Not going to Church=mortal sin?

[lizaanne]

I’m it’s English teacher and the 8th grade homeroom teacher. So, I teach one group religion class…and as I’ve indicated many times I recuse myself from the classroom when I feel neither in agreement or competent to teach the religion subject matter. I have written letters to both my wife’s parish priest and the diocese regarding FHC and the entire situation including my concerns and the concerns repeated by many of you. To date, I have not received word one from either.

Find a new parish.

~Liza

 

[revert_jen]

I’m it’s English teacher and the 8th grade homeroom teacher. So, I teach one group religion class…and as I’ve indicated many times I recuse myself from the classroom when I feel neither in agreement or competent to teach the religion subject matter. I have written letters to both my wife’s parish priest and the diocese regarding FHC and the entire situation including my concerns and the concerns repeated by many of you. To date, I have not received word one from either.

God bless you for doing what you can. I’m sorry that you haven’t received any response to your letters. It sounds like in some ways you take Catholicism more seriously than your wife and the DRE. I respect you for agreeing to disagree in a way that belittles neither the disagreement nor the agreement.

Priests are not infallible. I remember once when I was a teenager, someone invited me to go with their family to an amusement park a few hours away on Sunday. The schedule meant that I would miss all of the Masses on Sunday and it was already too late for the one Saturday evening. I thought it wouldn’t matter if I missed Mass, as it was every week and this opportunity was pretty rare. My Dad thought it mattered, even if I had to miss the trip (which obviously I hadn’t been looking forward to for long, since I found out about it on Saturday). So we asked a priest and he said it was OK for me to miss, as long as I made up for it by going to the (very) early Mass on Monday before school. If my Dad were a different sort of man, I might have felt that I had scored one off him, but he humbly accepted what the priest said and was just sad and didn’t bring it up again, never in my presence saying anything about what he must have been feeling, as he really had reason to expect that the priest would support him in accordance with the teachings of the Church. My Dad was right. It was many years later before I knew that.

DREs are certainly not infallible, as I used to know one that changed how she said the prayers of the Mass to avoid referring to God the Father as “He.” When I asked her about it (pretty humbly for me) she said that if she thought it was better, then it was her right to change them. To her credit, she did not AFAIK teach this idea to the RCIA folks or the kids.

–Jen

 

[justamoose89]

Wow! See this is why so many young Catholics grow up not knowing their faith. It they have a religious educator who doesn’t even know their own faith, how can we expect the kids to know?

Lutheranteach: I’m glad you’re stepping up and trying to do the right thing, even if seemingly no one else is! Kudos

 

[1ke]

I’m it’s English teacher and the 8th grade homeroom teacher. So, I teach one group religion class…and as I’ve indicated many times I recuse myself from the classroom when I feel neither in agreement or competent to teach the religion subject matter.

Yes, as I said, I was not criticizing YOU. I am criticizing your DRE, who placed a non-Catholic in the position of teaching religion in a Catholic school. The fact she finds no issue with that is most troubling. The fact that Catholic students see their religion teacher recuse himself as unable to teach a topic in good conscience-- well, UGH, talk about forming young, impressionable minds in a most inappropriate way.

I have written letters to both my wife’s parish priest and the diocese regarding FHC and the entire situation including my concerns and the concerns repeated by many of you. To date, I have not received word one from either.

Yes, I know you have. It’s a disgrace.

 

[paramedicgirl]

Last weekend my family went on vacation, but we found a Church. My mom, my grandma (grandpa deceased), and I went to Church there. My little brothers (ages 11 and 7) didn’t want to go, so we let them stay. My dad went golfing on Saturday and Sunday and said “The Lord will give me a free pass this weekend.”

Was it a mortal sin for my brothers or my dad not to go to Church?
Was it a sin of my grandma, mom, and I not to make them go to Church?

You all should have gone to Mass. It is a mortal sin to miss a Sunday Mass. There is no such thing as a free pass. The three of you set a good example.

 

[FaithBuild18]

I know this is old but,

I have a family member who is very old and her husband has Alzheimer’s. She does not go to mass on Sunday. Sometimes the priest from her Church brings her communion.

Is it a mortal sin for her to miss mass? She has a deep desire to go but cannot leave her husband, who has been basically in a vegetative state for several years now.

If she is “permitted” to miss mass, what is the rule regarding her receiving communion? Must the priest be bringing her communion every single week? I think he only does so once in a while.

 

[Juliannarose]

I know this is old but,

I have a family member who is very old and her husband has Alzheimer’s. She does not go to mass on Sunday. Sometimes the priest from her Church brings her communion.

Is it a mortal sin for her to miss mass? She has a deep desire to go but cannot leave her husband, who has been basically in a vegetative state for several years now.

If she is “permitted” to miss mass, what is the rule regarding her receiving communion? Must the priest be bringing her communion every single week? I think he only does so once in a while.

In order to miss Mass on Sunday, you need to have good reason. It sounds like this woman has good reason to miss Sunday Mass. She can of course receive communion from her priest. He doesn’t need to bring her communion every week, though it would be nice if he did.

 

[revert_jen]

If she is “permitted” to miss mass, what is the rule regarding her receiving communion? Must the priest be bringing her communion every single week? I think he only does so once in a while.

I believe caring for the sick is one of the examples in the Catechism of a valid reason to miss Mass. Whether it is listed there or not (it’s not supposed to be an exhaustive list), I’m pretty sure it is a valid reason.

A person is obliged to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, preferably (as I recall) during the Easter season. So no, she doesn’t have to receive it every week. Of course, the more often she receives, the better.

–Jen