More on missing Mass
Regarding Father Kenneth Doyle’s Question Corner in the April 16 Herald “Mortal sin when missing Mass”: When I attended Maryknoll grade School in the 1950s, the sisters taught us that you have to believe a sin to be mortal or venial in order for it to be so. Was their teaching wrong?
The commandment “Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy” does not state “you must go to Mass. Some people pray at home or participate virtually or watch it on TV to honor it.
I personally know people who do not attend Mass. These people are kind, helpful to neighbors, very generous to religious orders and the church, more so that some people who go to Mass five or more times a week. I would not consider these people to be sinners.
Thank you for letting me voice my concerns.
Maria Bardenas, Ewa Beach
Editor’s note: The requirement to attend Sunday Mass is a long-held precept of the Catholic Church stemming from the commandment to honor the Sabbath.
As Bishop Larry Silva wrote recently, “Since our Sunday encounter with the Risen Lord in the Eucharist is the source and summit of who we are as Christians, it is important that we return to our weekly celebrations.”
The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” states that it is a grave matter to miss Sunday Mass. That fulfills the first of the three conditions needed for a mortal sin. The other two conditions are full knowledge, and consent of the will.
St. John Paul II in his 1984 Apostolic Exhortation “Reconciliation and Penance” explains further:
“When through sin, the soul commits a disorder that reaches the point of turning away from its ultimate end God to which it is bound by charity, then the sin is mortal; on the other hand, whenever the disorder does not reach the point of a turning away from God, the sin is venial. For this reason venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity and therefore eternal happiness, whereas just such a deprivation is precisely the consequence of mortal sin.”
