Mass on Friday = No Mass on Sunday?

[katiemonster]

Hi,

I remember hearing from a priest (from the Paterson Diocese in NJ) that going to Mass on a Friday means not having to go to Mass on the following Saturday or Sunday.

Did I hear right? Is this acceptable?

If I did and if it is, then does it apply to Feast Days that fall on Fridays?

-K

PS: If this was posted before, I couldn’t find it. So sorry.

 

[Church_Militant]

Either he is nuts or you misunderstood. Mass on Saturday evening, (known as the vigil Mass) fulfills a Sunday obligation, but Mass on Friday, tho worthwhile and great, does not fulfilll the Sunday obligation.

Welcome to CAF. Stick around. You’ll make some friends.
Pax tecum,

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

To add to CM’s perfectly correct answer I wanted to address the issue of “feast days”. There are Holy Days of Obligation that land on Friday’s (today being one of them) where Catholics are required to go to the Mass. For all Holy Days, you may choose from a vigil Mass the evening before the Holy Day, or attend one of the Masses offered on the actual Holy Day.

All Sundays are considered obligatory and, as CM stated, you may choose to go on Saturday night. (BTW if you go to a Saturday morning Mass, it doesn’t fulfill the Sunday obligation).

May God bless you on this Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us! Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us!

 

[palmas85]

Hi,

I remember hearing from a priest (from the Paterson Diocese in NJ) that going to Mass on a Friday means not having to go to Mass on the following Saturday or Sunday.

Did I hear right? Is this acceptable?

If I did and if it is, then does it apply to Feast Days that fall on Fridays?

-K

PS: If this was posted before, I couldn’t find it. So sorry.

Well you either heard wrong or he told you wrong. A vigil Mass on Saturday will count as a Sunday Mass but a Friday Mass is a Friday Mass and does not count as a Sunday obligation.

Sorry

 

[mystified]

This certainly would not apply in most of the US. However, there are some isolated areas here and many more in mission countries where a priest is only present once a week, month, or even less frequently. Often a Sunday observance, even a Communion Service is held, but there is only Mass when Father comes, and that might be on a Friday, Tuesday, or any other day.
I know of one place in which the local bishop has allowed the Sunday obligation to be met on whichever day a person can get to a Mass.
I don’t think these exceptions would apply in the area where the poster lives.

 

[AJV]

This certainly would not apply in most of the US. However, there are some isolated areas here and many more in mission countries where a priest is only present once a week, month, or even less frequently. Often a Sunday observance, even a Communion Service is held, but there is only Mass when Father comes, and that might be on a Friday, Tuesday, or any other day.
I know of one place in which the local bishop has allowed the Sunday obligation to be met on whichever day a person can get to a Mass.
I don’t think these exceptions would apply in the area where the poster lives.

Here because it is a Muslim country, the Friday Mass does satisfy the Sunday obligation (by indult). That is because Friday is the Muslim weekend, so most people don’t have a Sunday holiday.

 

[AlexV]

You can’t grant indults from divine precept.

The Sunday obligation is of divine precept.

Did the Franciscan martyrs allow the Moroccans a Friday Mass instead of Sunday as a concession to the Muslim environment?

Of course not.

 

[LilyM]

You can’t grant indults from divine precept.

The Sunday obligation is of divine precept.

Did the Franciscan martyrs allow the Moroccans a Friday Mass instead of Sunday as a concession to the Muslim environment?

Of course not.

No offence, AJV, but I’m inclined to agree with Alex here (shock horror). If you can’t make Mass on a Sunday because you are required to work then there’s no obligation to attend to begin with.

Otherwise, you should simply do what many of us poor working types have to do when Holy Days of Obligation fall on workdays - attend the vigil the evening before, or before or after work or during lunch hour on the day.

I suppose the idea is that creating a pseudo-Sabbath with required Mass attendance on Friday is better than having people go neither Friday nor Sunday, but if you’re able to go on Sunday then I don’t believe you really are dispensed from the obligation, and every Catholic Church should certainly be offering Masses on Sundays.

 

[AJV]

No offence, AJV, but I’m inclined to agree with Alex here (shock horror). If you can’t make Mass on a Sunday because you are required to work then there’s no obligation to attend to begin with.

Otherwise, you should simply do what many of us poor working types have to do when Holy Days of Obligation fall on workdays - attend the vigil the evening before, or before or after work or during lunch hour on the day.

I suppose the idea is that creating a pseudo-Sabbath with required Mass attendance on Friday is better than having people go neither Friday nor Sunday, but if you’re able to go on Sunday then I don’t believe you really are dispensed from the obligation, and every Catholic Church should certainly be offering Masses on Sundays.

There are Masses on Sunday also (around 6), but they are not so highly attended as the Friday ones. The Friday Mass functions somewhat like the Saturday Vigil Mass you’ll have and they use the Sunday propers. I know that certain of the Orthodox churches also observe this arrangement (I would suppose with the permission of their bishops or synods). Some use the Friday propers but even so, their Sunday services have a much less attendance.

Unfortunately LilyM, it is not so easy to attend the Saturday Vigil Masses or a Mass during the lunch break. To begin with there is usually only one or two Catholic churches and for the countries in the Gulf you can count the number of churches in the entire country on the fingers of one hand. Sometimes, they are not very generous with their building permissions- in fact, IIRC correctly, in the UAE in Ras-Al-Khaimah in the late 90’s (98 or 99, I forget which) they had raised donations and built a church, only to have the permission rescinded and the building shut as soon as it was completed- it was providentially opened very recently in 2005. So generally people have to travel quite a bit to get to a church (which pretty much excludes any lunch breaks and in any case, lunch breaks here are often not exactly an hour).

Then too, for the Gulf countries, almost all the Christians are expatriates, which means they have different working hours. For some people they leave their houses are 7-8a.m. and come home at 6-7 p.m. That leaves a very small time period in which to celebrate Sunday Masses for a LOT of people because you cannot have large religious gatherings without prior permission from 10:30-11 p.m. till 4:30-5 a.m. Also there are many Christians among the lower income groups- like the Filipina maids- and sometimes they get only a few hours off each week on Friday, which is the time when they come to church.

This dispensation is in effect in the Apostolic Vicariates of Kuwait and Arabia. If you want I could ask for the precise nature. I have also heard that it is recommended that fasting and abstinence be done on Wednesdays instead of Fridays except on certain days like Good Friday.

 

[AlexV]

If someone were in a place with no Sunday Mass, obviously they would be free from having to fulfill their obligation.

What if there were Masses on Sundays, but your job conflicted? Well, that gets into the murky waters of your making a choice.

What if society dictates that Friday is a day off and Sunday full work? Well…martyrs died for things like that.

All the same, you can’t dispense and indultize from divine precept.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

Someone I know was told that he didn’t have to go to Mass on Sunday if he went to Mass during the week at the Catholic school he was applying to. Apperantly this was sort of a selling point.