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How on Earth could it really be a mortal sin to miss Mass? This seems so harsh! Catholic Answers Apologist Karlo Broussard takes up a hard challenge as he defends the Catholic requirement to participate in Sunday Mass. There are exceptions, of course, but as Karlo makes clear, missing Mass is not a thing to take lightly.
Cy Kellett:
Seriously, it’s a mortal sin to miss mass? Karlo Broussard, next.
Cy Kellett:
Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and everybody’s got to go back to mass now, all these dispensations that were out there. Not everybody. I mean there are places in the world where there’s still a serious pandemic problem and the dispensations are still in place, but as far as I know, everybody in the United States, you got to go back to mass and in most of the developed world, I think you got to go back to mass now. It’s mortal sin if you miss mass and people are like, “What? It’s a mortal sin to miss mass?” Well we thought this was a good opportunity to talk about the obligation to participate in the Sunday mass, an obligation shared by every Catholic able in a reasonable way to get to Sunday mass, a reasonable, healthy way to get there. Is this really the teaching of the Church? I mean mortal sin? Your soul is in peril if you miss Sunday mass? Karlo Broussard’s the guy to ask so we did and here’s what he had to say.
Cy Kellett:
Catholic apologist Karlo Broussard, thank you for being with us.
Karlo Broussard:
Cy, thanks for having me, brother.
Cy Kellett:
Okay. So the bishops … I was looking on the Google machine and bishops all over the country, one by one and sometimes in groups, it’s time to come back to mass. The Sunday obligation is back on.
Karlo Broussard:
Amen.
Cy Kellett:
So an opportunity to talk about the Sunday obligation. Do we, in fact, as Catholics have an obligation to go to mass on Sunday?
Karlo Broussard:
Answer: yes.
Cy Kellett:
Okay.
Karlo Broussard:
On condition that there’s no dispensation, right?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, right.
Karlo Broussard:
So the ordinary norm when it’s ordinary circumstances is that we are obliged under the pain of grave, serious sin to attend mass on Sundays. This is in the Code of Canon Law, Canon 1247. It’s very clear. The catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2181 affirms this. The faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation unless excused for a serious reason.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
For example, illness, the care of infants. That’s what the catechism is listing there or dispensed by their own pastor. Of course, what we’ve been experiencing with the COVID experience would fall under that category-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… being dispensed by our bishops. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation … And I would emphasize deliberately there, right? Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin. So the church affirming that it is a grave, serious sin to deliberately fail to attend mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
Cy Kellett:
I went to the internet to kind of look up and see what people say about this, and actually nobody says much of anything about it. There’s not a lot of Protestant objection to this Catholic practice.
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
There’s not a lot of Catholic objection, and yet what percentage of Catholics are in mass every Sunday? It’s like 20%. So obviously, people are responding just by ignoring this.
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah, that’s an interesting insight there. You have such a low attendance, but yet not much noise out there-
Cy Kellett:
No objection, yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… concerning the obligation. I’ve encountered it in conversations with folks like in going and teaching a Bible study. I remember vividly a few months back, I don’t know, I guess it was before the COVID experience, but I went to a home Bible study where I just kind of sit down and we’d do sort of a Q&A kind of thing for about three hours or so. Some Protestants came and one of the Protestant gentlemen was asking me why the Sunday obligation.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
So that was something that was weighing heavy on his mind. I’ve encountered it elsewhere. So it is a good question to ask why the obligation, why Sunday, and to talk about it.
Cy Kellett:
I have to say too, Karlo, I’ve spoken to quite a few people who have said, “Well my priest said it’s not really an obligation.” In a certain sense, I guess your pastor is dispensing you when he says that. I mean I hate to say it, but I just think the catechesis around this, there’s just a general, “Yeah, that’s the law, but …” It’s like 55 mile an hour speed limit. Yeah, but …
Karlo Broussard:
Right. Well we would have to push back and emphasize no, the church is very clear that this is a precept of the church and that we are obliged to adhere to it on the pain, under the pain of mortal sin. That is to deliberately miss mass without a dispensation would constitute grave, serious sin. Now, concerning a pastor if he’s just saying, “Yeah, you don’t have to come,” I don’t know, I’d have to think about that one a little bit more.
Cy Kellett:
Is that really a dispensation?
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah, right.
