Saturday Mass While Traveling?

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This particular place I am staying is rural and has a shortage of priests, so the local Bishop has allowed the Church in the closest town to have Sunday Mass on Saturday morning.

Since I am not a permanent resident in this Diocese, can I still attend the Saturday Mass instead of the Sunday Mass (which is held in a town farther away)?

Also, on a completely unrelated note, if you are traveling on a Sunday, is it okay to attend Saturday Mass instead of Sunday Mass?
 
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FCS said:
This particular place I am staying is rural and has a shortage of priests, so the local Bishop has allowed the Church in the closest town to have Sunday Mass on Saturday.

Since I am not a permanent resident in this Diocese, can I still attend the Saturday Mass instead of the Sunday Mass?

Also, on a completely unrelated note, if you are traveling on a Sunday, is it okay to attend Saturday Mass instead of Sunday Mass?
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Sunday and Holy Day obligations can be met on the calendar day of it, and also in the evening of the preceding calendar day, so it could not be just any time on the day before.

If you are a Latin Catholic having domicile where you are living, then when you travel you use those holy day rules and not those of the country you are visiting (when the visit is less than three months).

CIC (Latin Canon Law)
Can. 12 §3. Laws established for a particular territory bind those for whom they were issued as well as those who have a domicile or quasi-domicile there and who at the same time are actually residing there, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 13.

Can. 13 §1. Particular laws are not presumed to be personal but territorial unless it is otherwise evident.
§2. Travelers are not bound:
1/ by the particular laws of their own territory as long as they are absent from it unless either the transgression of those laws causes harm in their own territory or the laws are personal;
2/ by the laws of the territory in which they are present, with the exception of those laws which provide for public order, which determine the formalities of acts, or which regard immovable goods located in the territory.
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§3. Transients are bound by both universal and particular laws which are in force in the place where they are present.

Can. 100 A person is said to be: a resident (incola) in the place where the person has a domicile; a temporary resident (advena) in the place where the person has a quasi-domicile; a traveler (peregrinus) if the person is outside the place of a domicile or quasi-domicile which is still retained; a transient (vagus) if the person does not have a domicile or quasi-domicile anywhere.
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While you would typically be held to the rules of your diocese, if Saturday morning Mass is all that is available in the area you are visiting, it certainly should count. It has been approved by a bishop afterall.

When traveling on Sundays, you are always welcome to attend a Saturday Vigil Mass to fulfill your Sunday obligation. You can always attend Saturday Vigil and have it count.
 
WingsOfEagles said:
While you would typically be held to the rules of your diocese, if Saturday morning Mass is all that is available in the area you are visiting, it certainly should count. It has been approved by a bishop afterall.

When traveling on Sundays, you are always welcome to attend a Saturday Vigil Mass to fulfill your Sunday obligation. You can always attend Saturday Vigil and have it count.
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It doesn’t have to be a Vigil Mass. The obligation for Sundays and holy days is fulfilled by attending ANY Mass if after 4 pm or so. This has been discussed so many times!
 
Just to clarify, the Saturday Mass is in the morning, but it is the same readings as a Sunday Mass would have.
 
paperwight said:
It doesn’t have to be a Vigil Mass. The obligation for Sundays and holy days is fulfilled by attending ANY Mass if after 4 pm or so. This has been discussed so many times!
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To be even more pedantic, a regularly scheduled Saturday evening mass is only informally called a “Vigil Mass”. True vigil mass are only held for certain major feasts, and have distinct readings or liturgical customs attached to them. Any mass celebrated Saturday evening to Sunday at midnight fulfills the obligation, regardless of the particulars of the liturgy.

