Dear Arlene:

Well, this deacon of 20 years needs to be horse-whipped. Our obligation to attend Holy Mass only ceases upon our death. This is mitigated, of course, by our ability to attend. Illness and infirmity is always a valid reason to miss Mass. Especially when illness and infirmity, or the difficulties of old age, make it difficult or impossible to attend Mass, we should contact the pastor to arrange for him to come to our house or nursing home to offer us Confession when we need it, and to bring us the Holy Sacrament each week so that we are not deprived of our Blessed Lord.

I think the deacon may be confusing fasting obligations with Holy Mass. The required fasts of the Church obligate only those between 18-59 years of age. Fasting can be omitted for medical reasons, of course.

Abstinence rules, by the way, (e.g. no meat Lenten Fridays in the U.S. and universally no meat on all Fridays of the year that is not a solemnity), apply to all people 14 years of age and older until their death, unless some medical reason precludes it.

There is no excuse, however, for the deacon to be confused by this, or to be ignorant. To tell someone that Holy Mass is no longer an obligation is extremely serious, even devilish (though I am sure there was no ill intent on the part of the deacon, but the devil will exploit our ignorance or confusion about things).

Your instincts are correct. Holy Mass is still an obligation after 65, barring any illness or infirmity that releases that obligation. Even if the deacon were confused on this matter, like you, he should have intuitively suspected something amiss about his own thinking.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary