Sunday Dinner. Mother's Day

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I have been pretty resistant to do any commercial activity on Sundays. The exception might be to buying milk for the kids if we are out. Otherwise my wife and extended family could care less; they go to church only at my insistence.

Many people in the the area(culturally), Christians, Catholic or otherwise, like to go out to eat for Sunday lunch after church. Mother’s Day is this Sunday and everyone wants to go out to eat brunch/lunch. I am already dragging everyone to church so I am hesitant to insist we not go but I wonder if I should not order a meal(actually just a buffett).

Should I not cause conflict? Should I insist on holiness? Opinions?
 
There is no law of the Church that prohibits eating out, shopping, going to a movie or a ball game or a museum or a concert on Sunday.

Making Sunday a day of “can’t” is not going to win hearts for Christ. Make Sunday a day to look forward to. Make it the most joyfilled day of the week! Mass then out for a meal or take a pic nic to the park on regular Sunday.

On Mother’s Day, make your wife feel like a queen!
 
There’s nothing wrong or unholy about eating out on a Sunday. In fact, I’ve frequently seen it suggested here to go out and eat with family after Mass.
 
On Sunday, you’re supposed to be “feasting” not fasting, and you’re supposed to have family time. Going out for a family meal fits both expectations. I currently have no family members around as all are deceased, but when I was growing up my parents and I often went out to Sunday brunch after church, as did lots of other people from our parish. It was normal and expected. So if you want to go, then go.

I don’t see Sunday restaurant meals as particularly “unholy”, nor do I see the person who refuses to engage in commercial activity on that day as being more holy than others. We aren’t fundamentalists and we don’t follow the OT Jewish interpretations of the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, man wasn’t made for the Sabbath. As long as you go to church and spend some family time and prayer time then what you do with the rest of the day is your choice.
 
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By eating out you are causing others to work…breaking the Lord’s day, which they wouldn’t otherwise do.
 
If people are scheduled to work on a Sunday, then they’ll be there regardless of whether you are. Consider perhaps that they need to work in order to feed their own families. There’s nothing inherently wrong with eating out on a Sunday.
 
if none of the people leaving church showed up then that business would close its doors and the people working wouldn’t need to be there that day.
 
Thing is, it is not forbidden to work on “the Lord’s day”. Don’t place burdens on your family that are not part of Church teaching. This is your personal opinion.

We are to avoid servile labor. Around here, restaurant workers are paid for their work and they are not in servile conditions.
 
Are you kidding me?
They are literally called a server, running around, on their feet carrying heavy plates, getting sweaty; they will be exhausted by the end of the day, if not before. It is not like me working on my computer from home because the kids are napping.
Paid for their work? I don’t think slaves ever had a choice to work on a Sunday or not.
Ever noticed how Church teaching(‘the rules’) is like the bare minimum, as opposed to being ideal? Daily Mass, no worries, it exist but you shouldn’t attend(/sarcasm).

Church teaching is that if your boss says you need to work on a Sunday (you know, to feed your family) and you go to work it is not a grave sin. I was asking how much should I insist my own household participate in something less than holy; but somehow that got turned into ‘not a problem at all, maybe even a good idea…’ Wrong.
 
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The Catechism is clear and simple:

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2042.htm

2042 The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor”) requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honoring the Mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days.
 
People need to eat every day of the week. People need health care every day of the week. If you wouldn’t hesitate to go to the doctor on a Sunday, why make a big deal about eating out? I don’t understand the difference between making a nice Sunday dinner at home and going out to eat.

Take your wife out to eat and let her enjoy a nice meal on Mother’s Day. If she’s already not particularly inclined to attend Mass on her own, why make it even less attractive to her by insisting she not spend Mother’s Day the way she’d like based on rules you made up rather than what the Church requires?
 
Correct, no argument there.
However, did you notice the implication “2042 The first precept…” you know because there is more.
 
Thank you for your opinion, this is more to what I was asking.

Not the above ‘let’s find the lowest common denominator’

forgot to add; Doctors because you are sick, a little different than going out to eat so somewhat can serve you.

Just for context we eat out about 1-2x a month and I guess others including people here eat out several times a week or even a majority of their meals, so they may not see this as that big of a deal or that they have the option of eating a good meal at home(I, and the other husbands, know how to cook).
 
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Yes, the second precept is about confession.

Third is annual reception of the Eucharist

Fourth precept is observe the days of fast and abstinence

Fifth is to provide for the needs of the Church by giving time, talent and treasure.

There used to be another, to marry according to the laws of the Church.
 
hoping4more said:
if none of the people leaving church showed up then that business would close its doors and the people working wouldn’t need to be there that day.
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How does that help? It doesn’t help the community to have a business close its doors, people lose jobs, community loses revenue, and those of us who don’t have a hangup about eating out on Sunday having nowhere to go and having to drive over to the next town to eat.

Seriously, the Church doesn’t forbid restaurants to be open on Sunday or people to work in them or people to eat in them. If you yourself choose to not eat out, fine, but make it clear it’s your private choice and don’t impose it on the rest of us Catholics or go around acting like the Church teaches this, because it doesn’t; also don’t act like you’re somehow holier than the rest of the group for making this private choice of yours.
 
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It’s not a sin whether you order a meal or not so I would say do what you want. But it’s also not a sin if your family orders a meal on Sunday so I would not insist on restricting them.
 
So if you don’t eat while you are out, how will you get food? Are you really creating new labor or are you shifting it?
 
Of course they would work anyway not only are the majority not Catholic but even Catholics are not bound by your personal o theology. I’ve been at the Vatican on sundays and there is a lot of work going on. Where do you get this rigid theology that frankly isn’t there? It must cause horrible strife in your family, and that cant be holy…
 
But many people who work on Sunday WANT to work to earn the money they need to pay their bills!
 
But…people don’t want their workplace to go out of business and close their doors!

Lots of people who work on Sunday are working a second or even a third job to meet their expenses-- I say, GOOD FOR THEM! for being responsible and working instead of begging for money or defaulting on bills.
 
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