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Hey! Scheduled to go on vacation next weekend. Having a lot of difficulty making arrangements to get to Mass. The Tour company isn’t helpful ( probably not using them again.) and the Hotel wasn’t helpful either. Just told me to basically wing it when we get there but probably wouldn’t be able to do it as all the taxis only go to the airport.They do have a shuttle for the 5 pm Mass but we will not be back from the day’s group activities.
So aggravating. I have had the great fortune of traveling with a priest on many of my vacations or being able to procure transportation from hotel to church. In fact we consider it an important part of the travel experience to attend Mass in other locales.

So….. in the event I can’t get to Mass what is my situation ?

I called my church and the dragon at the door….ummm on the phone…. I mean the Parish secretary said go have fun and go to confession when you get back. Seriously …. Is that what we do? I was going to ask for a dispensation but never even got to talk to the priest.

Should I grab a priest this weekend and ask after Mass? Does it have to be my Pastor?

How do we do this? I have been on a lot of vacations in the past 30 or so years and this has never been an issue. I had one river cruise where they wouldn’t let us go to a Catholic Church because tourist weren’t allowed. That was in Germany. That was shocking. Trying to avoid that by making plans. I know it is my responsibility to make plans but no one is cooperating.

Seatuck wrote: ↑Fri Jun 20, 2025 1:19 pm

I called my church and the dragon at the door….ummm on the phone…. I mean the Parish secretary said go have fun and go to confession when you get back. Seriously …. Is that what we do? I was going to ask for a dispensation but never even got to talk to the priest.

I imagine someone in a better position to tackle the main question will come by, but I had to say this is HORRIBLE advise. You are 100% correct to question it. If it's impossible to go it's not a sin and there is nothing to confess. At what point the difficulties reach that point I leave for someone wiser than I. Definitely ask your priest if you can. But telling you to just skip Mass and confess afterwords is the definition of sacrilege, is it not?

I had a similar situation. I was going on a cruise that was leaving from the left coast on a Sunday. Boarding started in the morning. I decided to fly out on a Saturday and my flight was in the afternoon, so no Vigil Mass. I arrived around dinner time, and checked where and when there was a Mass near the hotel. Turns out that the nearest Catholic Church was several miles from the hotel. I wasn't able to get a taxi due to time and expense. So when I got to the ship the next day and asked the priest about Mass for the group, he said they wouldn't be having one until the next morning. He gave me a dispensation retroactively.

It is generally considered that it's permissible to take a vacation on which it is not practical to attend Mass on Sunday as long as it happens very infrequently.

I had a brother priest furious with me for saying this in a FB group, but fortunately other guys agreed with me. It's good that it bothers you, but if you can't, you can't, and you don't have to be formally dispensed.

At least that's my best understanding.

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:09 pm It is generally considered that it's permissible to take a vacation on which it is not practical to attend Mass on Sunday as long as it happens very infrequently.

I had a brother priest furious with me for saying this in a FB group, but fortunately other guys agreed with me. It's good that it bothers you, but if you can't, you can't, and you don't have to be formally dispensed.

At least that's my best understanding.

That was my understanding as well, that it is not required to go to extraordinary measures to attend Mass. If there is a thunderstorm outside that appears to be developing into a tornado, you don't have to risk getting caught in one to attend Mass. If you are on vacation and it isn't easy to find a Mass, you are not required to get up at 3 AM and spend the next 5 hours looking for a Mass.

Doom wrote: ↑Sat Jun 21, 2025 6:23 pm If you are on vacation and it isn't easy to find a Mass, you are not required to get up at 3 AM and spend the next 5 hours looking for a Mass.

The issue is that some people will tell you that you shouldn't go on vacation where it might be difficult to find Sunday Mass. But this isn't true, as long as you don't make a habit of it, you can take a vacation where you know that assisting at Sunday Mass is going to be difficult or even impossible.

Some people like to go into isolated places, such as the middle of a desert, when they go on vacation, because they have extremely stressful jobs and they need to get away from everything, go to a place where there is no Internet and no mobile coverage so that work can't contact them to be able to destress and relax. There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is not frequent, such as once a month.

Doom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 22, 2025 3:49 pm There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is not frequent, such as once a month.

Once a month seems pretty frequent.

peregrinator wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:52 pm

Doom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 22, 2025 3:49 pm There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is not frequent, such as once a month.

Once a month seems pretty frequent.

That is what I was trying to say, that once a month would be too frequent.

I have one more avenue to check then I’m leaving it in God’s hands.
There is a chapel in the National Park we are staying in, hopefully we can make that Mass.