Missing Sunday Mass

[Fitz]

cynic:

Many protestant evangelicals actually have church on a wednesday night etc. So I fail to see why we must actually worship on a sunday. Imagine if everyone tried to do that…sometimes it just simply ins’t possible to be in a church on a Sunday morning.

You do understand that you are on a Catholic forum, correct? I am not being facetious, but those of us that decide how to change the Catholic religion for our own purposes then become Protestant. We have long held practices and beliefs that we feel were started by Christ and His immediate followers. That is good enough for me.

I am not saying that I have never missed mass. I am ashamed to say that I have had to confess this at times. Travel has been one of the problems. I do make attemps to go to church when I travel, but there are times it is very difficult. I usually use Masstimes.com to find churches.

Our society has become so lax. This is just one more example.

 

[tdandh26]

cynic:

Many protestant evangelicals actually have church on a wednesday night etc. So I fail to see why we must actually worship on a sunday. Imagine if everyone tried to do that…sometimes it just simply ins’t possible to be in a church on a Sunday morning.

I personally go to mass everyday, yet if I missed mass on Sunday it would constitute a mortal sin. “Thou shalt keep Holy the Sabbath Day”. Catholosism is the fulfillment of the Jewish religion. They were required, and still are, to attend worship and other practices. Since Christ the new Adam restored creation on a Sunday, for Christians that is the Sabbath. We also are supposed to refrain from manual labor and do the works of charity. I personally would like to do more charity myself, but with 6 very young children and with my wife working on weekends it sorta tough now. But, Mass is a must.

 

[Maureen_Fiore]

quasimodo:

I have been on many 7 days cruises in the last 30 years. ALL have had a priest to say mass - Holland America has daily mass. I have heard that some lines use a rent-a-priest like service and the mass may be valid but illicit. Not sure about all the details here though. But your over all question is a good one I think - what of trips to far away places that may not have a church?

How do you go about inquiring if there is mass on a cruise ship that you will be going on? I plan to be taking a cruise soon and I am wondering how I will attend mass.

 

[cynic]

so doctors should not work on sundays, emergency rooms should close on a sunday, coastguards shouldn’t work on sundays, armed services should stop doing…whatever, on a sunday…

 

[tdandh26]

My wife is a nurse (in the er no less) who works a 12 hour shift from 7 am to 7 pm but she had it set up so she could take her breaks and lunch togeather so she could attend the hospital mass.
I was in the military and I went to mass on Sundays.
There are certain reason for having a dispensation granted by a priest or bishop, but that is not the norm.
I think if a person takes seriously the eternal fate of their soul, then they will find a way to get to Mass. This life is so passing, and our grave always beckons to us, should we not prepare more for that which will last forever than that which flickers away like so many candles.

 

[Fitz]

cynic:

so doctors should not work on sundays, emergency rooms should close on a sunday, coastguards shouldn’t work on sundays, armed services should stop doing…whatever, on a sunday…

We are able to attend mass from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday and it is all considered Sunday. There is usually not a good reason to miss mass. There are some exceptions of course.

 

[vluvski]

What if a person honestly forgets what day of the week it is, say on an extended vacation or is just THAT absent-minded?
Obviously missing Mass is still a sin, but would forgetting still satisfy the ‘full consent’ to make it a mortal sin, requiring confession prior to receiving?
I’m asking because this happened just last week to, uh, yeah, a friend of mine…

 

[thistle]

vluvski:

What if a person honestly forgets what day of the week it is, say on an extended vacation or is just THAT absent-minded?
Obviously missing Mass is still a sin, but would forgetting still satisfy the ‘full consent’ to make it a mortal sin, requiring confession prior to receiving?
I’m asking because this happened just last week to, uh, yeah, a friend of mine…

Its a mortal sin to deliberately miss Sunday Mass. There are genuine instances where you can miss Mass and it is not a sin, and if someone really has a problem with memory (getting a bit senile perhaps) I would say its not a sin but wouldn’t they have family or friends to remind them?
However personally I would find it hard to believe that Catholic on holiday would forget when its Sunday.

 

[vluvski]

Not senile (I’m only 23!), just very VERY absent-minded sometimes, easily distracted, and probably ADD (just never acted out).
I did forget what day of the week it was when travelling in Europe- I spent so many nights on trains they all ran together. The irony is that the trip was a pseudo-pilgrimage (went to Fatima, Lourdes, Santarem, Rome, Avignon).
Last weekend I went to work early in the morning, helped teach the Confirmation class Sunday morning, and planned to take a nap and go to the afternoon Mass. I had even been to confession the day before and was eager to approach the altar with a clean conscience.
When I woke up from my nap, I think I was just in a different mindset after having been at work that morning (first time on weekend duty), and somehow or another it didn’t even cross my mind that I still needed to go to Mass. Maybe it was because I forgot it was Sunday, or maybe I am so used to going first thing in the morning and since I had “gone to church” to teach, my brain tricked itself into thinking I actually had been to Mass.
Either way, it wasn’t intentional! I was rather distressed when I realized my mistake at about the time the last Mass of the day was ending.

 

[Maureen_Fiore]

I think based on your situation if it bothers your conscience then you should go to confession and let the priest tell you whether this was a mortal sin or not. A good confession never hurts anyone.

 

[tdandh26]

Maureen Fiore:

I think based on your situation if it bothers your conscience then you should go to confession and let the priest tell you whether this was a mortal sin or not. A good confession never hurts anyone.

Well said, I agree. Confession is not a punishment but rather Gods mercy.