Need advice, I don't live near a Church

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ServantofChristos

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Hello, i’m in need of help. I live outside of my city and there are no churches near me and the catholic churches are all at the far end of the city. I don’t own a car and I live in a single parent household, my mother works most of the time and I don’t want to bother her driving me back and forth across the city. Any advice would help a great deal.
Thanks and God bless.
 
Buy a Catholic Missal. Read through the masses. Say lots of prayers. Use Uber once a month to go to real mass.

Call that church and see if they have a ride share option.

God will understand if you cant get there, as long as you honestly try.

Like I said, by a Missal, and he read the readings true to your heart,

Your not going to be punished for having no way there.plenty of Catholic explorers had no option for mass. You just do best as yang can.

There is no litmus teat, God doesn’t care about how many masses you attend, he cares about what is in your heart.

Don’t listen to people that say you have to attend mass no matter how hard it is to get to, they are wrong. God cares about What is your heart, not whether you kneel in a pew.
 
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Thanks, I didn’t know about the Catholic Missal, i’ll look for one right away!
 
See if there is public transportation. Ask your mom if she can realistically drive you to church once in a while and maybe even go with you.
 
Keeping this in mind

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p..._pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html

Virtual reality is no substitute for the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacramental reality of the other sacraments, and shared worship in a flesh-and-blood human community. There are no sacraments on the Internet; and even the religious experiences possible there by the grace of God are insufficient apart from real-world interaction with other persons of faith. Here is another aspect of the Internet that calls for study and reflection. At the same time, pastoral planning should consider how to lead people from cyberspace to true community and how, through teaching and catechesis, the Internet might subsequently be used to sustain and enrich them in their Christian commitment.

If there is factually and literally no other way to get to Sunday Mass, including public transport, or or no possibility for someone who can take you
in addition to reading your Mass missal,
throughout the world, (eg, the United States, ( eg https://thesundaymass.org/watch-the-sunday-mass/821-26th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-mass-2017-10-01 Canada, Ireland ,Australia, many parishes do post Masses videos weekly online, and CatholicTV daily Mass, as does a parish in Toronto,
for people who quite literally have no way to get to Mass.

The quote above should be your guideline, so that if there is any doable way to get to Mass, it is vital to do so.

As soon as it become possible to go the Mass, for instance if you are able to save to purchase a little car, or your mother’s work no longer interferes, then be sure to go to Mass.

However if you could successful ask your mother to drive you, it would be of benefit to her soul as well as yours.
Much as you sympathize with her heavy work burden, I hope you will seriously try to encourage your mother to go to Confession and Mass with you. Her spiritual welfare as well as yours would benefit.

.
 
I hear you. I live 8 miles outside of town and dont know how to drive. Getting to mass is difficult. Pray much. Tell the Lord you need a ride and keep youreyes open. Thats what I’m doing. I also get daily readings via email from USCCB.
 
You could look into taking public transport if that is an option for you or you could contact the church and ask if they have anybody who can provide transport/ share a ride. Your mother may want to help you if you ask her. My nearest Catholic church is 7.5 miles away and I live in a rural area with poor transport so I know how difficult it can be.
 
Lots of reasons why this might not work, but is Uber an option?
 
For those of us in small cities/towns, Uber is a unicorn. My town has maybe 37K population. There are 2 Uber drivers, they are more expensive than the expensive taxis.

A call to your parish about finding a lift from a parishioner is the best advice.
 
Thank you very much, i’ll check out the masses videos. I’ll try talking to my mother about going to church with me, she’s not religious, she believes in a “higher power,” but she has a very negative view on religion and Catholics, she supports me being a catholic, she bought me my first bible, prayer candles, and a statue of Jesus Christ, but she doesn’t not like the catholic church as a whole. I don’t know how to talk to her about going to church with me, I don’t want to seem like i’m forcing my religion on her.
 
I will continue to pray, I know The Lord will help me, I guess He sent me to this site for a reason. I’ll check out the USCCB, thank you and God Bless.
 
8 miles is nothing on a bike. That’s like a 45 minute ride.
 
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Yes, unless you live in ‘tundra country’, AKA " 9 months of winter and 3 months of lousy sledding." Or where the rural roads have terminal ruts, no shoulders, lots of hills. Where you yourself on the maybe 4 Sundays a year where the weather is clear, the roads are maintained, and you have the physical well-being to get there still have to face the possibilities of accident or injury. We don’t all live in warm climates in places with well-maintained roads, lots of bikers, lots of drivers who extend courtesy TO bikers, etc. Not to mention that a lot of people who don’t drive do so for, you know, VISION problems. Which would be a problem for us on bicycles as well. “Let me just pop onto my trusty 2 speed (slow and stop) bicycle, put on my helmet, and head out. So what if I have limited peripheral vision? So what if I have floaters and flashers every time I have to move my eyes in the slightest way? So what if the cataract gives me that funny blurry space and the trifocals I’m squinting through, with the little cheapie ‘sunglasses’ over them to protect me from the nearly unbearable glare, are slipping over my sweaty face even with the band I have them on?”

Look, it’s a good idea and more people should try cycling, if they can. . .but it’s not a sure-fire ‘cure’ for those who don’t drive autos.
 
I’d call the nearest parish and ask if they could get someone to give you a ride. If you got friends who drive, ask them too.
 
Why don’t you look up a pretty park she can go to and find money to allow her to get coffee and enjoy herself for a bit? Or see if your library has museum passes so she can go enjoy a couple hours at a museum in the city while you go to Mass?
 
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Good idea, I think there is a park near one of the churches with a library near it. I’ll try talking to her at a good time, thanks and God Bless!
 
“Excuse?” Oh I see. Pointing out things that might have been overlooked by another you think is just making excuses? I’m sorry, I thought this was a discussion forum where people were welcome to bring their views and their experiences into discussion. Apparently you have never yet suffered catastrophic vision problems. I’m glad. Because frankly, it’s a real problem for a lot of real people which we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies.

Have a pleasant day.
 
Actually I have. Still ride a bike. I look for ways to solve problems not excuses for not being able to.
 
Doctors had their way I’d never even walk down sidewalk cause of the multiple head injuries I’ve had. The life of a mountain biker lol.
 
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