The Ascension/Day of Obligation Problem

[HopefulShepherd]

Good morning everyone,

I am from CT, and looking at my calendar I noticed that next Thursday (5/9) is the Ascension and a day of obligation. When I saw this my heart dropped, because I am a teacher and I signed-up to chaperone our field trip to Washington D.C. (the trip is Wednesday through Friday), and there is no way I will have a chance to get to church. Should I attempt to back out now? I don’t want to disappoint the school, but I definitely don’t want to sin and not go to church. Can anyone please help me? Thank you all so very much.

 

[bzkoss236]

Good morning everyone,

I am from CT, and looking at my calendar I noticed that next Thursday (5/9) is the Ascension and a day of obligation. When I saw this my heart dropped, because I am a teacher and I signed-up to chaperone our field trip to Washington D.C. (the trip is Wednesday through Friday), and there is no way I will have a chance to get to church. Should I attempt to back out now? I don’t want to disappoint the school, but I definitely don’t want to sin and not go to church. Can anyone please help me? Thank you all so very much.

You should talk with your local pastor to be sure, but, if you, by no fault of your own (meaning that you weren’t purposefully trying) you absolutely cannot make it to mass, your obligation is lifted for this instance.

 

[coachdennis]

Good morning everyone,

I am from CT, and looking at my calendar I noticed that next Thursday (5/9) is the Ascension and a day of obligation. When I saw this my heart dropped, because I am a teacher and I signed-up to chaperone our field trip to Washington D.C. (the trip is Wednesday through Friday), and there is no way I will have a chance to get to church. Should I attempt to back out now? I don’t want to disappoint the school, but I definitely don’t want to sin and not go to church. Can anyone please help me? Thank you all so very much.

This link may help clarify the confusion. If my memory is correct, I believe since you will not be in an area that celebrates the holyday on Thursday you are obligated to go since teh Ascension Thursday feast will not be celebrated.

catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Ascension_Holy.htm

 

[1ke]

there is no way I will have a chance to get to church.

If it were a Holy Day in DC, it is quite likely that you would indeed be able to attend-- there would be many opportunities and DC has good public transportation.

However, in DC the holy day is transferred to Sunday.

So, Thursday is not a holy day in the place you will be and you have no obligation.

Should I attempt to back out now?

No. I don’t see any reason to.

I don’t want to disappoint the school, but I definitely don’t want to sin and not go to church. Can anyone please help me? Thank you all so very much.

a) You have no obligation in DC on Thursday
b) If it were the case that you did, you would probably be able to fulfill it pretty easily
c) If you thought you could not fulfill it, you could be dispensed from it by your pastor

 

[TarkanAttila]

One other thing:

While clearly celebration of the Ascension has been moved to Sunday in your part of the world, even if it were not, you could have celebrated the vigil on the day before - any Mass after 3:00 PM would have satisfied this requirement.

 

[aemcpa]

One other thing:

While clearly celebration of the Ascension has been moved to Sunday in your part of the world, even if it were not, you could have celebrated the vigil on the day before - any Mass after 3:00 PM would have satisfied this requirement.

The OP said it’s a 3-day trip.

You could just go to Mass anyway out of devotion, even if not out of obligation.

 

[HopefulShepherd]

Thank you all for your help!