Who may dispense obligation to attend Mass in absence of Pastor?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Inman
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I

Inman

Guest
I am going on vacation soon. There will be two sundays while we are away. Our pastor is on vacation and won’t return until after we leave. We have a priest that is the chaplin of a nearby catholic hospital that regulary assits with mass, confessions, etc. I am not sure if he is assigned as assitant or not, although I doubt it since they don’t list him in the bulletin. The hospital is probably in the boundries of our parish.

Would he be able to dispense our obligation to attend mass on those two Sundays? My quesitons i not would he or just he dispense the obligation, but only whether he would have the ability.

FWIW, I intend to try to attend mass if at all possible. However, due to language barriers, tranportation, etc., I am concerned will we miss one or both Sundays due to not being able to find a parish. We travel on one of the Sundays, I don’t know whether the nearby parishes have Saturday masses or not. I want the dispensation just in case.

Thanks in advance.
 
Where are you going that attending Mass would be difficult?
Kathy
 
Inman said:
I am going on vacation soon. There will be two sundays while we are away. Our pastor is on vacation and won’t return until after we leave. We have a priest that is the chaplin of a nearby catholic hospital that regulary assits with mass, confessions, etc. I am not sure if he is assigned as assitant or not, although I doubt it since they don’t list him in the bulletin. The hospital is probably in the boundries of our parish.

Would he be able to dispense our obligation to attend mass on those two Sundays? My quesitons i not would he or just he dispense the obligation, but only whether he would have the ability.

FWIW, I intend to try to attend mass if at all possible. However, due to language barriers, tranportation, etc., I am concerned will we miss one or both Sundays due to not being able to find a parish. We travel on one of the Sundays, I don’t know whether the nearby parishes have Saturday masses or not. I want the dispensation just in case.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Ask the priest at the hospital? It seems if you are traveling on a Sunday and it’s impossible for you to attend Mass it would be ok even without a dispensation. I travel some and find that the internet is great for finding churches close by where I’ll be staying or traveling through; I map them through the internet as well and I’ve never had trouble with finding them. I also check out if the parish I’ll be attending has a website and look up Mass times. Go to Vigil Mass too if you can’t make it on Sunday.
 
Inman said:
I am going on vacation soon. There will be two sundays while we are away. Our pastor is on vacation and won’t return until after we leave. We have a priest that is the chaplin of a nearby catholic hospital that regulary assits with mass, confessions, etc. I am not sure if he is assigned as assitant or not, although I doubt it since they don’t list him in the bulletin. The hospital is probably in the boundries of our parish.

Would he be able to dispense our obligation to attend mass on those two Sundays? My quesitons i not would he or just he dispense the obligation, but only whether he would have the ability.

FWIW, I intend to try to attend mass if at all possible. However, due to language barriers, tranportation, etc., I am concerned will we miss one or both Sundays due to not being able to find a parish. We travel on one of the Sundays, I don’t know whether the nearby parishes have Saturday masses or not. I want the dispensation just in case.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Inman,
First, the hospital priest would not have the jurisdiction to dispense you from the Sunday obligation, so asking for the dispensation would be pointless. However, keep in mind that a dispensation might not be necessary. If you are truly unable to attend Mass on Sunday, and you make a sincere effort to try, the obligation is lifted “automatically.” You don’t need a dispensation. You might want to talk to the hospital priest to get his counsel on the matter, to help explain it to you.
 
Setting aside the points addressed by others, pastors have the faculty to dispense from this precept of canon 1245 for a just reason and in accord with the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop by virtue of office. However, others may have the faculty to dispense by virtue of delegation from the diocesan bishop (it is among my faculties, in fact, along with the faculty to commute the obligation to other pious works).

Thus, a chaplain may or may not have it, and if so, may or may not be able to exercise it outside of his hospital ministry. It depends on what the diocesan bishop has chosen to do. One would simply have to ask the priest or deacon if he has the faculty. One who has it, would know.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top