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Is it okay to be late for Mass?

No, it’s not okay to deliberately choose to be late for Sunday Mass.

If you were invited to a wedding or to a birthday party would you deliberately choose to be late?

When I go home to Ireland I am still astonished at the number of people who leave Sunday Mass early. Some of the same people arrive late. This goes back to the old days when the Church said that in order to fulfill the Sunday obligation you had to be there before the Offertory and had to remain at least until the priest took Holy Communion. In those days the readings were in Latin and many people didn’t receive Holy Communion. But the Church wants us to get away from that legalist, minimalist mentality and to take part as fully as we can in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because Jesus has asked us to do this. From the very beginnings of Christianity the followers of Jesus ‘devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers’ (Acts 2:42).

The first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word, is just as important as the second part, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We could hardly apply the words ‘they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching’ to those who deliberately choose to be late for Sunday Mass and who don’t want to listen to the Word of the Lord. Nor could we describe those who simply want to fulfill an obligation as quickly as possible as being devoted to fellowship, that is to the other members of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.

There are occasions when we can’t avoid being late for Sunday Mass. Unforeseen events can delay us. Some time ago in my own parish in Ireland I noticed a Filipino family arriving late for Sunday Mass. But they had a little baby and went up to the front of the church. What was nicest of all was that the father, not the mother, was carrying the infant. He reminded me of my own father. (See response to the first question). Clearly that family had made a real effort to be on time and weren’t very late.

But I think that trying to get by with the least effort, choosing to arrive late and/or to leave early, is hardly a respectful and loving response to Jesus the Risen Lord, God who became Man, who freely chose to die an awful death for us on the Cross.

Pope Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis, (The Sacrament of Charity) signed 22 February, writes, ‘The liturgy of the word and the Eucharistic liturgy, with the rites of introduction and conclusion, “are so closely interconnected that they form but one single act of worship”.’