Cy Kellett:
Or is he just being misleading?
Karlo Broussard:
Correct. Correct. I mean I would suppose that from a subjective point of view of the individual, they’re just following their pastor’s counsel-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… and they might not be held accountable for that. Then it would be the pastor who’s going to be held accountable for being so whimsical with that-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, right.
Karlo Broussard:
… and not following what the church is intending for us to do.
Cy Kellett:
Well there’s no passage in the Bible that says, “Go to mass every Sunday.”
Karlo Broussard:
That is correct.
Cy Kellett:
“It’s a mortal sin if you don’t.”
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah.
Cy Kellett:
So that means that the church has given us this. Does the church actually have the authority to demand this of us?
Karlo Broussard:
Right. That’s a very good question and the answer is yes. So first of all, we need to take a step back and ask the question, “Is such a ceremonial precept open and available for the church to do so?” Because in the old covenant, God had stipulated through Moses, through divine revelation like this was going to be the day on which you worship almighty God. To fulfill the moral precept of worshiping God, you’re going to do it ceremonially in this way on this day.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
That was the sabbath, right? On Saturday for God’s people in the old covenant. So the question becomes, “Well is that ceremonial precept still binding on Christians?” Because if it is still binding on us as Christians, well then the Catholic Church has made a mistake-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, that’s a good point. Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… in binding us to go to mass on Sunday.
Cy Kellett:
On Sunday, yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Right? So what was the early Christian practice? How did they view that particular aspect of that moral law of worshiping God for some particular time on a particular day? Well according to St. Paul in Colossians 2:16, it’s very clear that he understood that Christians were no longer bound by the ceremonial precept for worshiping God in this way on that particular day. He says this: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath.” The Greek there is plural, sabbaths. So whether we’re talking about the sabbatical year, right, every seven years, the sabbath year or-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… the sabbath during the week which would be the Saturday, Paul is saying, “Let no one pass judgment on you because just like we’re no longer bound to adhere to the food laws and the purity laws of the old covenant, so too we’re no longer bound by the laws pertaining to when we’re going to worship God on which specific day.”
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
So that at least shows us that that ceremonial precept of the old covenant is no longer binding for Christians, which now opens it up for the leaders of the Christian church in the first community or their successors to impose some other kind of ceremonial precept to help us fulfill the moral law to worship God because that aspect of the third commandment to keep the Lord’s day holy, that belongs to the natural moral law that cannot change, the duty to worship God as our creator.
Cy Kellett:
Right. Okay.
Karlo Broussard:
That’s something that must be fulfilled.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
But then the ceremonial aspect is how you’re going to do that. You heard that?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
That was Cajun for you.
Cy Kellett:
Do dat. Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
How you’re going to do that and on which day you’re going to do that.
Cy Kellett:
Okay.
Karlo Broussard:
So now, we have it open and available for the church to make that sort of decision and judgment.
Cy Kellett:
Okay.
Karlo Broussard:
So now, the question, “Okay. Does the church, the successors to the apostles, have the authority to do that?” Well the answer is yes because the apostles and their successors are clearly given by Christ certain judicial authority, an authority to make precepts to govern the life of the Christian community and Christian worship. So a few texts for this to support this would be Matthew 18, for example, 15-17, “If you see your brother sin against you, go and try to convert him and win him over. If you can’t, take two or three witnesses.”
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
“If he doesn’t listen to the two or three witnesses, take him to church.”
Cy Kellett:
Take him to the church.
Karlo Broussard:
“If he fails to adhere to the church, treat him as a Gentile or tax collector.”
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
So the church and the representatives of the church community have that judicial authority, the apostles and their successors, the bishops, to implement certain disciplinary precepts. You also see it in Acts 16 at the Council of Jerusalem where you have clearly the apostles and the presbyters issuing up a decree to impose certain disciplinary precepts on the Gentile converts, abstain from meats offered to idols, abstain from meats not fully drained of blood, abstain from blood. These were disciplinary in nature and imposed upon the Gentiles and they were expected to obey. So we see the early church engaging or using its judicial authority-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… to impose certain disciplinary or ceremonial precepts in the early church. So we see clearly that the apostles and their successors have that authority to do so. So at least we have biblical grounds that the church would have the authority to impose a certain disciplinary precept or ceremonial precept such as when we’re going to worship God and fulfill the moral law and it be obligatory precisely because it is an authority invested in them by Christ to govern the life of the church.
Cy Kellett:
Okay. So all that being said, however, there’s a series of things here. One, you have an obligation in church law to participate in mass every Sunday and if you don’t, this is a grave matter and possibly mortal sin.
Karlo Broussard:
With full knowledge, deliberate consent-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… it would incur the guilt of mortal sin.
Cy Kellett:
But you could say … I mean a person could go, “Well yeah, the church, sure, is celebrated on Sunday though for all those reasons and the church has the authority. Why is this a law though?”
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
“Why is this a law of the church?”
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah, well I think there are a few answers that we can give to that question. First of all, more of a reasonable approach. If God saw it fitting to make it a law that his people worship him, fulfilling the moral law, on a particular day and for a particular amount of time or whatever, then it would be reasonable that God would see it fitting that there be an imposed law upon his people in the new covenant.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Right? Now, we see that. Now whether or not it’s the same day or a different day, that’s another question. Why Sunday? We can get to that as well given the early church practice, but if God saw it reasonable for there to be a law governing our worship in the old covenant, then it’s reasonable that He would see it fitting to have a law governing our worship for the new covenant. Now, there’s a little bit of pushback to that. There’s a counter that our Protestant friends might pose or anybody for that matter and say, “Well that’s the old covenant. In the new covenant, we’re what?”
Cy Kellett:
We’re free from … Yeah, it’s not by works of law-
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
… that we’re saved. So I can see that objection.
Karlo Broussard:
Right. Romans 3:28.
Cy Kellett:
Isn’t this just the Catholic Church slipping back into that works of the law is what saves us?
Karlo Broussard:
The assumption being that in the new covenant, there is no law, right? So there shouldn’t be-
Cy Kellett:
I think so, yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… sort of ceremonial laws like on which we’re going to worship God. In response to that, I would say well if the issue is we’re not bound by that old law, amen to that. I mean that’s the whole point of Paul’s epistles to Romans and to the church in Galatian, Colossae. We’re not bound by the ceremonial precepts of the old covenant. That’s the whole point, but if the issue is law in general like there is no law in the new covenant, well that’s absurd because Christ gave commands. He gave laws. He told the apostles at the last supper, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Cy Kellett:
Okay. Right.
Karlo Broussard:
That’s a command. That’s a law.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
He told his disciples, “When you pray, pray like this.” So there’s a distinct form of prayer that Christians must engage in. That doesn’t mean the only form or excluding other forms.
Cy Kellett:
But you have to pray the Our Father.
Karlo Broussard:
That’s a part of the Christian life-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… to pray in the way that Jesus taught it. Of course, you have New Testament precepts, right? The precepts imposed upon Christians in the early church, I already mentioned one, the precepts from the Council of Jerusalem for the Gentiles. You have the Eucharistic precepts. Paul’s given the Corinthians instruction in 1 Corinthians 11 to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, not in an unworthy manner, so to approach the Eucharist with that reverence. There’s instructions for the apostles to go out and baptize. That’s a precept. That’s a law in the early church. You come to believe, you get baptized. So that there are no laws in the new covenant, that’s just simply false. Any reading of the New Testament will show that there are some laws. So then the question becomes, “Well is the law to worship-”
Cy Kellett:
Ah, I see.
Karlo Broussard:
“… God on Sunday a part of those laws, whether it belonging to the moral law or ceremonial?” We know it’s not going to belong to the moral law because it’s a ceremonial precept that’s subject to change. So the question becomes, “Did the early church impose the law?” Well we don’t have any evidence in the 1st century. That is correct. Nor was there any imposition of the law in the 1st or the 2nd century. You don’t find any form of obligation coming until the 3rd century at the Council of Elvira in AD 300. It states this in Canon 21: “If anyone in the city neglects to come to church for three Sundays, let him be excommunicated for a short time so that he may be corrected.” So it’s not an obligation, but there’s penalties for three and above absences-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… from worshiping on Sundays. You have the Council of Agde or also Agatha in [inaudible 00:15:04] Six, Canon 47 affirming the Council of Elvira and then Innocent XI in 1679, he condemned the contradictory proposition which stated the precept of keeping holy days is not obligatory under the pain of mortal sin. He condemned that proposition. So the positive is it is obligatory under the pain of mortal sin to keep holy days.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Then of course you have it enshrined in the Code of Canon Law of 1917 and also the ’83 code. So that’s sort of the historical development. It is true that the ceremonial precept was not part of the 1st century church. It would later be imposed after many years.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
But that is not to say that the law itself and the precept is unreasonable or unfounded. So now, we get back to the question why make it a law.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah. Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Previously, we had said that it’s reasonable at least if God saw it fitting for the old covenant. How about for the new? But I think to push it further, we can look to Pope Saint John Paul II.
