Do Catholics have to attend mass specificall on a Sunday?

Zagreb Ebnem Zloty Diev

I ask because the Father in my local Parish circulated a letter saying that we are not obligated to attend Sunday Mass during the pandemic.

This got me thinking, would we be in a state of sin if we chose to attend Mass on Wednesdays and received the Body of Christ midweek instead of Sundays?

Or is the obligation specifically on the Sabbath Day?

Manach

My understanding is that the day of the Sabbath was set aside so there could a focal point for the community to gather round once per week. Saying that, there is no barrier to attending Mass on a daily basis ( outside this current situation ).

hinault

Zagreb Ebnem Zloty Diev wrote: »

I ask because the Father in my local Parish circulated a letter saying that we are not obligated to attend Sunday Mass during the pandemic.

This got me thinking, would we be in a state of sin if we chose to attend Mass on Wednesdays and received the Body of Christ midweek instead of Sundays?

Or is the obligation specifically on the Sabbath Day?

Manach is correct in what he's said.

It is the bishop of the diocese who makes the decision as to whether or not the Sunday obligation applies.

Our parish was informed that the archbishop had decided to set aside the obligatory Sunday attendance at Mass, due to the pandemic.

Thinkingaboutit

Outside of the present crisis, a Catholic should hear Mass on Sunday on pain of mortal sin. However, if someone can safely make it to Mass, it could be considered an act of devotion as the PP (or adminstrator as they're called in Dublin) said.

Peregrinus

Zagreb Ebnem Zloty Diev wrote: »

I ask because the Father in my local Parish circulated a letter saying that we are not obligated to attend Sunday Mass during the pandemic.

This got me thinking, would we be in a state of sin if we chose to attend Mass on Wednesdays and received the Body of Christ midweek instead of Sundays?

Or is the obligation specifically on the Sabbath Day?

Catholic canon laws does specify that "on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass".

It goes on to say that "a person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass". So Saturday evening is fine. Wednesday, not so much.

But there can be good reasons for departing from these rules. The present emergency is one, obviously. Or, if your personal circumstances made attending on Sunday impossible, you wouldn't be obliged to by canon law, but might choose to attend on a weekday instead.

Lucy8080

Just a personal observation.

I remember the big snow of 1982. My Father was a very devote Catholic. I was with him in the Phoenix Park in '79.

During the ''82 snow Catholics ,older folks, were exempt from mass if there was any danger getting to church.

I tried to impress this knowledge on my elderly /Heavy Father. He would not have it. We walked there and back. To this day ,I think he was wrong to take the chance. I won't go into details but,I feared for myself/himself that day. If he had fell /slipped that day...I reckon I would have suffered in my attempts to save/protect his hide. I would have blamed myself if anything happened to him . I walked him there and back because of my fears of him not making the journey ,safely.

A 10/15 minute walk ,turned into a slip/slide 30/35 minute stress.

He is long gone, I still love him, but ...mind yourselves. Keep the elderly from gathering together in religious/ A-religious weekly meetings. For Their sake.