Dear Ryan:

There is no such thing as a "dispensation for travel." The catechism states, "You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor." It does not say that this applies only when your home. We have an obligation to attend Mass on Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation no matter where were at the world.

It is not that difficult to include the Mass attendance in one's travel itinerary. Travel within the United States is even easier to locate a Mass because of websites such as www.masstimes.org/.

Even overseas this will not be that difficult to find. With a little research over the Internet you can find out where Catholic Churches are in whatever country you go to. Nearly every diocese the world has a diocesan website that includes a list of the parishes in the diocese in the times of the Mass. It just takes a little work to do the research and the desire to honor God. We may take vacation from our job and our hometown but we never take a vacation from God, we never take a vacation from our faith, we never take a vacation from attending Mass.

The archdiocese of Denver has a good article about this entitled, When traveling, Don’t Take a Vacation from Mass. This article makes the additional point that when we travel we also need to continue our daily devotions, such as praying a rosary or other devotion. We take our faith with us when we travel.

If we care enough for God and truly love him we will build into our itinerary the attendance at Holy Mass. the only exceptional excuses for not attending Mass are the same as when one is home. To skip Mass because one wants to go to the beach or travel to their next destination is not a valid reason.

We also need to check when there are Holy Days of Obligation in the country we are visiting. We need to remember that there are ten Holy Days of Obligation in the Latin rite of the Church. The United States celebrates only six of those Holy Days of Obligation, but other countries may celebrate all ten.

The only time that it is permitted to miss Mass is when there are circumstances which are truly beyond our control and through no fault of our own. Being lazy to work out an itinerary that includes going to Church does not qualify as beyond one's control.

Bottomline: Attending Holy Mass on every Sunday and on every Holy Day of Obligation is a requirement upon pain of grave sin whether one is at home, business traveling, or vacation traveling. Careful planning should avoid most problems.

To be excused from the Obligation requires that one be in a circumstance that is beyond his control and is no fault of his own. One should not take the proviso of "beyond one's control and is no fault of his own" and judge it liberally. It should be judged strictly and as objectively as possible.

It would be a rare event for a person to genuinely say they cannot attend Mass because they are traveling all day. It is an easy thing to check the Internet for Catholic Churches in the towns one may pass through, or stop and ask a local where the Catholic parish is at and the times of the Masses.

Traveling by plane or train can sometimes make things difficult since one has to follow their schedules and not our own. But even then, with careful planning, one can still attend Mass. Is just a matter of scheduling one's itinerary to account for the attendance of Mass him.

It is possible that one may have to change their itinerary to get into a particular town at a later time because I have to take a later train or plane if they are to attend Mass. If we are not willing to sacrifice our time schedule for Lord then, frankly, how can we call ourselves Christian.

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments [do as I command, follow my teachings]" (John 14:1)

Jesus commands us to obey his Prime Minister, the Pope, and the Magisterium in union with him. Thus, we have a solemn obligation, upon pain of sin, to obey the Precepts established by His church. One of those Precepts is our Sunday obligation.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary