Night Shift Workers: When do you attend Mass?

[SJG1759]

I just started a new job that’s 7 days on, 7 days off, night shift at a hospital. For those of you who work nights, when do you attend Mass? I could go to a 7 AM Mass near my job, but I worry that when I get out I’d be too tired to drive back home (45 minutes). Saturday evening Mass would require me to get up about three hours earlier than I usually would, and I worry about getting to work exhausted and making a dangerous mistake.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think anyone here or anywhere on the internet can answer that for you, except for maybe knowing where it would be more convenient for you. Some hospitals have a chapel where there is a service, but you’ve probably already checked into that.

 

[crystal_waters]

I just started a new job that’s 7 days on, 7 days off, night shift at a hospital. For those of you who work nights, when do you attend Mass? I could go to a 7 AM Mass near my job, but I worry that when I get out I’d be too tired to drive back home (45 minutes). Saturday evening Mass would require me to get up about three hours earlier than I usually would, and I worry about getting to work exhausted and making a dangerous mistake.

The only advice I can offer is doing something to time save your waking hours so that you can go to bed a little earlier and therefore wake up rested to go to mass…this could be something like batch cooking/freezing meals and lunches so that you dont have to spend time cooking, saving laundry and chores for your off work days, sacrificing watching some tv shows for an earlier night in bed etc…

 

[tee_eff_em]

I just started a new job that’s 7 days on, 7 days off, night shift at a hospital. For those of you who work nights, when do you attend Mass? I could go to a 7 AM Mass near my job, but I worry that when I get out I’d be too tired to drive back home (45 minutes). Saturday evening Mass would require me to get up about three hours earlier than I usually would, and I worry about getting to work exhausted and making a dangerous mistake.

When I worked a night shift, my schedule was essentially to flip AM/PM, so 9AM Sunday Mass was fine for me. (Typically I would go to bed ~11AM, then wake ~6~7PM and have dinner with my family, before leaving for my 9PM start time.
Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat)

I concur, the best answer is: Whenever works best for you.

tee

 

[CB_Catholic]

Yeah, night shift always presents problems, and those who have not worked it have no idea how totally exhausting it is (though a few people prefer it if they are night owls). I could never get off on Sunday AM at 7:30 and go to 8 AM Mass, as I more than once caught myself falling asleep behind the wheel. I opted for our 4PM Sat. Mass, or, when it was available, a Sunday Mass at 5 PM. And when those night shifts were 12 hours back to back, I just did not go. It was not safe.

You have to determine how you react to lack of sleep, but you should never put yourself and others at risk by driving while exhausted.

 

[peter26]

My advice would be to research and memorize/write down/save on your computer all the Mass times of all the parishes you can get to, and go where you can when you can. Sometimes it might be a vigil Mass, an early Mass, an evening Mass, what ever works for your current shift pattern.

 

[twf]

Are there Sunday evening masses available that could work? For example, the last Sunday mass at my cathedral is 8 PM.

 

[Catholic1954]

I work nights and found the last Sunday evening Mass (6pm) works best for me. I started by going to the 7:00am when I was done with work, but found I was way too tired to safely drive home. It is surprising how many people think you “sleep all day” and don’t understand why a get together at 10am isn’t going to work for you.

 

[AttendeDomine]

I just started a new job that’s 7 days on, 7 days off, night shift at a hospital. For those of you who work nights, when do you attend Mass? .

My wife is a night shift nurse, although she “only” works a 12 hour shift on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Most of her Saturday is spent asleep, although she does often attend the 8:30AM Mass on that particular day. She also happens to sleep through most of Saturday night, and then we go to either the 7:30AM or 9:00AM Mass on Sunday.

We sometimes go to daily Mass on Mondays and/or Tuesdays, but Wednesday through Friday is a bit of a difficulty for her. I imagine, if she worked seven nights in a row, especially 12 hour shifts, that daily Mass would be a bit of an impossibility.

We also happen to live about 7 miles from our Parish, and about 5 miles from her work, so that does make things a bit easier.

I’m not sure if any of this is helpful, but I thought I’d mention it, lol.

 

[DavidFilmer]

My son worked several years as a night security guard at a bank headquarters facility. It was 5/2. He accommodated himself to various “daytime” activities.

Sacraments are generally not officiated at night (“under power of darkness”).

 

[CarrieH]

I worked nights for 20 years, with the last 14 of those being 7p - 7a. You have to learn to “budget” your sleep, and safety always comes first, for the sake of other drivers on the road and for the sake of your patients. I would only stay up and go to Mass in the morning after working all night if I didn’t have to come back to work that night (I could load up on coffee to keep me awake). Otherwise, I would usually make it to 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday before heading in to work at 7, but if I’d had a bad night before and was too tired, sometimes I would have to choose rest over attending Mass. On the few occasions when I didn’t make it to Mass on the weekend, I would try to get to a weekday Mass early the next week. Good luck with your new job!

 

[Chatter163]

I worked 11PM–7:30AM for many years. I was single for most of those years, so usually I got up at 8:30-9:00PM, had breakfast and went to work. I got off work at 7:30AM and usually attended 8AM weekday Mass nearby. On Sundays I went to 8AM Mass, or if I had to serve, 9:30 or 11:00AM Mass. I generally went to bed around 1PM-ish, as this mimicked the same pattern of getting up close to starting time, and taking care of appointments and other business after work, in the morning. I always thought that going to sleep as soon as I got home was not wise, as one would not normally do that when one works days. Occasionally, other things would cause me to have to alter the schedule, but I tried to keep that to a minimum. When I was off, I also generally tried to keep the same schedule.

