Questions about 'Sunday obligation' from the outside

[Tommy999]

It is my understanding that in Catholicism, it is a grave sin to miss weekly Mass without a valid reason. There are exceptions, of course, such as illness or emergencies, but my understanding is that if you are not sick and are otherwise able to attend weekly Mass but choose not to attend, it is a grave sin for which you need to seek absolution from a priest or face eternal punishment if it is left unconfessed.

I assume the Sunday obligation is based on Scripture such as the commandment to keep the Lord’s day holy or verses such as " Hebrews 10:25, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (ESV).

Questions of curiosity:

1. In Catholicism, when did the ‘Sunday obligation’ officially become an official Church rule that carries the weight of mortal sin if the person who misses doesn’t have a valid excuse for missing? For instance, did this rule exist during the days of the ECFs or in the 1600’s like it does today, or was it enacted in the past century or two? What was the reason for enacting it? Is it effective in increasing church attendance?
2. Also, for Catholics, would missing church be considered a grave sin if the person was travelling across the country on the interstate, or is the Catholic supposed to locate a Catholic parish somewhere along the way and attend? Is listening to Mass on the radio sufficient when traveling? How about if the person was on-call for work and was planning on attending, but got called away by work on the way to Mass? Just curious if these are valid exceptions or not, and what is the process for getting exempted?
3. For non-Catholics, does your faith tradition have a similar rule? In other words, how does your faith view missing weekly worship attendance? Is it considered a serious sin that may affect your
   standing with God and your faith tradition?

In my Methodist congregation, church attendance is expected and highly encouraged, but it is not a grave sin if you miss (for whatever reason) that could send you to hell if not confessed to clergy. Most people I know attend regularly anyway despite it not being an obligation. The exception of course are those parishioners who only come at Christmas and Easter. When a person misses two or more weeks in a row, friends or family may contact the person to make sure they are OK, provided they interact with friends and/or family at church . If the person is the proverbial “face in the crowd” who doesn’t interact much with others, their non-attendance would probably go unnoticed except to God.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

In the church of Christ (non)denomination, it was considered sinful to miss Sunday services or midweek Bible study.

As to your #2, if a person can reasonably make it to Mass in those circumstances, they should, but those are considered reasonable exceptions to the obligation. You cannot substitute physical presence with something else (radio, TV, etc).

 

[po18guy]

“Do this, as often as you do it, in remembrance of Me.”

That is not a suggestion. Do we love Christ? If so, we keep His commandments. We desire to spend time with Him. We desire to offer him in an unbloody manner to the Father for our sins and the sins of the whole world. But, being parts of His Body, we must also offer ourselves to God the Father for the exact same purpose.

It is not a negative, but a positive, based on love. Think of it as opportunity rather than obligation - even though it is. We live and move and have our being because of him. Do we see no obligation there?

Yet, our response must be one of love.

 

[Dovekin]

Observe the sabbath day—keep it holy, as the LORD, your God, commanded you. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 5:12-14

With the Resurrection, the commemoration of the Lord who saves us took precedence over the sabbath of the Lord who created us. Apart from that, a day dedicated to the Lord has been counted as part of the Ten Commandments since Moses received them from God.

About 100 years ago the regulations that rule our religious life were codified into the Code of Canon Law. This marks something of a change in how regulation is understood. But the Lord’s Day obligation precedes that Code by 3,000+ years.

 

[Michael16]

If I remember right, the Sunday obligation was laid down in the Council of Trent in 1545 in response to the Protestant movements.

As for sense of obligation: I don’t view it as an onerous duty to be put up with. I LOVE the Mass.

 

[Tommy999]

I also look forward to going to church every weekend and rarely miss, unless I am traveling or am on-call at work and get a call before or during service and have to leave.

I assume the vast majority of Catholics on CAF are regulars every week. However, I read a Gallup poll where approximately 70-80% of Catholics don’t attend regularly. I would’ve thought that making attendance a requirement that could affect one’s salvation would make more of a difference in attendance — even if the person’s heart isn’t into it, they would still attend.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

• In Catholicism, when did the ‘Sunday obligation’ officially become an official Church rule that carries the weight of mortal sin if the person who misses doesn’t have a valid excuse for missing? For instance, did this rule exist during the days of the ECFs or in the 1600’s like it does today, or was it enacted in the past century or two? What was the reason for enacting it? Is it effective in increasing church attendance?

It dates back to the time of Constantine (300s) and was definitely established as a rule with penalties before the year 1000 . It’s not a new rule. As for “effective in increasing Church attendance”, if you look at the difference in attendance between Sunday Mass and daily Mass at any given parish, obviously a lot more people are attending on Sunday and one can presume it’s because there’s a rule. People tend to skip doing things they aren’t required to do.

