NWR--Missing Mass

stantokm

Happy New Year, everyone!

My question pertains to the Solemnity of Mary Mass over 12/31 and 1/1.  I had every intention of going to Mass yesterday because we had plans on NYE.  I checked Masstimes.org to confirm that my parish had a 7pm Mass on Holy Days of Obligation.  Before we left, however, I discovered that this wasn't the case for New Years Day and the last Mass had already passed.

I started checking websites of several other parishes in my area, but the only time left was an 8pm Spanish Mass.  Knowing this parish, it would have been 100% in Spanish and neither my FH nor I speak it.  I relunctantly decided not to attend.

This morning, though, I wondered if I should have gone anyway and only just now realized that I might have been able to follow along in the English Missilette.

My question is: does this constitute a mortal sin?

professorscience

I don't know the answer to your question, but I was in almost the same boat: Masstimes.org gave me several evening mass times, and then when I showed up, the church was dark.  I scrambled around town trying to find something and ended up out of luck.  I was pretty upset.

In the future, though, I would encourage you to check out a Spanish mass.  DH and I go sometimes if we're returning home from somewhere late (the later masses in town are usually in Spanish).  They're really neat, and one great thing about being Catholic is that the mass is basically the same no matter what language you're speaking.

Resa77

Whether it's a mortal sin, I'm not sure...but I would probably err on the side of caution and confess it ASAP before receiving communion. 

I always check the parish's website for Mass times, since I know that will be more accurate than any other site.  Masstimes.org is entirely wrong on Holy Days for my parish, too. 

Calypso1977

i dont think it is a mortal sin since you made every effort to attend.  accidents happen.  a mortal sin has to be a concerted, planned out decision to do something you know is wrong.

professorscience

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_nwr-missing-mass?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:98a82987-40fe-432e-aad4-86f629bc6c28Post:0bba25c0-a9b6-45f9-9885-ab21d94403aa">Re: NWR--Missing Mass</a>:
[QUOTE]i dont think it is a mortal sin since you made every effort to attend.  accidents happen.  a mortal sin has to be a concerted, planned out decision to do something you know is wrong.
Posted by Calypso1977[/QUOTE]

<div>That was kind of how I looked at it -- I did everything I could, and there simply weren't evening masses when/where I thought there would be.  I could have gone earlier, but when you make plans that include "Mass: 5:00," you tend to fill the rest of your day as well (although most of my day yesterday was spent in bed trying to nurse a cold).</div><div>
</div><div>Edit: Resa, that was the other irritating thing.  After getting burned by Masstimes once, I checked for a later mass and then went to that parish's website.  There was nothing on the main page about mass times for Jan. 1, but on the "Mass times" link, it said, "Holy Days: 7:30 am and 7:00 pm," with a disclaimer that sometimes those times would change, but I couldn't find ANYWHERE on the website indicating whether there would or would not be mass.  =(</div>

Riss91

I agree with Resa - get to confession. Especially since you could have gone to mass in Spanish. Even if there weren't other options, I'd still feel badly enough to confess it.

stantokm

Thanks for the responses.  I also put in an e-mail to our Deacon, but I don't know when I'll hear back from him.  I think that my confusion/concerns arose because I feel like I have a good grasp on what is or isn't a sin.  I know that if I miss mass because I don't "feel like it" that I'm sinning whereas I'm not sinning if I'm too sick to attend (for example).  I wanted to attend and should have thought it through enough to realize that I needed to attend the Spanish mass, but I really didn't think it through.

Also, like ProfessorofScience experienced, I checked my parish website and clicked on "Holy Days" and it gave 7pm as a valid time.  After I checked the bulletin and saw different times listed, I went back to the website and found a section specifically about this particular Holy Day that I had missed before.  I don't feel guilty if I miss mass and it isn't my fault, but this is sort of a gray area so I came here for advice.  I really appreciate it.

agapecarrie

I don't think its as much as making times available as it is fitting the people.

If you have 4 masses but the church is less than 1/4 full at each mass, it makes sense to condense down. 

It's also a priest availability thing--- they are only supposed to do 1 per day. 2 if you have to. 3 if you must, and aboslutely no more than 4, only in an emergency.

Having a holy day close to a Sunday kills me. This past weekend I did 8 masses in about 60 hours. 

bibliophile2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_nwr-missing-mass?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:98a82987-40fe-432e-aad4-86f629bc6c28Post:a4b2d861-105f-4d42-87c4-85a6f5661c48">Re: NWR--Missing Mass</a>:
[QUOTE]Okay, can I just rant on this ...... The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a Holy Day of Obligation.  My parish had a vigil at 4:30 pm and a morning Mass at 9:00 am.  The other church nearby had a vigil at 5:00 and morning Mass at 9:00 and 11:00.  There were also 2 (maybe 3) opportunities for the Immaculate Conception at each Church.  Those are Holy Days of Obligation. Then Ash Wednesday comes around.  It's not a holy day of obligation, but I remember my parish had Mass at 9:00 am, 12:30 pm, 4:30 pm and 7:00 pm.  Why do we make it so much easier to attend Ash Wednesday but only have a few tricky opportunities for Holy Days of Obligation?   Sheesh.  (okay, end rant). OP, I have a feeling that the 8:00 pm Spanish Mass might not have happened.  I don't know of any churches that had an afternoon / evening Mass on New Years Day.  A little confession wouldn't hurt (especially if you didn't make it during Advent).  Happy New Year!
Posted by TXKristan[/QUOTE]

For better or for worse, Ash Wednesday is the <strong>most</strong> attended mass of the year at many/most parishes. There are a lot of masses because there are a lot of people. AT my previous parish, they had like 5 or 6 masses and 4 or 5 Liturgy of the Word plus distribution of Ashes, and Mas is jam-packed full (I only got a seat last year because I was visibly pregnant and a gentleman took pity on me).  I think a lot of Catholics would be surprised to learn that it is not a Holy Day of Obligation. I agree that parishes should generally provide ample opportunities for attending Holy Days of Obligation, but when they are too-often sparsely attended, I can see why there are not more. I feel the same way about making daily Mass readily available to people -- and especially think that there should be early morning/evening masses for people who work and can't make it at 8:30 or 9am.

