Mike Gendron has posted an excellent piece which I am recreating here. There is a link to his blog below.
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Many former Catholics have looked back on their experience of participating in the weekly Sacrifice of the Mass as a “prison sentence.” It was something they were forced to attend to avoid the penalty of a mortal sin. Others remember it as a mindless ritual of standing, sitting, kneeling and reciting responses as the priest performed his religious duties. All Catholics are obligated by the laws of their church to attend church every week: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], para. 2180). With this law so explicit and demanding, the question begs an answer: Why is participation so compulsory for Catholics? The answers are complex and controversial.
According to the Catechism, “The Mass is…the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated” (CCC para. 1382). “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents the sacrifice of the cross….the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: The victim is one and the same. In this divine sacrifice…the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner” (CCC para. 1366,1367). Catholics express their faith in the real presence of Jesus by genuflecting as a sign of adoration of the Lord.
Catholics are given no choice but to believe these oppressive dogmas. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot be physically present in the Eucharist on altars all over the world at the same time. Yet Catholics are between a rock and a hard place. If they deny the presence of Jesus, they are condemned by their church. “If anyone denies, that in the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ…let him be anathema” (Canon 1, Council of Trent). On the other hand, if they worship the Eucharist as the Lord Jesus, they commit the most serious sin of idolatry, similar to the sin of the Israelites, who worshiped a golden calf as the true God who delivered them out of Egypt. God’s wrath burned hot against this sin and 3000 were put to death (Exodus 32:1-28).
Catholics are taught their redemption comes not from the perfect and finished sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary’s cross, but through the repetitious sacrifices on altars. “Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on” (CCC, para. 1068, 1405). This blatantly denies the testimony of Scripture. Jesus “entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12).
The sacrifice of the Mass clearly violates God’s Word and is a powerful deception that holds Catholics in bondage. Catholics should heed Paul’s sermon in Acts 17:23-30, “The God who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in tabernacles made with hands; neither is He offered with human hands…the Divine Nature is not like gold, or silver or stone.” In other words, the Divine Nature is not like flour and water, or an image formed by the thoughts of man. Furthermore, Jesus Christ cannot be offered by the hands of sinful priests. Jesus Christ, the perfect High Priest, offered Himself, the perfect sacrifice, once, to a perfect God who demands perfection. Then He cried out in victory, “It is finished!” There are no more offerings for sin (Hebrews 10:18). In light of all of this, we must call our Catholic friends and loved ones to repentance and faith in the true Christ who secured eternal redemption for His people.
anactofmind 
I beg your pardon! I am absolutely- Not- in bondage as you put it! It is a privilege to attend Mass every week,and I attend during the week as well. I love to be with my Lord.To receive Him in Holy Communion,is the greatest thing I can do for myself and my fellow man. Jesus left a part of himself here on Earth,because “where I go, you can not follow” Your words are twisted,due to your ignorance of Catholicism. Millions of catholics pour into churches every Sunday,because they love the Lord,and want to be with their savior. Remembering that non-bloody sacrifice on the alter,is healing and redemptive. Communion gives us food of true sustenance. Jesus said ” Unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no life in you ” .
Hi Cleo,
Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you think it’s a privilege to attend Mass. As a former Roman Catholic, I can certainly empathize with your feelings. But feelings are not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And unfortunately, Roman Catholics preach a different gospel.
Do you believe the Apostle Paul was wrong when, as Mike Gendron quoted, he said that God “can not live in tabernacles “made with hands?” (Acts 17). I can remember as a Catholic, being told explicitly that God lived in a man made tabernacle at our church. Who’s right?
What happens, Cleo, if you don’t go to Mass? Does the church teach that you have committed a mortal sin that will impede your eternal destiny? The Apostle Peter said that the gift of God’s grace can never “perish, spoil or fade.” (1 Peter 1:4) How is it that missing Mass can take away God’s gift?
The Good News of the Gospel, Cleo, is that nothing can. And because Rome teaches otherwise, it’s followers are in bondage.
Blessings to you and yours.
Hello Paul,
No, God does not “live” in an earthly tabernacle — as if that were His “home” — as if something made by hands could contain God — which is the proposition Paul was rejecting. God “lives” everywhere; He is omnipresent. But if we believe that the bread that came down from heaven … is [our Lord’s] flesh — as He Himself told us (John 6:51), then certainly in that “bread” He “lives” in a special and unique way in this world. But that “bread” (and its tabernacle) no more contains Him than your heart does, in which He also truly dwells as a living tabernacle (I hope).
