Sunday Obligation?

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dandn5000

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Is the Sunday obligation considered met if you do not attend a Catholic Mass, but instead a Protestant service?

I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t, but I thought I’d check to be safe. I occasionally go to my aunt’s Congregational church when I’m visiting at her house and I’ve had a few questions asked of me about it.

Thanks in advance!
 
Maybe I should have been a bit more clear. I’m not freely deciding, “Oh, I think I’ll skip Mass and go to a different church this week”, its more so “Oh, I’m at Aunt Nancy’s, I’ll either go to her church or skip outright.” I don’t have the opportunity to go to a Mass, so I go to a different service instead.

Sorry if I was a bit misleading…😊
 
You are excused if you can’t attend. If you can’t get to your church you may as well go with your Aunt.
 
Your obligation, if you are Catholic, is to go to Mass at a Catholic church every Sunday and holy day of obligation. Is there a reason you can’t go to Catholic Mass while (or before or after) your aunt is at her church? Are you a child who cannot drive yourself? Have you asked her to take you? Does she have a Catholic neighbor who could take you?

A service at a Congregational church is not the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where we are mystically present at Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary, where we receive the REAL body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus in Holy Communion. Jesus said, “Do this in memory of Me,” and His Church, with His authority, tells us we are to do this every Sunday.

If you are sick, there is no obligation. If you know ahead of time that you will truly be unable to attend for a reason other than illness, you should ask your pastor ahead of time for a dispensation from the obligation.

By the way, when you attend her church, you are not allowed to partake in their communion.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
Your obligation, if you are Catholic, is to go to Mass at a Catholic church every Sunday and holy day of obligation. Is there a reason you can’t go to Catholic Mass while (or before or after) your aunt is at her church? Are you a child who cannot drive yourself? Have you asked her to take you? Does she have a Catholic neighbor who could take you?

A service at a Congregational church is not the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where we are mystically present at Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary, where we receive the REAL body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus in Holy Communion. Jesus said, “Do this in memory of Me,” and His Church, with His authority, tells us we are to do this every Sunday.

If you are sick, there is no obligation. If you know ahead of time that you will truly be unable to attend for a reason other than illness, you should ask your pastor ahead of time for a dispensation from the obligation.

By the way, when you attend her church, you are not allowed to partake in their communion.
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Well, besides the fact that their services are looong and we are also there beforehand for Sunday School, it wouldn’t work out well to go before or after. The local Catholic church doesn’t have a Mass on Sunday after noon, when their church lets out, so that wouldn’t really work. I am underage, so I couldn’t go myself, and I see her so rarely(she lives a good three hours away) that I don’t know of any Catholic neighbors or anything to go with. I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable asking people I didn’t know to take me to Mass, anyway.

I knew about not taking the communion, but they have communion in their church so rarely it really doesn’t matter. From what I understand(which admittedly isn’t much) they don’t have it more than a handful of times a year.
 
dandn5000 said:
Well, besides the fact that their services are looong and we are also there beforehand for Sunday School, it wouldn’t work out well to go before or after. The local Catholic church doesn’t have a Mass on Sunday after noon, when their church lets out, so that wouldn’t really work. I am underage, so I couldn’t go myself, and I see her so rarely(she lives a good three hours away) that I don’t know of any Catholic neighbors or anything to go with. I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable asking people I didn’t know to take me to Mass, anyway.
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That might be a valid reason. Next time you are at your own church, ask your own pastor how to handle it. He might give you permission to miss Mass on those days.
 
jssaxon said:
It sounds like an act of Mercy to go with her. 👍
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Well, I’m not too fond of their pastor…but then again, neither is my aunt. :cool: Last time I went and he was there(I’ve been there since, but he was away for a funeral and so they had the associate pastor do the service), the sign outside the church said the sermon was going to be about The Da Vinci Code. Alright, I thought, cool, I’ve heard about this book and maybe I’ll hear a bit more about it. Ohh, no. The first quarter of the sermon was about the Da Vinci Code. The other three quarters was, respectively, about the Gnostic Gospels and the Catholic Bible. He spent quite a lot of time talking about how the Church added the deuterocanonical books at the Council of Trent, while I sat there and just sort of stared. It was interesting, to say the least.
 