 

[ProVobis]

I guess many of you are fortunate that you have at least a Mass to go to, despite the hours worked. When I was in college in the 60’s, I worked at the main Post Office on the weekends to pay for tuition and books. The hours were usually from 7am to 5pm, and I was always in need of a shower afterwards. Unfortunately I developed a lot of bad Church-going habits and I rationalized not going to Church altogether.

 

[Kelfa28]

My husband works swing shifts and his overnights can be as long as 14 hours. This includes some weekends.

We also have three young kids…so sleep is hard to come by during the day.

Te cold, hard truth is that Mass is just not always feasible.

My husband does the best he can with the circumstances we are in.

Our Priest is aware of his situation.

His job pays the bills and puts food on the table…right now we need him to work it.

Typically he’ll make Mass every other weekend if he isn’t too exhausted.

 

[Brendan]

I used to work in a bank’s datacenter. Every 6 months, I’d go on the night shift. 6pm-6am 4 days a week, including every other weekend.

In my case, I’d drive home and go to 8:00am Mass at a nearby church. Then go to bed.

 

[SJG1759]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this, everybody! I really appreciate it. I’m training on days for the next few weeks, but once I get into nights I’ll have a better idea of how it affects me. I’m very blessed in that there’s a Catholic church 10 minutes from my work and 5 minutes from my home. (My employer isn’t a Catholic hospital, so there are no Masses there.)

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this, everybody! I really appreciate it. I’m training on days for the next few weeks, but once I get into nights I’ll have a better idea of how it affects me. I’m very blessed in that there’s a Catholic church 10 minutes from my work and 5 minutes from my home. (My employer isn’t a Catholic hospital, so there are no Masses there.)

I think it is only when you are in the midst of the routine that you will really have the sense of what you are physically able to do and what is physically beyond what you are able to do. Obviously, you must not endanger your own health and safety or jeopardize your patients welfare by being exhausted.

It is a blessing to have churches so close to both your home and your work and I pray that they help you find a good solution.

As a priest myself, I would urge you not to be shy to consult the priests at both parishes.

Presumably, the church near your home is your parish and the pastor will have the ability, by canon law, both to dispense and to commute regarding the obligation…especially to dispense you in the first weekends or to commute it, as the pastor prefers, so that if you are unable to get to a Saturday evening/Sunday Mass in the stress of the transition, you need suffer no qualm of conscience.

For the parish so near your work, the priest has most likely confronted this very issue before and may be able to assist as, for example, having those who bring Communion for the hospital patients providing you with Communion, too, should it be that there simply exists no way for you to reach a scheduled Sunday Mass and if it can be arranged in keeping with your particular duties.

As you make the transition to the schedule, the priests should be able to assist you pastorally. Nursing is an essential vocation – as any priest who has been hospitalized knows all too well first hand. I am also very aware of how disruptive such a schedule change is and the toll it can take physically as well as the disruption to the body’s circadian rhythm that is very far reaching.

 

[SJG1759]

I think it is only when you are in the midst of the routine that you will really have the sense of what you are physically able to do and what is physically beyond what you are able to do. Obviously, you must not endanger your own health and safety or jeopardize your patients welfare by being exhausted.

It is a blessing to have churches so close to both your home and your work and I pray that they help you find a good solution.

As a priest myself, I would urge you not to be shy to consult the priests at both parishes.

Presumably, the church near your home is your parish and the pastor will have the ability, by canon law, both to dispense and to commute regarding the obligation…especially to dispense you in the first weekends or to commute it, as the pastor prefers, so that if you are unable to get to a Saturday evening/Sunday Mass in the stress of the transition, you need suffer no qualm of conscience.

For the parish so near your work, the priest has most likely confronted this very issue before and may be able to assist as, for example, having those who bring Communion for the hospital patients providing you with Communion, too, should it be that there simply exists no way for you to reach a scheduled Sunday Mass and if it can be arranged in keeping with your particular duties.

As you make the transition to the schedule, the priests should be able to assist you pastorally. Nursing is an essential vocation – as any priest who has been hospitalized knows all too well first hand. I am also very aware of how disruptive such a schedule change is and the toll it can take physically as well as the disruption to the body’s circadian rhythm that is very far reaching.

Thank you very much, Father! I’ll look into your suggestions.

PS - I’m not a nurse.

 

[JillyAnn]

I just started a new job that’s 7 days on, 7 days off, night shift at a hospital. For those of you who work nights, when do you attend Mass? I could go to a 7 AM Mass near my job, but I worry that when I get out I’d be too tired to drive back home (45 minutes). Saturday evening Mass would require me to get up about three hours earlier than I usually would, and I worry about getting to work exhausted and making a dangerous mistake.

I work nights and long shifts also. OUr masses are Sat 530, and Sun 7Am, 930 and 1130.
I work 14 hour shifts(which usually turns into 16 or 18 leaving me less than 6 hours to sleep) and, like you, travel 30-40 min each way. So I only go to mass when I am off work…or, if, by some chance, I was able to sleep for a significant amount of time the night before. I listen to Mass on Sirius XM Catholic Channel whenever it is on and I am driving.
I don’t leave work until 830 AM when I work overnight. If I go to 930 mass I get home at 11 and have to get up again at 345…it just isn’t safe.

 

[Beautiful]

Years and years ago it was 4 days on and 2 days off and 2-10pm shift.

The kids were knee biters.

We went to a weekday morning Mass together and Sundays when we were free.

Do what gets you there safely and back. You’ll figure what works best. Intention, effort and prayers will get your there but do it safely.