Mass Obligations for Catechists (RCIA)

[jmjZelie]

I asked Father this morning after Mass and he said yes, it is required. He was willing to give a dispensation since I have young children, but said ordinarily the obligation still needs to be satisfied.

(I appreciated the dispensation, though - as I said, I am willing, and it is possible, but very difficult.)

I only do it once or twice per year, so for us it is mostly doable. If we were asked to take on more than that, I’d likely quit volunteering for that aspect of RCIA until our family needs were different, because two Masses is hard on our family, especially if one parent is managing the kids alone for part or all of one of them.

I just wanted to repost pensmama’ response here, so that pianistclare understood what utah rose and I were talking about with this situation. Pastors have the authority to excuse members of their flock from an obligation in certain circumstances, this being one of the ones that regularly come up. There have been a couple of times where I was very thankful for the dispensation, because it freed me from worry about sin when I needed to miss Mass because of my duties.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

(volunteer RCIA and Sunday obligation)

To me, that says it all.

If you have to make a choice between volunteering or meeting your Sunday obligation, you meet your Sunday obligation.

 

[pianistclare]

No it is not a separate issue. The two issues are just intertwined, so that is why I and utah rose mentioned it.

We know that pensmama has several young children. She already has to arrange for childcare for those occasions when she volunteers with RCIA. On those weekends, she needs to go to another Mass because BOW requires her to be absent during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In order to fulfill her Mass obligation, she will need to again arrange for childcare or bring all her little ones along with her. Hopefully, with her husband’s help, it will always be possible. But parents who miss Mass due to care of infants are not sinning, because the Church already recognizes that this creates a sometimes unavoidable conflict. If a parent knows ahead of time that they will miss Mass because of care of a child, and they cannot arrange for suitable child care, they can also speak to their pastor. The pastor will sometimes give them a dispensation from the obligation for that Mass.

I brought this up to pensmama before and mentioned that IF this was one of her concerns about being able to be at the parish for two Mass times (volunteer RCIA and Sunday obligation) with managing children or arranging for childcare for so much time on a single weekend, to ask her pastor of he would want to give her a dispensation for the Sunday Mass obligation. She did ask and he did give her a dispensation. Of course, it is hoped that it all goes smoothly and she can do both BOW and Sunday Mass.

Does that all make sense now?

Please don’t talk to me like I’m clueless. I’m an RCIA Director and DRE.
I get it.

 

[jmjZelie]

Please don’t talk to me like I’m clueless. I’m an RCIA Director and DRE.
I get it.

Pardon me. Have I offended you? I was not speaking to you from a perspective of you being clueless. You used a confused emoticon and seemed confused about why utah rose (and I) mentioned the possibility of speaking to the pastor about this issue of excusal and care of children. That was all I was addressing. I am already aware of your position in your parish, and I wasn’t speaking about it from that perspective, but rather as a volunteer who struggles to find a way to juggle volunteer duties with duties as a Catholic and as a mother/homeschooler.

 

[eamonnroma]

Yes. As a Catholic you are required to attend Mass on Sunday’s, which means you must be there from the Offetory to the Communion to fulfill your Sunday obligation.

Is the obligation not from the Gospel onwards?