Cy Kellett:
Okay.
Karlo Broussard:
So he issued an apostolic letter in 1998 on keeping the Lord’s day called Dies Domini, the Latin title. So here’s what he had to say. This legislation has normally been understood as in telling a grave obligation. This is the teaching of the catechism of the Catholic Church and it’s easy to understand why if we keep in mind how vital Sunday is for the Christian life. So it’s the importance of the liturgy for the Christian that constitutes why make it a law. Why is it a law? Because of the importance of the liturgy. Now, somebody might counter and say, “Well just leave it up to us. We can figure it out.”
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Well in response, guess what. We’re weak, right? I mean the Israelites could have said that to Yahweh like, “Hey, Moses. Intercede for us on behalf of God. We’re okay with this worshiping God thing. We can do it on our own. We don’t need any ceremonial precepts to demand us to do it.”
Cy Kellett:
Yes, right. Right.
Karlo Broussard:
Moses would have laughed in their faces, right?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
We’re no better than the Israelites. We’re weak, right? We’re wounded. We need help.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
That’s where the obligation and the law comes into play because laws are good, right? Laws, when they lead us to virtuous action, are a good thing. They’re ordered toward helping us to flourish as human beings. Pope Saint John Paul II, Cy, actually picks up on this in Dies Domini. He states this. It was only later faced with the halfheartedness or negligence of some that the church had to make explicit the duty to attend Sunday mass.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
So it’s sort of a help. It’s mother church looking out for her children. I mean think about it just in family life, right?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
I mean laws are not bad laws. They’re good within family life. Why? Because they help keep peace and order and govern the family life, but they also help. For example, parents and their rules for children, they help children do what is good because sometimes the children aren’t skilled enough in virtue to stay away from the bad and do the good for goodness sake.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
So they need some help in making it a rule and if you break the rule, there’s going to be negative consequences to help form them in the virtue, in doing the good, and then eventually when we achieve that perfection of freedom, which won’t come until the beatific vision after this life-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… then we won’t need the rules because we’ll be worshiping God-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… by seeing him in the beatific vision.
Cy Kellett:
I have to say I don’t think you’re like me in this regard, but I have this tremendous inertia and I think it has been a gift many, many times in my life that I had the obligation to go to mass because I could have found if it were just like, “Do your best,” I’d have been like, “I’ll see you next week.” I just wouldn’t have made the move.
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah.
Cy Kellett:
I think if we’re honest, many people will-
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
… have to say that. Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
Correct. This sort of conversation does require an honesty with yourself and knowing your weaknesses.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
Really ask yourself the question, “If I wasn’t obliged, would I really go?”
Cy Kellett:
Would I? Yeah, right. I would go.
Karlo Broussard:
Nine out of 10, on my own-
Cy Kellett:
Exactly.
Karlo Broussard:
… but just that one time, I may very well turn my back on it.
Cy Kellett:
Right. Yeah. That’s probably the time that I need it too.
Karlo Broussard:
That’s right.
Cy Kellett:
I mean many times I’ve found that in my life. Okay. But I think if they told me it’s an obligation and it’s a [inaudible 00:19:43] sin, I would be motivated. Give me some insight. Mortal sin is real-
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah, that’s serious.
Cy Kellett:
I mean like adultery is a mortal sin.
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
Murder is a mortal sin. Missing mass is a mortal-
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
I really feel like that’s the attitude of a lot of Catholics and it’s easy to have that attitude because it doesn’t feel like adultery or murder.
Karlo Broussard:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
It just doesn’t seem to be or many of the other grave sins.
Karlo Broussard:
Yeah, well at the heart of the gravity of the matter, I think, is outright disobedience to the church.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, right.
