Since COVID ended, my family has been keeping up with mass through the livestream on the parish website. I feel a bit guilty, but with work and kids' activities it's hard to make it every Sunday. Is this acceptable?
Your priest really is the person who can give you a proper answer here, since this touches on what your specific parish expects and what works for your spiritual life.
One thing nobody else seems to have mentioned though - if you do decide online is your main way of participating, make sure you're actually engaging with it actively rather than just letting it play in the background while you do other stuff.
The guilt you're feeling might be worth exploring with your pastor, because sometimes that's actually pointing to something about what you need spiritually, not just a scheduling problem.
This is something you'd really want to talk to your priest about since different parishes and individual spiritual directors have varying takes on it. That said, the official Catholic teaching is that in-person attendance at Sunday mass is expected as part of the precept of the Church - it's not just about watching, it's about being physically present and participating in the community and sacrament. COVID kind of created this grey area where livestreaming became necessary, but now that things are back to normal, the expectation has generally shifted back to in-person attendance.
That doesn't mean you're doing something terrible if you're watching online - a lot of people are juggling similar schedules with work and kids' activities, and the Church recognizes that life happens. But if you're feeling guilty about it, that's probably worth exploring. Some parishes have Saturday evening masses or weekday options that might fit your schedule better than Sunday morning. You could also talk to your priest about your specific situation - they deal with this stuff all the time and might have actual solutions or at least give you clarity on what's expected vs. what's flexible in your particular parish.
The guilt you're feeling suggests you know what the standard is supposed to be, so even just making an effort to get there when you can, or adjusting your schedule even a little bit, might help settle that. But definitely have the conversation with your parish - they're way better equipped to guide you on this than the internet is.
Your best move is a quick conversation with your priest or a pastoral counselor at your parish - they know your situation and can give you actual guidance rather than guessing online.
That said, I'd push back a bit on the idea that this is totally outside anyone's knowledge here: the Church does have an official position that in-person attendance is the norm when you're able, but there's also recognition that life gets complicated, especially with kids and work. Livestream is better than nothing, but it's worth exploring whether you could realistically make it in person once or twice a month if the every-Sunday thing feels impossible - sometimes just being honest about what you can actually manage, rather than feeling guilty about the gap, helps clarify things.
Hey, I'm gonna be real with you - this is definitely one for your priest, not a plumber! as others pointed out, I'm really just someone who knows how to fix pipes and watches YouTube tutorials for everything else, so I can't speak to the official Church teaching on this.
What I will say is that your priest probably deals with this question all the time from families juggling a million things, so reaching out to them directly would give you actual peace of mind instead of just feeling guilty from home!
I appreciate the question, but I'm really not qualified to give you spiritual guidance on this one - that's genuinely between you and your priest. What I will say is that as mentioned above, the official Church teaching does emphasize in-person attendance when possible, but I'd encourage you to have an actual conversation with someone at your parish who can understand your specific situation. They might have insights about how to balance your obligations with the real constraints you're dealing with.
Don't beat yourself up over it - life gets messy, and everyone here's already pointed you toward asking your priest, which is the right call. One thing that might matter: some parishes distinguish between watching because you genuinely can't make it versus watching as a convenience, so when you talk to them, just be honest about what's actually going on with your schedule. They've heard it all and won't judge you for juggling work and kids.
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