Night Shift Workers: When do you attend Mass?

[Brendan]

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.)

Our parish is near a secular hospital. We have an 8:30pm Sunday Mass; about half of the attendees are in scrubs…so you are not alone

 

[ProVobis]

(My employer isn’t a Catholic hospital, so there are no Masses there.)

Okay, but it doesn’t have to be a Catholic hospital in order to have a Mass said there. Many now have chapels that might have liturgies said for various denominations, generally for families and friends of those visiting.

 

[Maddie26]

Nice to hear from people who struggle with the same sorts of issues! I am a nurse on a rotating roster so have no set schedule and work shifts quite literally at ALL hours of the day and night. It is impossible to get regular days off- not difficult but impossible and forbidden by management. Isn’t nursing great?

I am trying to develop a system. For a long time I missed more Masses than I made and it hurt, as it would hurt another woman to miss seeing her husband. Some people may find it easy to stay up but I once fell asleep while walking home and sleepwalked into the middle of the road and woke up, still walking in the middle of the road, in a strange neighbourhood. I have fallen asleep in Masses, too, which is both embarrassing and scandalous, though I believe God understood how very tired I was.

Now I’m trying to attend Sunday Mass when I can and when I can’t I designate my first day off as Shift Worker Sunday and go to Mass then. I figure then at least I have a nearly- routine and I’m getting to Mass as often as I can. Some people may say that I’m failing in my obligations but I honestly can’t come up with a better solution.

 

[pnewton]

Now I’m trying to attend Sunday Mass when I can and when I can’t I designate my first day off as Shift Worker Sunday and go to Mass then. I figure then at least I have a nearly- routine and I’m getting to Mass as often as I can. Some people may say that I’m failing in my obligations but I honestly can’t come up with a better solution.

We have a Thursday night Mass that is always crowded with shift workers. While there is no obligation to make up for a Mass that one cannot make on the weekend, it is still the Holy Eucharist that is available.

I have about a dozen times a year that my schedule keeps me from attending Mass. It is always good to discuss such issues with a priest. Mine simply dispensed me of my obligation on these occasions.