dandn5000 said:
Well, I’m not too fond of their pastor…but then again, neither is my aunt.
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Maybe you could invite her to come with you to the Catholic church. It sounds like you have a wonderful opportunity to share the Catholic faith with her — what we really believe, not what many Protestants think we believe.
 
dandn5000 said:
Is the Sunday obligation considered met if you do not attend a Catholic Mass, but instead a Protestant service?

I!
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No a Catholic is obliged to assist at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of obligation. Since non-Catholic denominations do not have Mass, no their services do not fulfill the obligation. Orthodox do have proper liturgy, but attending their liturgy would fulfill the obligation only if no Catholic Church is available, not the situation in the US.

It is certainly alright to attend a non-Catholic service with relatives for the sake of family harmony, but one may not partake of their communion service, and the Sunday obligation for Mass remains. If you genuinely cannot get to Mass, there is no obligation, but if there is a Catholic Church across the street from auntie’s church, and you elect to go to her service, missing the only Catholic service, that is wrong.

One possible exception that comes to mind, and you would have to ask your priest about this, is if auntie is to ill or feeble to get to church on her own and you are assisting her, causing you to miss Mass, that might be a worthy act of charity, but IMO would require a dispensation from your priest. I received such a dispensation for a couple of weeks to serve a blind neighbor in this way.
 
Many Catholic churches have a Saturday evening vigil Mass (any time 4:00 p.m. or later) that fulfills the Sunday obligation. You could go to Mass on Saturday evening and to church with your aunt on Sunday.
 
dandn5000 said:
Well, I’m not too fond of their pastor…but then again, neither is my aunt. :cool: Last time I went and he was there(I’ve been there since, but he was away for a funeral and so they had the associate pastor do the service), the sign outside the church said the sermon was going to be about The Da Vinci Code. Alright, I thought, cool, I’ve heard about this book and maybe I’ll hear a bit more about it. Ohh, no. The first quarter of the sermon was about the Da Vinci Code. The other three quarters was, respectively, about the Gnostic Gospels and the Catholic Bible. He spent quite a lot of time talking about how the Church added the deuterocanonical books at the Council of Trent, while I sat there and just sort of stared. It was interesting, to say the least.
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It sounds like you have a good reason to bow out. Why don’t you stay at your Aunt’s house while she goes. You can read the added books of the Catholic Bible as a substitute!👍
 
Talk to your priest.

There are many variables here.

First, the non-Catholic service does not fulfill your obligation.

Your obligation is to attend Catholic Mass.

Now, the variables come in regarding whether or not you absolutely *cannot *go to a Catholic Mass while visiting-- or if you *can *but are choosing not to pursue it. Is there a Saturday vigil Mass? Can you go to the Catholic Church while your aunt goes to her church? Can your aunt take you to the vigil Mass? Do you have a driver’s license and use of your aunt’s car or your own car while there?

Only you know the honest answers to these questions.
 
1ke said:
Talk to your priest.

There are many variables here.

First, the non-Catholic service does not fulfill your obligation.

Your obligation is to attend Catholic Mass.

Now, the variables come in regarding whether or not you absolutely *cannot *go to a Catholic Mass while visiting-- or if you *can *but are choosing not to pursue it. Is there a Saturday vigil Mass? Can you go to the Catholic Church while your aunt goes to her church? Can your aunt take you to the vigil Mass? Do you have a driver’s license and use of your aunt’s car or your own car while there?

Only you know the honest answers to these questions.
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An option is to get in touch directly with the Catholic Church in your aunt’s neighbourhood and see if any of the parishioners there are willing to give you a lift to Church and back.

I know it may be uncomfortable for you, but better than missing out.

If your Aunt’s service is actually on at the same time as a Catholic Mass there’s no reason why she can’t drop you off there and pick you up again afterwards.
 
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