The Long Weekend, Super Sunday, or Double Christmas — how will you do Mass this Dec. 25?
With Advent shrunk to the shortest possible count of days, Catholics get a little less time for seasonal anticipation, but they also get a back-to-back call to the festive celebration of Mass.
Christmas Day is, of course, a holy day of obligation, and the fact that it falls on a Monday doesn’t change the usual Sunday precept for Catholics to attend Mass the day before.
While there are a lot of different times, including vigil Masses the night before, at which Catholics can attend Mass and fulfill their obligations, it’s not — never — possible to fulfill them both with a single Mass.
Two obligations means two Masses, those are the rules.
Most Catholics, hopefully, don’t primarily think of going to Mass in terms of an “obligation,” but the domestic Christmas calendar can be packed — so, with Christmas coming on a Monday, what are the expectations, and options, for getting to church over the long weekend?
