A “moderately grave” reason suffices to excuse from the obligation to attend holy Mass on Sundays

Friendly reminder, since I've seen it trending around Catholic X that "if you don't go to Mass on Sunday without a good reason you'll go straight to hell if you die", that pre-Vatican 2 moral theologians were quite generous in their interpretation of what a "good reason" actually is.

For example, Fr. Heribert Jone in his "Moral Theology" (which went through multiple editions in the mid-20th century) counsels confessors that "any moderately grave reason suffices to excuse one from assistance at Holy Mass, such as considerable hardship or corporal or spiritual harm either to oneself or another." He then lists several examples including:

-- women who are pregnant out of wedlock who would bring shame upon themselves and their families by attending Mass

-- those who cannot "abide the air in church" for physical or mental health reasons

-- servants whose duties require them to work on Sundays and/or whose masters forbid them to assist at Mass under threat of loss of employment

--those who lack clothing appropriate to their social standing

--those who would suffer the loss of "extraordinary gain" by attending Mass

He even excuses those who would miss Mass for the sake of a "pleasure trip", provided it happens only once or twice and one has no other opportunity throughout the year.

So maybe we should stop making scrupulous people feel even worse when they have to miss Mass through no fault of their own.

Source: @LB236 on Twitter/X.