Multiple Masses per day in the Catholic Church

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Hi all, i have a few threads on here pointing out the issues that bother me about the Catholic Church. For those who don’t know me i am an Orthodox Christian who is a former Catholic and can’t shake the “Roman itch”.

The subject of this thread is the multiple Mass’s served daily in some Catholic Church’s. I am not sure of the canon, but i know this is a big no-no in the Orthodox Church. I have heard some say that an Orthodox priest can only serve one Divine Litrurgy per day and only one Communion served per alter per day.

Can someone enlighten me as to why these two different traditions have developed, and whether this has been covered in any Ecumenical Council’s?

My suspicion is that serving multiple Mases’s per day is a another “development” in the Catholic Church as a result of “wafers” for Communion (which i can’t stand). I am happy to be proven wrong.

Thank you and God bless
NJC
 
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Erm… why would giving people multiple opportunity to make it to mass each day (especially on Sunday), be a big deal? I mean… I legitimately cannot think of a single reason that would be considered a bad thing.

Also, consider that Church buildings are, by sad necessity, smaller now than they used to be when pretty much everyone was a Catholic (or Orthodox, in Orthodox territories.) That means that it may not be possible to fit the entire congregation in for a single mass. I know at my parish, the regular Sunday mass-goers require three mass times to fit them all. The building isn’t large enough for everyone to attend a single mass, even if we open up the parish hall for seating. That doesn’t even say anything about the twice-yearly Easter and Christmas mass-goers.

In the Catholic Church, a person is allowed to receive communion up to two times per day. I’m not sure why this is different from Orthodoxy.

You also seem to use the word “development” like it’s a bad thing. There is no dogmatic or theological necessity that mass be limited to once per day, so, again, I cannot see a single reason this could ever be considered a bad thing.
 
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As far as I understand it. Priests can only say one mass a day unless there are extenuating circumstances. On Sunday, my parish has 4 masses, each celebrated by a different priest. There are 3 priests attached to my parish, so 1 is usually said by a guest if they can’t find a guest to say then one priest might celebrate twice on Sunday.
Can. 905 §1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.

§2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
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Ok i have just done some digging around, and i see it mentioned that this practice of one Liturgy per alter per day was enforced by an Ecumenical Council but am yet to find out which one.

The reason it is a no-no is that in the Orthodox Church we fast for 18 hours or so prior to Holy Communion (generally from 6pm the evening prior), so a Priest could not serve multiple liturgies per day while still maintaining the fast. Plus, every Divine Liturgy must be preceded by a Vespers service the evening before which would not work with a second Liturgy.
 
Thank you. The Priest at my local Latin Mass community serve’s 3 mass’s every Sunday, which is why i am asking. Kind of ruins the community feel as well as everyone kind of disappears after Mass because the next Mass is starting. In the Orthodox Church everyone breaks the Fast and eats and drinks lots of coffee together which is really nice.
 
NJC89 said:
Hi all, i have a few threads on here pointing out the issues that bother me about the Catholic Church. For those who don’t know me i am an Orthodox Christian who is a former Catholic and can’t shake the “Roman itch”.

The subject of this thread is the multiple Mass’s served daily in some Catholic Church’s. I am not sure of the canon, but i know this is a big no-no in the Orthodox Church. I have heard some say that an Orthodox priest can only serve one Divine Litrurgy per day and only one Communion served per alter per day.

Can someone enlighten me as to why these two different traditions have developed, and whether this has been covered in any Ecumenical Council’s?

My suspicion is that serving multiple Mases’s per day is a another “development” in the Catholic Church as a result of “wafers” for Communion (which i can’t stand). I am happy to be proven wrong.

Thank you and God bless
NJC
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We have 10 Masses every Sunday in order to accommodate the 80% Mass attendance in a parish of 14,000.
 
My parish has 8000 members. Our church does not hold anywhere near that many people. I think the most important thing is that people have access to the Eucharist when they need it.
 
You are kidding me 😳

Where is that parish if you don’t mind my asking? That is incredible. I have never heard of such a large parish!

The question remains though why not build more Churchs if that is the case?
 
That type of fellowship is nice, but I think the opportunity to receive the Eucharist is more important.
 
I do remember a Priest saying twice a day is enough - to receive the Eucharist -

"Unless your a Priest , like myself, up to four times a day, sometimes "

I recall clearly, him saying that at a mass, during a homily. I wondered who he was speaking to ?
 
I think it would be a huge blessing for anyone to celebrate more than one Mass per day.
 
NJC89 said:
Ok i have just done some digging around, and i see it mentioned that this practice of one Liturgy per alter per day was enforced by an Ecumenical Council but am yet to find out which one.

The reason it is a no-no is that in the Orthodox Church we fast for 18 hours or so prior to Holy Communion (generally from 6pm the evening prior), so a Priest could not serve multiple liturgies per day while still maintaining the fast. Plus, every Divine Liturgy must be preceded by a Vespers service the evening before which would not work with a second Liturgy.
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The fast in the Catholic Church is only one hour prior to consumption of the Eucharist. In my book, that’s not quite enough, but that’s all the Church currently requires, so it is technically possible to attend multiple masses in a single day.

This sounds like a different in practice, rather than any dogmatic conflict. (Personally, I like the idea of a longer fast prior to the Eucharist, but that’s just m opinion).
 
Thank you, this has cleared it up for me. Do not necessarily agree with the Catholic reasoning but at least I understand now.
 
NJC89 said:
In the Orthodox Church everyone breaks the Fast and eats and drinks lots of coffee together which is really nice.
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That sounds really nice, but it just isn’t practical here. My church was built 100 years ago and it can only hold a fraction of our Catholic population. Plus, we have a large English and Spanish population so we have 2 English and 2 Spanish services on Sunday and 1 each on Saturday night. The Spanish services are so full it’s standing room only and overflowing onto the porch. Plus, there will often be a few weddings and funerals that weekend, so our priest has to perform up to 10 Masses sometimes in one weekend. We should have 2 priests like we did in the past, but unfortunately there is a priest shortage. So, we fast for an hour beforehand…fasting for 18 hours is just not practical where I am.
 
NJC89 said:
You are kidding me 😳

Where is that parish if you don’t mind my asking? That is incredible. I have never heard of such a large parish!

The question remains though why not build more Churchs if that is the case?
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I am not kidding. I live in the Philippines which is an 85% Catholic country.
I live in Las Pinas and we have 15 Churches all of which are within 15 minutes drive from my house.
All of them have multiple Masses because of high attendance.
 
Exactly. Parishes are consolidating because it’s too expensive to operate and maintain multiple buildings. When this happens, mulitple masses are a necessity.
 
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