Late to Mass, Because of Ministry

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brian_custer said:
this not a topic that i want to obsess on

i just don’t understand showing up 20 or 25 minutes late for Mass that rarely goes over an hour long
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That I found sort of peculiar as well- especially as the OP drives an hour to get to the mass and an hour back after its over.
 
First - thanks for teaching RE!

May I rephrase your question: Can I choose to skip a third or half of mass every single week because I would prefer to go to the TLM over the Novus Ordo?

Umm no

Point 1: When you committed to be an RE teacher this year (and are you like a whole week in now?), you committed to being involved in that community. What are you going to tell your students when they realize you don’t go to mass? That you prefer a different mass an hour away even though you may miss a lot ?

Point 2: Regardless of whether you technically fulfill your Sunday obligation you will not be giving God the worship He is due. You will be rushing and stressed out.

Point 3: Pretty sure that church is going to look askance at you running in 20 minutes late every week.
 
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If you’re really determined to get there on time, I have no doubt you’ll find a way.
 
I don’t know about other parishes. But at ours, ten minutes late is the maximum. More than that and you may as well not go to that Mass.

If you’re teaching at one location, that is the Mass you should attend. If you want to attend a different Mass on Sundays in a location that’s an hour away, you’ll have to teach other days or perhaps change parishes in order to go to the Mass you prefer.

The occasional lateness can be overlooked. Being intentionally and habitually late on a weekly basis is bad form. You need to do some soul searching and decide which Sunday Mass is more important to you. If you want to attend Sunday Mass at both parishes, you’ll have to go to the Vigil Mass at one to fulfill the Sunday obligation and get up earlier on Sunday to make it on time to Mass in the other location.
 
If you are teaching religious education then you should go to mass at the place where you teach. How can you convince the children of the importance of going to mass on Sunday if you are going somewhere else? I believe that it is important for the children to be able to see you at at least one of the masses.
Another question, Is this Latin mass group in full communion with the Catholic Church?
 
I agree with @poche and was going to say the same thing. I think having your students see you practing at mass would be a wonderful thing, as well as support the parish at which you teach.
 
poche said:
How can you convince the children of the importance of going to mass on Sunday if you are going somewhere else?
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Good point, I may be piling on here, but I certainly agree.

I am sure that the OP tells his students that he attends mass an hour away if they ask, but they may or may not believe him. They may interpret the idea of weekly attendance at Mass as a “suggestion” to be adhered to particularly by children when they are preparing to receive sacraments.

Like when I was in Junior High, they’d lecture us on the evils of smoking and you’d see the Health Teacher smoking in the parking lot (this was considered “ok” in the early 1970’s when I was a kid).
 
Is the Latin Mass group you want to go to in full communion with the Catholic Church?
 
We have duties to ourselves, to others, and to God. God wants us to come to Mass, and the Church has declared that we have a Sunday obligation. Sometimes it’s appropriate to put our duty to others ahead of our duties to ourselves, but it’s never right to put either of those over our duty to God. If your ministry is making you late to Mass, you either need to start it after Mass, go to Mass on Saturday evening, or cease to participate in it.

It’s great that you’re engaged in ministry, but imagine showing up one day just to have those you minister to be delayed by 20 minutes every time. This is what the priest offering these TLM Masses must feel when you arrive late. They’re there to minister to you, but you’re always delayed.

Don’t let your ministry carve into your duty to God, which is to arrive to Mass on time.
 
The OP should definitely attend mass weekly in his parish.

When I was a kid in CCD classes back in the day, if the teacher explained that he attended every week in Wheeling (an hour from Pittsburgh) I would have doubts. Its not verifiable, a middle school kid wouldn’t even consider that kind of voluntary trip on a weekly basis.

Its about keeping credibility with a very skeptical audience. Remember that children are used to being told to do things (get in when the street lights go on, or go to bed at 10) that adults don’t do. They will think the same about mass attendance, if you don’t serve as an example.
 
Hi everyone, I’m surprised this was still posting.

Yes the TLM Church is in communion with Rome.

All good points about not being late. I’ll probably just go when we don’t have classes. I’ve been trying to go a year and finally went on a Saturday, it was beautiful, amazing, and I was awestruck. There was so much peace. I would much prefer going Sunday. I may just have to wait to go regularly next year.

Thank you.
 
Teaching the catechism involves sacrifice. I too like going to the TLM. But if going to the TLM interferes with my catechesis then it would please God more if you went to the Ordinary form of the mass w here the children can see you than to spend a lot of time at a mass far and away from the children. Part of teaching the catechism is the example that you give to the children.
 
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