Must toddlers go to Mass?

[yellowbird]

My husband and I go to Mass seperately so we don’t have to take our adorably cute but very noisy and active two-year-old to Mass. She was baptized of course but has spent little time in the pew since. We’ll start taking her when she’s closer to age four when she has a bit more self-control. She’s our fifth child and it’s what we’ve done with each of them, successfully avoiding the whole “wrestling a toddler all through Mass” period.

It’s been suggested by some posters that we may actually be sinning by neglecting our parental responsibilites to raise our child in the faith. What say you?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

A This Rock Quick Questions Q&A (April 2006) stated:

Q: At what age should children start to regularly attend church?

A: Although young children are welcome at Mass, the obligation to attend does not bind those under seven years old. The Church law that obligates Catholics to go to Mass is canon 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 that hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

This law does not expressly state an age at which the faithful become obliged to follow it, but canon 11 tells us:

Merely ecclesiastical laws bind those who have been baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, possess the efficient use of reason, and, unless the law expressly provides otherwise, have completed seven years of age.

Since canon 1247 does not expressly provide otherwise, it binds only those who have completed seven years of age and who also meet the other requirements mentioned in canon 11.

—Jim Blackburn (source)

Strictly speaking then, it is your prerogative to wait until your daughter is older to take her to Mass and you are not sinning if you choose not to do so. That said, there are also benefits to be had in taking her now, such as including her as a member of the family in an important family ritual and giving her reasonable, age-appropriate limits to her rambunctious behavior. See the link below for more information.

Recommended reading:

Keeping children quiet at Mass