It has become almost a commonplace of American culture that so many lapsed Catholics seem abroad in the land. When talk turns to religion, such people have a habit of saying something like, "Well, I was raised Catholic, but . . ." Now comes a Catholic godparent to explain his absence from the church and rationalize his idea that mass attendance on Sunday does not a Catholic make. The fact that one of the fundamental commandments of the Church is to assist at mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation is legalistic but not necessarily helpful, even though for many Catholics the authority of the Church is sufficient to motivate their obedience.
Yet the Church does insist that praying to God on one's own or via televised mass is not the same as fulfilling the Catholic's Sunday obligation. Why that is so is in the background of the Church's call to common worshipful practice.
Consider first the concept of the community of the faithful, which is enshrined in the idea that the Church is "one" (Kinkead 124). It was always the intention of the church fathers, of course, to make doctrine and ritual uniform, in part as a way of asserting spiritual authority and in part as a way of cementing the religious identity of the faithful. If they have a singular spiritual identity, it is logical that they will incur obligations to its origin. A traditional analogy is to the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land: "Now, suppose every citizen was allowed to construe the laws to suit himself, without any regard for the rights of others, what a fine state of affairs we should soon have" (Kinkead 126). Thus it would have been grossly irresponsible for the Church not to have both invited and obliged the faithful to attend mass regularly. The very integrity of the community of the faithful would otherwise be threatened.
Equally, however, a shared identity implies mutual help and support. That was an especially important issue in the form...