Is Sunday Mass Mandatory?

your questions answered by a local pastor Dear Fr. Kerper Is Sunday Mass mandatory?

If you would like to ask Father Kerper a Dear Father Kerper: My question response to such massive love? question, please e-mail [email protected]. is about mandatory Sunday Mass. I really Perhaps thinking about family relation- enjoy attending Sunday Mass, and my ships will help you to see my point. Imag- We need to probe the quality of our husband and I never miss, even when ine a husband asking something as silly as personal response to the Divine, instead we travel. Participating in Sunday Mass this: How often must I kiss my wife during of seeking possible “dispensations” and in other countries and even other states the month? Every day? Once a week? Does “acceptable excuses” for skipping Mass. is always joyful and interesting. But I’m a a kiss given on Saturday afternoon take care Our principal concern should be personal little confused. Priests have told me that of Sunday morning? Or think of an adult relationship, not mere legal observance. Catholics are obliged to attend Mass every child weighing this problem: How often do As to your question about Mass at- Sunday. However, I have also heard that I need to eat dinner with my mother? Does tendance during the Christmas and Easter the obligation is just for the Christmas and eating with her on Christmas Day cover for seasons, I suspect that someone has passed Easter seasons. So, which is it? her birthday, which falls on December 27? on to you a confused understanding of the We cannot legislate minimum require- so-called Easter Duty. Some history will o give a helpful answer, I need to ments for loving personal relationships. help to clarify. change the word obligation, which That’s why the New Testament says nothing In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council you use, to responsibility. directly about “mandatory” weekly Mass held in Rome enacted a law requiring True enough, church law says attendance. This conspicuous absence of a Catholics to receive Holy Communion at Tthat “Sunday is to be observed as the fore- specific law in Scripture does not mean Mass least once during the Easter Season. In the most holy day of obligation.” (cf. Canon 1246.1) is optional or of no real importance. Not at 16th century, the Council of Trent reaf- This fact alone, however, reinforces two all. Rather, it powerfully demonstrates that firmed this law. More recently, the 1917 bad notions: first, that worship is so unap- the Lord proposes worship, specifically the Code of Canon Law, and its 1983 revision, pealing people must be compelled to do Eucharist, as an invitation offered lovingly, codified this legal requirement. it by mandate; and second, that Catholics rather than as a cold, legal mandate. Each This law, of course, never meant that will be “safe” if they stick to the minimum person must freely choose to accept or reject Catholics fulfill their obligation to worship form of observance. the Lord’s invitation because of love. by attending Mass once a year. Rather, the Focusing on obligation always diverts dis- Our free decisions about Sunday wor- Lateran Council tried to correct the danger- cussions about common worship into sterile, ship have far-reaching consequences. If we ous medieval practice of attending Mass hair-splitting arguments. For example, regularly accept the Lord’s invitation to his weekly without ever receiving Holy Com- Catholics often ask: “If I go to a 3 p.m. wed- Supper in company with other believers, munion. By instituting the Easter Duty, the ding on Saturday, does it ‘count’ for Sunday?” our personal relationship with Christ and church definitively taught that receiving By switching the focus to responsibility, we others will deepen and grow stronger, filling Holy Communion at least once a year is get to the right sort of question: How do I us with genuine happiness and hope. If we not only permitted, but actually required. respond to God’s love? rarely or never accept His invitation, our re- The law, then, was never about minimal Obligation has little or nothing to do with lationship with the Lord – and other people Mass attendance. Rather, it reinforced love. Rather, it usually pertains to impersonal – will gradually become frigid, filled with Christ’s teaching that partaking of his body relationships with a superior authority. If we anxiety, and eventually disappear. The “re- and blood is the proper and ordinary do not fulfill our obligation to pay our taxes, wards” and “punishments” for our choices response to his self-gift. for instance, we will suffer some penalty, begin in the present, not just after death. Church law does indeed specify Sunday such as a fine, or even jail time. If I fulfill By switching our focus to responsibility for Mass attendance as a legal obligation. But my obligation to my employer, I will receive worship, our questions necessarily change: this should be a starting point, something compensation. If I do not, I will probably How often do I lovingly respond to the like training wheels on a bicycle. When one lose my job. Lord’s self-gift in and through the Eucharist? learns to ride a two-wheeler with proper Sunday Mass is primarily an act of respon- What free choices have I made that prevent balance and skill, the training wheels look sibility because it arises within a personal me from responding lovingly to the Lord rather silly. Likewise, when someone finally relationship between God and human per- through worship? To what extent am I will- appreciates the Eucharist as a wondrous sons. By partaking of the Eucharist, I lovingly ing to adjust my work schedule, vacation occasion for responding to the Lord, nagging respond to the Lord, who bestows life and all plans, and personal preferences so that I can concerns about law and obligation fade away good things. How can one find aminimal partake of the Eucharist every Sunday? under the warm gaze of Divine Love.

MAN0708.indd 6 6/20/08 11:49:25 AM