Is it a sin to miss Mass on Sunday?

The church has not abolished the law requiring Catholics to participate in the celebration of Mass on Sunday and holy days of obligation. Canon 1247 reads, “On Sunday and other holy days of obligation the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass....”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice” (2181). It goes on to say,

For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

Note, there is a precept to participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and it binds gravely. At the same time there can be serious reasons that excuse a person from observing the law.

Manuals of theology published before the present Code of Canon Law spoke of moderately grave reasons that would excuse. Besides illness, distance from the church, police duty, the need to shut down mills that run round the clock, the grave displeasure of a spouse or parents, the demand of an employer, fire and flood emergencies, care of the ill and being on a journey were listed as examples of such moderately grave reasons.

At least one of these manuals offered that “One may miss Mass for the sake of a pleasure trip once or twice if he has no other opportunity during the year or if it is the last opportunity he will ever have for a certain excursion.”

It is also pertinent to note that when the church revised the rules concerning penance and fast and abstinence, it introduced the concept of substantial observance. Explaining Pope Paul IV’s apostolic constitution Paenitemini, and a reply concerning it from the Sacred Congregation of the Council concerning substantial observance, John M. Huels, O.S.M., wrote,

The substantial observance of the laws of fast and abstinence does not pertain to individual days but to the whole complexus of penitential days, i.e., one only sins gravely who, without an existing excuse omits a notable part, quantitative or qualitative, of the penitential observance which is prescribed as a whole.

Some moralists have argued that the same norm of substantial observance should be applied to the precept of Sunday Mass. They suggest that to regularly and habitually violate this law would indeed be a grave matter. But they believe to miss Sunday Mass on one or the other time without an excusing cause would not be a serious sin unless done with contempt of the law. It may be that some people translate this to say it is no longer a sin to miss Mass on Sunday, but that is not what these moralists are saying. It is important to note that a Catholic who misses Mass without serious excuse under the mistaken impression that he or she is entitled to a “freebie” could well be guilty of contempt for the Mass.

Also, the Code of Canon Law does not set any age at which a person is no longer obliged to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days. The presumption is that as long as we are able we have a duty to worship God and nurture ourselves spiritually through participating in the Mass. Whatever the reasoning of the lawgiver, the law obliges as long as a person is reasonably able to observe it.

Obviously, however, there are age-related factors that make it very difficult (even impossible) for a person to attend Mass on a particular Sunday or even all Sundays. People in such circumstances or situations are excused from observing this church law.

Some practical examples: An elderly person may have great difficulty walking, have no car or have no one willing and able to drive him or her to the church. Another senior citizen may be unable to sit long without having to go to the bathroom. An older person

who is completely exhausted by the effort of getting to church, comes home feeling ill for the rest of the day or must go back to bed right away is excused. If rain, exposure to very cold weather, or snow-covered walks threaten injury, catching cold or the flu, an older person is excused.

People must look at themselves and their own particular problems and circumstances and make the judgment whether they are excused from attending Mass on this one Sunday or all Sundays. Making this judgment or decision should not be an agonizing affair. It is largely a matter of using common sense.