Karlo Broussard:
So the church has a legitimate authority invested in it by Christ to make these sort of judicial decisions, right, to govern the life of the community of God, the people of God here on earth. So with full knowledge and deliberate consent to say, “No, mother church, I’m not going to go to mass on Sunday-”
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
“… when you’re obliging me to,” is grave matter because of the disposition that it involves relative to the church. “I don’t care what you got to say, mother church. You don’t know any better for me. I know better.” Right?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
“So I’m going to live my life as I want and pursue my own path of happiness, not what you in your wisdom for 2000 years-”
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
“… perceive to be a path of happiness for me.” So the gravity comes from that disposition of disobedience and the act of disobedience itself toward, to the church in saying no to the … Just think about this, Cy. In Matthew 18:17, Jesus said, “If you do not listen to the judgment of the church, treat him as a Gentile or a tax collector.” That means the individual who doesn’t adhere to the judgment of the church is out.
Cy Kellett:
Out, yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
He’s an outcast. It’s outside of the Christian community and can’t participate in the life of the church, right?
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
In the ways that her children can. So we see from the lips of Jesus himself the severity of disobeying these judgments of the church. So it logically follows that if the church says go to mass on Sunday and you’re obliged to do so and you say no, you’re like the individual in Matthew 18:17 saying no to the judgment of the church. Treat him as a Gentile or tax collector.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
So there’s gravity there, but I think also too, Cy, it’s important that we highlight this aspect of the gravity of disobeying the church here. Not only in as much as we’re disobeying the judgment of the church, but also because of what it entails concerning turning our back on the mystery of the mass-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Karlo Broussard:
… and what the mass is. I mean the mass is the making present of the salvific act of Christ by which we were saved.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
So when we go to mass, we’re making that event present, participating in the flowing of graces coming forth from that salvific act. So if I, with full knowledge and deliberate consent, say no to that because I’m going to pursue this other thing that I think is going to make me happy, well what am I doing? I am putting some creaturely good, something other than God and my salvation and making that-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… my life’s purpose-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Karlo Broussard:
… and turning my back on salvation itself. So once we come to understand what the mass is, the making present salvific act of Christ by which we are saved, continue to be saved, and conform to Christ, we can see how it would be a grave, serious situation to deliberately turn your back on that and to pursue some creaturely good in its place.
Cy Kellett:
So come back to mass, the obligation. I mean I’m sure there are places where there’s still a dispensation, but where we are, there’s no dispensation anymore and I think in most of the United States, there’s no dispensation. If there’s not where you are, come back to mass.
Karlo Broussard:
Amen to that.
Cy Kellett:
Thanks, Karlo.
Karlo Broussard:
Thank you, Cy.
Cy Kellett:
I mean probably the first reason you should go to mass is you’re needed there. You need it. It’s good for you to be there. The world needs you. The church needs you. For some reason, God made it so that He needs you there. I don’t mean need in the sense that something’s going to go wrong for God if you’re not there. He’s perfectly happy. He’s perfect in every way. He’s got everything He wants or needs and He has and always will have that, but in some mysterious way, He has delegated to us some of the responsibility, each of us some of the responsibility for sharing the gospel, for living the gospel, for bringing the world to the gospel so that everyone can be saved. Our Sunday mass prayers, our participation, our reception of the Eucharist are all part of that. You’re needed. So come on back to mass. Go to masstimes.org or one of those websites and find out when the mass is.
Cy Kellett:
We’re very grateful for you being here with us. If you can spend the time here, you can spend a little time going to mass. We’d also be grateful for your support. They’re grateful for your support at mass. That send that little basket around. We can’t send that little basket around so we send this around. Givecatholic.com, that’s where you can go to support us. Givecatholic.com. Don’t forget, by the way, when you go to givecatholic.com, the $5 million limit is still in place. Do not try to give more than $5 million, but do leave a little note that says why you’re giving and why you like Catholic Answers: Focus. If you’re watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. That helps us to grow. If you’re listening on a podcast service, whatever that service is, Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or one of the others, just make sure you subscribe. That way, you’ll get updates when there are new episodes available and if you give us that five-star review, maybe a few nice comments, you’ll help us to grow the podcast.
Cy Kellett:
Thanks very much for joining us. We’ll see you next time, God willing, right here on Catholic Answers: Focus.