MERGED: ok, I feel bad for asking this...../Mass attendance Christmas Eve?

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FromTheAshes777

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but…

just for my own sanitie’s sake…this has been a crazy Advent so far…
Is attending Mass on Christmas Eve in the late evening, say starting at 10 PM a fullfillment of one’s Sunday obligation and Christmas Day obligation as well? Just want to clarify and make sure. Thank you so much.
 
FromTheAshes777 said:
but…

just for my own sanitie’s sake…this has been a crazy Advent so far…
Is attending Mass on Christmas Eve in the late evening, say starting at 10 PM a fullfillment of one’s Sunday obligation and Christmas Day obligation as well? Just want to clarify and make sure. Thank you so much.
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A vigil Mass on the evening (typically after 4:00 PM) prior to a Holy Day of Obligation will fulfill your obligation. Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin comments on this (with canon law citation) in this older blog post.Catholic Answers
 
FromTheAshes777 said:
but…

just for my own sanitie’s sake…this has been a crazy Advent so far…
Is attending Mass on Christmas Eve in the late evening, say starting at 10 PM a fullfillment of one’s Sunday obligation and Christmas Day obligation as well? Just want to clarify and make sure. Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Yes.

This year, Christmas and Sunday are a single day–therefore there is one obligation (not two) to attend Mass. Christmas Eve Mass at 10 PM certainly fulfills that obligation.
 
It fulfills the obligation only if you have a serious reason not to go on the day.
 
FrDavid96 said:
That’s simply not true.

The Church has no such requirement.
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Hello Father David. With all due respect, the Church does have such requirement as I will show. Even if it didn’t express it explicitly, I would say that Catholic sensibilities take over and we figure out for ourselves why we worship on a Sunday, and personally why we feel we are excused from worshipping on the Lord’s day. In any case
Code of Canon Law:
Code: 
Canon 1247
On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass; they are also to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.

Canon 1248
   1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.
   2. If because of lack of a sacred minister or for **other grave cause** participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the liturgy of the word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.
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The Saturday vigil was only ever authorized for those who could not attend the Sunday Mass. Sunday remains the norm (as shown above) and the Saturday vigil is a last resort, not a first stop for those who’d rather get up later and have a lie in with croissants and tea. Certainly people who do such a thing are not in mortal sin (all other things being equal) but they are falling outside of traditional Catholic practice by not sanctifying Sunday and keeping it the time to worship with the rest of the Church.

In any case, this is my own contribution and let the reader decide what is the right thing to do. If one intends to skip Sunday Mass so as to avoid sanctifying Sunday, that is on their own conscience.

Pax.
 
NewsTheMan said:
Hello Father David. With all due respect, the Church does have such requirement as I will show. Even if it didn’t express it explicitly, I would say that Catholic sensibilities take over and we figure out for ourselves why we worship on a Sunday, and personally why we feel we are excused from worshipping on the Lord’s day. In any case

The Saturday vigil was only ever authorized for those who could not attend the Sunday Mass. Sunday remains the norm (as shown above) and the Saturday vigil is a last resort, not a first stop for those who’d rather get up later and have a lie in with croissants and tea. Certainly people who do such a thing are not in mortal sin (all other things being equal) but they are falling outside of traditional Catholic practice by not sanctifying Sunday and keeping it the time to worship with the rest of the Church.

In any case, this is my own contribution and let the reader decide what is the right thing to do. If one intends to skip Sunday Mass so as to avoid sanctifying Sunday, that is on their own conscience.

Pax.
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You are misreading the Canons.

Here they are again.

Canon 1247
On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass; they are also to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.

Canon 1248
  1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.
  2. If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the liturgy of the word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.
Section 2 of Canon 1248 is not addressing the attending of a Mass the evening of the preceding day, section 1 addresses that and does not say that a grave cause is necessary.

Section 2 is addressing a communion service with the Liturgy of the Word because the lack of a sacred minister. This would require a grave cause.

This is plan to see as the first sentence of section 2 says “participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible.” It does not speak to attending Mass on the evening before, which, again, is addressed in section 1 and in canon 1247, both of which say its is acceptable and does not state that a “grave cause” is necessary.

On a side note, I find it odd that lay people push this idea especially when a priest (or a seminarian) who is trained by the Church speaks on the matter.
 
NewsTheMan said:
Hello Father David. With all due respect, the Church does have such requirement as I will show. Even if it didn’t express it explicitly, I would say that Catholic sensibilities take over and we figure out for ourselves why we worship on a Sunday, and personally why we feel we are excused from worshipping on the Lord’s day. In any case

The Saturday vigil was only ever authorized for those who could not attend the Sunday Mass. Sunday remains the norm (as shown above) and the Saturday vigil is a last resort, not a first stop for those who’d rather get up later and have a lie in with croissants and tea. Certainly people who do such a thing are not in mortal sin (all other things being equal) but they are falling outside of traditional Catholic practice by not sanctifying Sunday and keeping it the time to worship with the rest of the Church.

