on its home page, and it will bring up a list of the paragraphs in the Catechism where that word/phrase exists.

Or you can look up each paragraph number and then see what that one paragraph says.

Here’s the Table of Contents with Paragraph Number Ranges.

scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc2.htm

Those paragraphs, 1394 and 1395, are in the section for:

PART TWO - THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

SECTION TWO: THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE: THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

VI. The Pascal Banquet

I just did a search for paragraph 1394, and got this:

*1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins.231 By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him:

Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to be ourselves as crucified to the world. . . . Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and live for God.232 *

I just did a search for paragraph 1395, and got this:

*1395 By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church. *

God bless those folks at St. Charles Borromeo Church who put this site of the entire Catechism as well as the search engine up!!

:clapping: :dancing: :yup: :tiphat: :bounce:
 
Here’s a link to the Catechism for the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Hope this helps to answer your questions. It certainly IS the teaching of the Church on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession, Penance).

👍

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION​

PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

ARTICLE 4
**THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION **

scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c2a4.htm

😃
 
People really want to know the truth. I remember when we were doing Confirmation prep, one of the kids asked about this. He said he heard something about it in school, but wasn’t clear. We got out the Catechism and read & discussed the subject. He then looked me it the eye and said, “This is important. How come no one is telling us this stuff?” I’ll never forget it. —KCT
 
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