Be careful of trying to be technical! 😉
 
paperwight said:
The obligation for Sundays and holy days is fulfilled by attending ANY Mass if after 4 pm or so.
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The first time I was in Las Vegas (1989?), before I moved here, the shrine hadn’t been built at the southern strip, so the cathedral (actually on the strip, donated and paid for by casinos in return for a promise of something like a 4am mass for workers coming off shift Sunday morning!) had masses every hour on the hour, while overlapping masses were held on the half hour–and all were full (and about 10% of the collection was in chips; the priest told visitors not to feel shy about that). So in addition to something like 16 masses between Saturday and Sunday, there was a 2:30 P.M. Saturday Mass listed as meeting the Sunday obligation “For tourists only.”

Now the shrine is open–but that led to other odd events. Once it was built, it’s existence got in the way of building a casino within the specified distance from a church (I want to say it was the Luxor, behind Excalibur).

The bishop had to go to some effort to waive the provision, and was more politic about it than the obvious, “Why do you morons think we built this here?” 🙂
 
paperwight said:
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WingsOfEagles:
While you would typically be held to the rules of your diocese, if Saturday morning Mass is all that is available in the area you are visiting, it certainly should count. It has been approved by a bishop afterall.

When traveling on Sundays, you are always welcome to attend a Saturday Vigil Mass to fulfill your Sunday obligation. You can always attend Saturday Vigil and have it count.
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It doesn’t have to be a Vigil Mass. The obligation for Sundays and holy days is fulfilled by attending ANY Mass if after 4 pm or so. This has been discussed so many times!
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Where I live, any Mass after 4p will not be a Daily Mass. Perhaps, someone might have a wedding at that time. We call them Vigil Mass to indicate time of day. Just FYI that writing “this has been discussed so many times” is arrogant and uncharitable. Given the original question, the info was also irrelevant.
 
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If you can not make it to Mass for circumstances such as having to travel too far (1 hour each way or more may be a standard for that), or other things (illness, bad weather, having to work, etc.), the obligation is lifted, and you are ok.

As to the Sat. AM mass… I was in a diocese with a similar situation. A question was raised about it, the research done, and it turns out this is not a possibility. Sunday mass that is not on Sunday or Saturday evening is not Sunday mass and does not meet the obligation (which is lifted if there is no other Mass within a reasonable distance at the correct time).
 
Thank you! The Bishop approved the Saturday AM Mass because of a shortage of priests and a long travel distance between towns
 
We had a priest from Mexico (I think), who travelled from town to town in his far-flung parish. I think he could only get to each town once every 8 weeks or so.

I remember in school reading about traveling priests during the days of the US development of the west, and of course the English Catholics had a terrible time during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
 
Yes, they definitely did have a terrible time, although the Irish had it pretty bad too. Ive heard that the English had to hold Mass in their basements secretly.

I was wondering- do you think that Sunday Mass 45 minutes away would be a circumstance when I would not have to go to Sunday mass?
 
Ok, for a more definitive answer, you’d have to ask a priest.

The moral theology book I got my info from listed 1 hour away as an example of an unreasonable distance in a different circumstance, but of course there are many other factors. This is why it would be best to discuss with a priest.

There are also factors regarding travelling, and I don’t really know about them.

Also, a priest can give you a dispensation 🙂
 
@FCS
Well, I don’t mean that missing Mass is something to smile about, but having a dispensation puts one’s mind at rest about the issue.
 
In point of fact, one has to be very careful in asking questions like this on this forum – as well as attempting to answer it.

This forum has very few clerics on it…and they tend be Americans with a rather limited international scope. Most of the responders are laity.

I have no idea where the Original Poster is – so there is no meaningful way to answer.

The Apostolic Vicariates of the Arabian Peninsula, to use just one example, have an indult from the Holy See regarding the weekly Mass obligation that is tailored to their specific situations and the possibilities of the clergy and the laity in countries that are overwhelmingly Muslim and where Sunday is an ordinary work and school day.

The one that the original poster would need to speak with is an official of the chancery of the diocese wherever s/he is. That person would be able to speak about the arrangement that has been put in place in the instance that is being asked about.
 
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