I <em>always</em> double check masstimes.org, because they so often not updated. I especially check on Holy Days because things get really wonky. I also always try to find a bulletin posted online if they only have a generic Holy Days time, just because parishes around here always seem to be experimenting with these things.

lalaith50

^^ so weird. (and sad.) People just like to "get" things at church. That's why in poorly catechized areas, so many people just run out right after having received Communion. They've "gotten" something, so why would they need to stay til the end? sigh.

monkeysip

I doubt it's mortal because it doesn't sound like you were purposefully trying to just shirk your obligation to go to mass.

I'd still confess it though.  I've had to go to mass in spanish before because of missing earlier masses, and I went to several masses in italian while in italy.  You'd be surprised how little a difference the language barrier makes.  Yay for the mass being universal!

Resa77

I get that they can't do Mass every hour on holy days, but my parish went from offering 9 to having 5 for holy days. Especially for working ppl, it becomes problematic.

monkeysip

Even 5 is a good amount in my area.  9 would be unheard of... even at our cathedral.  And this is a huge city with a strong catholic community.

I know it's so hard nowadays with our lack of priests, but I not only wish there were more mass times, but more confession times.  I don't have difficulty finding a mass somewhere to go to... but sometimes it's so hard to make it to confession.  Especially around holy days. 

professorscience

^^  Same here.

I guess for me the issue is adjusting to life in a somewhat smaller city.  OKC likes to pretend it is metropolitan, but most everything shuts down fairly early.  In Dallas, there was a 7:45 pm English mass every Sunday at a church close to my husband's college, so if ever we couldn't go earlier for some reason, we always knew we had that one.

And I totally get that it's not about my convenience.  Most Protestant churches have one or two services and that's fine with them.  

Resa77

Yeah, but Protestants don't have to go to church on Sundays.  It's a bit more optional, so if they can't make the one or two services offered, no big deal.  That's not to say the Protestants don't think they SHOULD attend regularly or anything, just that it's not really serious if they have to miss church because of a bday party.  By having Mas only at 7:30,9, and 11:30, you're kind of sending the message that Mass is optional.  Same with confession.  When you offer two confession times a week, only for an hour or so, you're sending a message that confession isn't a priority. 

Riss91

Offering three mass options on a single day seems pretty fair to me and isn't sending me a message that mass is optional. But it is typical for a Church to only hold one mass on a holy day of obligation in this area (usually about 3 on a Sunday). If you can't make it to your own Church, due to scheduling, I'm sure there's a bunch to go to within a 30 min drive...

I agree on Confession, though. There isn't enough availability/focus on it. I'm trying to find a Church in this area that does confession at a time other than 4pm on Saturday, and it is difficult.

Riss91

Yeah I would absolutely do that for a "one-off" situation. It just seems like Saturday at 4pm is almost ALWAYS a problem... so it would be nice to find a church that regularly offers confession on a Thursday or something.

Resa77

I agree that 3 Mass times isn't horrible, but I guess I think when you typically offer 7 Masses on Sunday, and then you offer 3 on a Holy Day, it's confusing.  I literally thought the Immaculate Conception was not a Holy Day this year because of how few Masses were offered.  Upon further investigation, I found that not to be the case, but to me, it sent a message of "Mass is optional today."  That's why I said I think it sends that message

I also think there's a big difference between offering Mass at 7:30, 10:30, and 5 vs 7:30, 9 and 11.  To expect all parishioners to be available during a 3.5 hour period isn't very reasonable.  Prob if you can attend that 9, you could attend the 11 or 7:30 if the 9 wasn't available, you know? 

Riss91

I see what you mean - it is likely they don't have all the resources that they have on a Sunday so they have to simplify the schedule based on what staff they have available - and I agree that it isn't the best logic to offer three masses within a 3.5 hour timeframe... maybe you could suggest to the pastor that one of the masses be held in the evening?

agapecarrie

I think a bigger idea here is that solemnties are also obligatory rest days. (It IS an actual obligation to rest on Solemnities). Not to the extent of losing your job if you took the day off, but the idea of "resting" is so foreign today

This is a big reason why the church made most holy days as non-obligatory when on a Sat. or Mon. To release people of the oblgation of "resting" due to the cultural shift and view of work.

My parish which normally has an evening mass on a Holy day of obligation does not have one on Jan 1 because its also a legal holiday, so most 9-5 ers are off that day. 

ETA: I'm not sure if obligation to rest is on ALL solemnities,  or just the ones that are obligations to attend mass.

ETA # 2: CCC 2042-- Sundays and HDO

Resa77

I think I might just have to do that!   We have 4 priests full-time and one retired priest who still says Masses and does confessions when needed.  I don't see any reason why we can't have a more convenient Mass schedule. 

agapecarrie

On this same idea, its the obligatory "rest" days and the fact you shouldn't be fasting on solemnties or any Sundays (even in Lent) that made me appreciate the church calendar/seasons/solemnities so much more-- especially the wisdom of the placement of the days and timing. I think making sure there is a mindset that keeps all 3 aspects together helps one appreciate it more.