Does My Daughter Commit A Sin If She Misses Mass While Staying With Her Non-Catholic Grandparents?

Dear Father John,


My daughter made her first confession and first communion this year. Now that we're in the midst of summer, her grandparents often take her to a campground for a few days at a time. Many times this includes a Sunday. I'm not aware of a Catholic church around there, and my in laws are Protestants.
Does my daughter fall under pain of mortal sin for missing mass on these Sundays? Are we, her parents under mortal sin for allowing her to be away on Sundays?


Thanks for any info you can provide.
Sincerely,

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer,

According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, three conditions are necessary for a person to be culpable of a mortal sin: The action [or omission] involved must be seriously offensive to God; the person who commits the action must give sufficient reflection to the gravity of the offense against God, and the consequences of committing it [the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, to quote the traditional Act of Contrition]; the person must give full consent of the will to committing an action which will cost the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, and commit the action in spite of the cost.

Children are admitted to the Sacrament of Penance [Reconciliation] when they have reached "the age of reason", that is, when they can tell the difference between right and wrong in a very basic sense. "Knowing the difference between spilling the milk while reaching for a slice of bread and throwing the contents of a glass of milk at your brother", as one of my favorite priests would say. But having the maturity of conscience to commit an act which might cost the loss of heaven and the pains of hell requires a maturity of judgment that cannot be present until adulthood. And even then, as a confessor, I believe that very few of the folks whose confessions I've heard over nearly four decades have the maturity of judgment to decide to do what pleases them at the cost of eternal salvation.

According to Church law, Catholics are not held to the obligation of Lord's Day Mass if there is no church within a reasonable distance from where they are staying [a hotel, a campground, etc.] So, to be brief, your daughter does not commit a sin by staying at the campground with her grandparents. You don't commit a sin by allowing her to stay with her grandparents.

Finally, thank you for asking the question. For every person who asks a question on a blog like this one, there are ten or twelve who have the same question, but don't ask.

God Bless You and Your Family