• Also, for Catholics, would missing church be considered a grave sin if the person was travelling across the country on the interstate, or is the Catholic supposed to locate a Catholic parish somewhere along the way and attend?

If you knew you were going to be traveling on a Sunday, then normally you’re expected to figure out where you can fit in a Mass. Hotels used to have lists of Sunday Masses and would post them in the lobby or provide them on request to travelers. Nowadays we have MassTimes app that will show me the Masses on any day in any area of USA by time and on a map, and then I can doublecheck them on the church website, get Google map directions, etc. When I drive on Sundays, I either go to Mass in the morning before I set out or I arrange to stop somewhere along the way for Mass. I also have the option of attending the Saturday evening Mass the night before which fulfills my Sunday obligation.

Obviously if something goes haywire with your plans, like you get lost looking for the Mass in an unfamiliar area and you miss it, then assuming you don’t have another option for Mass during the Sunday, you are off the hook because you made your best effort to attend. There are cities and areas where there are Masses all day long and others where there might be one church only so it depends really on what is available.

If you think you are going to be totally unable to attend Mass because you’re in a remote area, lack transportation, on a plane all Sunday, then the appropriate thing to do would be to request a dispensation in confession before you go on the trip.

This is really not difficult. I’ve traveled my whole life with my parents and on my own and none of us ever had a problem with either finding a Sunday Mass while traveling, or getting a dispensation if it wasn’t going to be possible. And if you think you screwed up and missed Mass when you shouldn’t have, you just mention it in Confession and the priest will tell you if it wasn’t a sin.

(continued next post)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Is listening to Mass on the radio sufficient when traveling?

No, radio or TV or internet Masses don’t count towards any obligation.

How about if the person was on-call for work and was planning on attending, but got called away by work on the way to Mass?

Assuming this was some emergency that just came up, then he’d be excused from the Mass obligation, but if it was reasonably foreseeable that work would interfere with his Mass attendance on a regular basis, then he’d be expected to see if there’s some way he could address that situation so it didn’t happen regularly. For example, be on-call for days other than Sunday; attend a Mass on Saturday evening outside his on-call hours; etc. Most of us are able to arrange these types of things with our employers if we have a job that requires Sunday work from time to time.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If I remember right, the Sunday obligation was laid down in the Council of Trent in 1545 in response to the Protestant movements.

It may have been formalized then, but it had already existed for about 1000+ years in the Church.

 

[Dovekin]

Why do you selectively quote the O.T. but ignore most of the other commands given there? Also, “the seventh day” is Saturday.

In my original note I stated that there was a change from Saturday to Sunday as the Lord’s day, in recognition of the Resurrection.

The question asked was when the Sunday obligation officially begin carrying “the weight of mortal sin”? The beginning of that was the observation of the Sabbath being included alongside “you shall not kill” and “you shall not bear false witness” as one of the Ten Commandments. I “selectively” quoted that because saying “in the OT” seems unhelpful while the specific selection addresses the question asked.

I am not sure I understand your questions.

 

[Todd_Easton]

I don’t know if it was under pain of mortal sin but the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia on “Commandments of the Church” says, in part:

As early, however, as the time of Constantine, especial insistence was put upon the obligation to hear Mass on Sundays and Holy Days…

The Catholic Encyclopedia article on “Sunday” says, in part:

These and similar indications show that during the first three centuries practice and tradition had consecrated the Sunday to the public worship of God by the hearing of the Mass and the resting from work. With the opening of the fourth century positive legislation, both ecclesiastical and civil, began to make these duties more definite. The Council of Elvira (300) decreed: “If anyone in the city neglects to come to church for three Sundays, let him be excommunicated for a short time so that he may be corrected” (xxi). In the Apostolic Constitutions, which belong to the end of the fourth century, both the hearing of the Mass and the rest from work are prescribed, and the precept is attributed to the Apostles.

 

[JanetF]

Also, for Catholics, would missing church be considered a grave sin if the person was travelling across the country on the interstate, or is the Catholic supposed to locate a Catholic parish somewhere along the way and attend? Is listening to Mass on the radio sufficient when traveling? How about if the person was on-call for work and was planning on attending, but got called away by work on the way to Mass? Just curious if these are valid exceptions or not, and what is the process for getting exempted?

Travelling shouldn’t be an hinderance to attending mass on Sundays. I’ve travelled often and have never had a problem finding a catholic church with various mass times, one of which worked for me to attend. It’s not that hard, nowadays with the internet. Before internet, IME, I could just ask the hotel desk clerk where the nearest Catholic church was and they could tell me. Honestly travelling is a pretty lame excuse for missing mass, unless you are in some remote region of the world that doesn’t have the plethora of catholic churches that the US has.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Unfortunately, some of the posts on this forum give the impression that getting to Mass when traveling is some big difficult thing. These posts often seem to come from people who turn out to be young and lacking their own transportation/ having to follow others’ schedule when they travel.

