Unfulfilled Mass Obligations?

by Michael Shackleton · October 20, 2016

A Mass intention has been requested for a particular day. Suddenly, the priest is absent on that day and a Communion service is held instead. What happens to the Mass stipend? – Gerti Hoff

Canon 946 of the Code of Canon Law says that the faithful who make an offering so that Mass can be celebrated for their intention, contribute to the good of the Church, and by that offering they share in the Church’s concern for the support of its ministers and its activities.

Let’s start by defining what is meant by a Mass stipend. It is a voluntary offering that anyone can give to a priest when requesting him to apply a Mass for the donor’s particular intention. Historically, this offering used to be made as a contribution to the physical and financial well-being of the priest, because, particularly in the early centuries, like Christ he was not paid for his services to his flock. When a priest accepts a stipend he incurs a serious obligation of a contractual nature. He is bound to offer that Mass in accordance with the stipulations of the donor.

St Paul made a rather telling point when he wrote: “Who has there ever been that kept a flock and did not feed on the milk of his flock?” (I Cor 9:7).

In modern times, the priest does not usually rely entirely on the daily Mass offering for his upkeep. His diocese or religious congregation will normally see to his needs. Yet the custom remains of making an offering for the Mass to be applied for the donor’s intention.

Aside from that, those who offer a sum of money for the celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass for a special intention, are simultaneously associating themselves with that sacrifice by means of the sacrifice from their own purse.

When a priest accepts a stipend he incurs a serious obligation of a contractual nature. He is bound to offer that Mass in accordance with the stipulations of the donor.

If for any reason he is absent from the altar on the day the donor requested, he cannot escape his duty to offer that Mass on that day, or at some other suitable time.

Canon 955.4 prescribes that every priest must accurately record the Masses which he has accepted to celebrate and those which he has in fact celebrated. If the priest becomes sick or suddenly dies, it is the bishop’s or religious superior’s task to see that the Masses yet to be celebrated are celebrated by another priest so that each Mass will be accounted for. Updated from 2012