When I cannot get to Mass on Sunday, can I fulfill my obligation by watching the TV Mass for shut-ins?
The TV Mass, which is a convenience for people unable to attend Mass, does NOT satisfy anyone’s Mass obligation. Our duty to attend Mass in person on Sunday is a serious one. A serious and grave excuse, however, can cause this duty and obligation to cease altogether. For instance, the kind of sickness that would keep one home from work or school excuses one from attending Mass. Certain kinds of occupations may prevent one from attending Mass, such as firefighters, law enforcement officers, members of the armed forces on duty, etc. A grave duty of charity can also legitimately keep one from Mass, such as taking an accident victim to the hospital. If you are in doubt about these matters, consult your parish priest or your priest-confessor. When you are excused from attending Mass, it is very well to try to “attend by way of television.” This is why the generous benefactors who make the TV Masses possible should be gratefully acknowledge in our prayers.
What about arriving earlier to get a seat or attending a nearby church with a less crowded Mass?Our church is so crowded at some Masses that it’s standing room only. Is it possible to get permission to do a closed circuit television broadcast of a Mass to a nearby church hall which would satisfy the Sunday obligation? At communion time our priest could walk next door and distribute communion.
If your parish is growing that much, maybe they need to consider building a bigger church.Arriving early to get a seat or attending a nearby church for Mass doesn’t solve the problem that my church faces. Should we tell parishioners that our church can no longer serve their needs and to please find another church somewhere to attend Mass? Or would it be permissible under Canon Law to offer a closed circuit TV Mass that satisfies the Sunday obligation?
I’m not a canon lawyer, but I believe it is OK, in extreme circumstances, for the pastor to broadcast the Mass VIA CLOSED CIRCUIT TV, to another room where the overflow crowd is present. In such a situation those present by closed circuit TV should participate just as fully as if they were able to be present in the nave of the church. This is different, though, from staying at home and watching the Mass on normal broadcast TV, which definitely WOULD NOT fulfill the Sunday obligation.Arriving early to get a seat or attending a nearby church for Mass doesn’t solve the problem that my church faces. Should we tell parishioners that our church can no longer serve their needs and to please find another church somewhere to attend Mass? Or would it be permissible under Canon Law to offer a closed circuit TV Mass that satisfies the Sunday obligation?
What about building a bigger church? There wouldn’t be need to get another priest if more people could attend the same Mass.Our church already seats 1100 counting our cry room with additional chairs placed in the aisles. We have two priests, but in our diocese, vocations have been quite scarce. In fact, the diocese has been making plans for existing priests to handle other existing worship sites as our priest population ages. Our parish is an exception with the very rapid growth. Our parish was split with another parish 4 years ago and we “lost” 1200 families, but we are growing at a rate where we will exceed our previous membership of 4400 families. I think it would be impossible for the diocese to build a new parish because of the priest situation. You could split us again I suppose, but can you “force” parishioners to worship at a different, distant church? Even after our previous split, many of our “former” parishioners still worship at our church.
As for my original question, does anyone know for sure if a closed circuit TV Mass would meet the Sunday obligation if the broadcast is made to another building on our campus located approximately 200 feet away? I asked this question on the “Ask an Apologist” forum on Tuesday, but haven’t received a reply. I’m on the Finance Council of my church, and I’m trying to think of additional solutions to meet our parish’s needs.
It sounds like they do not have enough priests to do that.How about adding another Mass to the schedule? Seems to be the cheapest way to solve an over crowded situation.