In previous decades they used to put a chapel for Mass right in the airport so even if you were flying on Sunday you had a Mass right there. Sadly they don’t do that anymore.

 

[1ke]

In Catholicism, when did the ‘Sunday obligation’ officially become an official Church rule that carries the weight of mortal sin if the person who misses doesn’t have a valid excuse for missing? For instance, did this rule exist during the days of the ECFs or in the 1600’s like it does today, or was it enacted in the past century or two? What was the reason for enacting it? Is it effective in increasing church attendance?

It has been an obligation since the beginning— as you quoted neglecting to meet in assembly on the Lord’s Day. The Church reminds us of the obligation in numerous canons of councils (the precursors to modern day canon law) through the centuries.

Also, for Catholics, would missing church be considered a grave sin if the person was travelling across the country on the interstate, or is the Catholic supposed to locate a Catholic parish somewhere along the way and attend?

This is a prudential matter. If a Catholic can reasonably attend Mass while traveling, they should do so. If one cannot, then there is no obligation.

A person can ask their pastor for a dispensation for times when they want or need to forego Mass even though they could go. A pastor can grant this.

Is listening to Mass on the radio sufficient when traveling?

No. If one cannot attend there is no obligation. Listening to or watching mass is great, but does not substitute for or fulfill the obligation.

How about if the person was on-call for work and was planning on attending, but got called away by work on the way to Mass?

Then there is no obligation. Work is a legitimate reason.

Just curious if these are valid exceptions or not, and what is the process for getting exempted?

If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot go, there is no process because you can make that decision on your own.

If you foresee a situation where you need a dispensation— then you can ask your pastor for one.

 

[Tommy999]

It sounds like if there is a will, there is a way to get to Mass for most travelers, provided the person knows how to use technology or knows whom to ask to obtain that information, and provided they are not in a remote area of a place like Montana.

I was imagining for a minute that I was Catholic and deciding what I would do when traveling. Currently, I just channel surf and find a radio station with a reasonably-sounding pastor with a reasonable gospel message that I listen to while “booking it” along the interstate. I sometimes have to drive up to 14 hours in a day, and although finding a physical Catholic church would be a challenge, it sounds like it wouldn’t be insurmountable provided the person knows how to use technology, such as smart phones that have Siri or another app to locate places.

 

[Tommy999]

Thanks for answering al of my questions, 1ke. I’m impressed by your thoroughness.

 

[QwertyGirl]

I assume the vast majority of Catholics on CAF are regulars every week. However, I read a Gallup poll where approximately 70-80% of Catholics don’t attend regularly. I would’ve thought that making attendance a requirement that could affect one’s salvation would make more of a difference in attendance — even if the person’s heart isn’t into it, they would still attend.

I think most see it as an arbitrary rule/requirement, and don’t believe it is of much (if any) consequence.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I would’ve thought that making attendance a requirement that could affect one’s salvation would make more of a difference in attendance — even if the person’s heart isn’t into it, they would still attend.

Speaking as somebody who spent months or even years at a time not going to Mass out of laziness, nerves and general life priorities being out of whack, not through any genuine lack of belief or big issue with the Church, it’s pretty easy to convince oneself that God doesn’t really care about all those things that are supposed to send you to Hell, like fornication, masturbation, porn, missing Sunday Mass, etc.

You miss for a week or two, God doesn’t strike you with a lightning bolt, you miss more often, pretty soon you just don’t go. It’s a slippery slope and before you know it you’re a Chreaster or not even.

One day if you’re lucky you realize you really fell off track and should get back on.

With respect to Hell being a motivator for anything, Fr. Mike has a pretty good video where he explains that nowadays people generally think that if you’re a “good person” which means “not Hitler”, you won’t go to Hell. So Hell doesn’t really carry much weight except with folks like the scrupulous and rigorous population of CAF.

 

[Loud-living-dogma]

My pastor sometimes says “if you’re too busy to pray, maybe you’re busier than God intends you to be”.
If someone has a job where they travel a lot, then they can probably find a way to make it happen, or can get a dispensation. Don’t forget that for Catholics there is usually a Saturday evening Mass nearby that would fulfill the Sunday obligation.

 

[RoseScented]

In previous decades they used to put a chapel for Mass right in the airport so even if you were flying on Sunday you had a Mass right there. Sadly they don’t do that anymore.

Hopefully this will bring you a sense of light, but I’ve flown multiple times where I had to work out how to get to mass and every airport that I was potentially going to be in had a chapel with a mass available. Not always at a good time, and I never had to go because my departure/arrival locations had mass times that worked, but the chapels and mass at airports does still exist in some places.