In any case, this is my own contribution and let the reader decide what is the right thing to do. If one intends to skip Sunday Mass so as to avoid sanctifying Sunday, that is on their own conscience.

Pax.
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Here’s what the document, Canon 1248 says: The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.

I’m not sure that the second part of Canon 1248 is referring to the vigil Mass at all, because it would contradict what was just stated in the first part of the Canon, in which it is very clear that attending the vigil Mass fulfills the obligation.

I think the second part of the Canon is referring to a situation in which there is no Mass available, which occasionally happens, often due to the lack of a priest or some other grave reason such as dangerous weather conditions (hurricane, blizzard). I don’t think this is referring to a sitation in which the individual can’t attend Mass for a grave reason, but rather, to a situation in which there simply isn’t a Mass at all due to a grave reason.

I could be wrong about this. But I think it’s obvious that according to Canon 1248, the vigil Masses fully satisfy the obligation, and that there is no “serious reason” needed to justify attending a vigil Mass.
 
FromTheAshes777 said:
but…

just for my own sanitie’s sake…this has been a crazy Advent so far…
Is attending Mass on Christmas Eve in the late evening, say starting at 10 PM a fullfillment of one’s Sunday obligation and Christmas Day obligation as well? Just want to clarify and make sure. Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
You do not have two obligations to fulfil. This year Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. There’s only one observance on Sunday December 25th 2011: Christmas Day. Your only obligation is for Christmas Day. If you go to Mass at 10.00 p.m. on Saturday December 24th 2011 (Christmas Eve) you will fulfil the obligation.
 
thank you all for your answers

I have found a 12 AM Christmas Mass close to me, so I think I will be attending that, so technically it will be on Christmas Day, just very early in the morning 🙂
 
Your local bishop has the authority over this, so not to worry. The Christmas eve vigil mass also should count for Christmas, too, and that’s usually much earlier than 10pm.

The hour of 12pm is not a meaningful issue here.

A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass [CIC Can. 1248 §1].
 
Yes the Sat mass before the Sunday fulfills the obligation. But it wasn’t always so. Everything is permissible, but not everything is expedient.

I think there is something wrong with habitually attending Sat evening mass so that one can sleep in on Sundays and to schedule sports, shopping etc.

I can’t help but feel this was another concession for an increasingly disengaged Catholic population who didn’t believe in sacrifices.

Before anyone says anything, of course there are people who need to work on Saturdays. I’m not referring to those people.
 
TrueLight said:
Yes the Sat mass before the Sunday fulfills the obligation. But it wasn’t always so. Everything is permissible, but not everything is expedient.

I think there is something wrong with habitually attending Sat evening mass so that one can sleep in on Sundays and to schedule sports, shopping etc.

I can’t help but feel this was another concession for an increasingly disengaged Catholic population who didn’t believe in sacrifices.

Before anyone says anything, of course there are people who need to work on Saturdays. I’m not referring to those people.
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This is making an uncharitable judgment that you have no right to make.

All that the Church allows is acceptable. No one is doing anything wrong by following what the Church allows.

If you do not like an option that the Church allows for then do not do it but do not judge anyone who does take it.
 
Br. David,
Thank you for saying this. 👍
I agree 100% and am sad to say that I see this attitude far to often here at CAF.
Having an opinion is fine, judgements such as this are however,
IMHO, more destructive than they are constructive,
and can cause much confusion for someone who is seeking to understand what the Church teaches.
ByzCath said:
This is making an uncharitable judgment that you have no right to make.

All that the Church allows is acceptable. No one is doing anything wrong by following what the Church allows.

If you do not like an option that the Church allows for then do not do it but do not judge anyone who does take it.
Click to expand...
 
The Christmas Eve Vigil Mass certainly fulfills the obligation. If you could find and attend a midnight Mass it would be great too:thumbsup:
 
ByzCath said:
This is making an uncharitable judgment that you have no right to make.

All that the Church allows is acceptable. No one is doing anything wrong by following what the Church allows.

If you do not like an option that the Church allows for then do not do it but do not judge anyone who does take it.
Click to expand...
Thank you. 👍
 
TrueLight said:
Yes the Sat mass before the Sunday fulfills the obligation. But it wasn’t always so. Everything is permissible, but not everything is expedient.

I think there is something wrong with habitually attending Sat evening mass so that one can sleep in on Sundays and to schedule sports, shopping etc.

I can’t help but feel this was another concession for an increasingly disengaged Catholic population who didn’t believe in sacrifices.

Before anyone says anything, of course there are people who need to work on Saturdays. I’m not referring to those people.
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It is a good thing to emphasize, even though the obligation to assist at Holy Mass is fulfilled on the day or evening before, what still remains is "to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body" on Sunday or the Holy Day of Obligation itself.

Can. 1247
On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass. Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass. …
 
I’m going to 10PM “midnight mass,” and there will be absolutely no masses at all celebrated on Christmas day itself at my parish. 🙂 Oh, how dreadful is this situation.
 
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