I don’t know if your mother is still living or not, Paul, but I believe she would have been a little hurt and irate if she invited you to dinner and you simply did not show up, with no good reason. “Missing Mass” is not in itself a mortal sin. Blowing off God, telling God, I have better things to do than spend time with You, is the sin. As Peter says, in the verse you cite, our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]. And no, missing Mass does not “take away that gift.” It is still kept in heaven for us.
And no, Rome does not “teach otherwise.”
Peace be with you.
Hi Joseph,
I’m glad you’re back and hope that God has granted you the healing we have been praying for.
Thank you for your explanations. However, Mike Gendron’s assertion about Catholics and the tabernacles in Catholic churches is easily verifiable. You certainly know this but anyone reading this who doesn’t has only to go to a Catholic church whenever there might be a group of Catholics therein. (The occasion of a tour in a Catholic church would be ideal.) What you – and I – and anyone who would engage in this exercise would note is that Catholics do not genuflect at the baptismal font, the narthex, or the nave of the church (except when approaching the altar). They will, however, always genuflect toward the tabernacle. Why do you suppose that is, Joseph? If God is everywhere, why give such special veneration to the box that holds the hosts?
I think a second test would also prove the point. I have on many occasions asked to be let into a locked church (I’m a musician so I found it better to practice when no one else is around.) With rare exceptions I have been granted access, graciously. Now, imagine if I could ask for the keys to the tabernacle. I can’t imagine that because it is something that is simply unthinkable. But why? Because Catholics do believe in addition to the metaphysical speculations about God’s omnipresence, that God is “in” the tabernacle in a special way. If He’s not, then why give the special genuflection to the tabernacle?
I like your analogy about Mom’s dinner. My Mom went home four years ago and the thought of dinner with her brings me happy memories – thanks for that. But I hope that you will seriously reconsider your position about missing the Mass. It is most certainly a “grave sin” as the Catechism states and as John Paul II reiterated in his encyclical Dies Domini. In fact, if you Google ‘Is missing Mass a mortal sin” you will find Cardinal George speaking on the gravity of the matter as well as inumberable Catholic webistes supporting that position.
Here are just a few:
Cardinal George on missing Mass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kr6X9hn4-Y
Going to Mass is not optional http://www.aquinasandmore.com/catholic-articles/why-going-to-mass-is-not-optional/article/132/sort/relevance/productsperpage/12/layout/grid/currentpage/1/keywords/missal,%20magnificat
Catholic Answers – not going to Mass a grave sin http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=51837
And this from the Catechism:
2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
And Joseph, you are absolutely right when you quote 1 Peter 1:4 – what a magnificent Scripture! It echoes Ephesians 1:3-11, the true message of salvation. But I hope you will reconsider what Rome says about the “grave sin” of not going to Mass. You see a “grave sin” cuts man off from His Creator according to the Catholic Church:
“We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts our relationship off from God and turns man away from his creator.” http://www.saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html
Being cut off from God by something we do or don’t do is contrary to God’s word as expressed by Peter and Paul. And because that really is Rome’s doctrine, her followers are really in bondage.
Be well, Joseph.
Until next time, blessings to you.
Paul,
Yes, as I said, Jesus being really present in the Eucharist entails believing that He is specially in uniquely present there, over and above the way he is present everywhere. Certainly God was just as omnipresent when Jesus walked the earth as he always has been and ever will be — but that does not change the fact that in Jesus, He had a physical and corporeal presence on earth; and He continues to be with us in the gift of the Eucharist. We should be reverent anytime we enter any church anywhere — I humble myself even entering a Protestant church — but we give His Presence in the Eucharist a special degree of respect. I haven’t denied this, but confirmed it; it is you who are proposing we believe something we do not, that either the Host of the Eucharist or the Tabernacle in which it is reserved in some way contains or encompasses God.
Yes, missing Mass, generally, in most cases, can be presumed to result in sin. But you are overlooking my point. There is nothing intrinsically, actually evil about the mere act of failing to be present at Mass. Unlike, say, murder, no objective evil befalls any other person because we miss Mass, nor does it objectively turn us away from God. As the Catechism says and you’ve cited (thanks), “the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.” Do not make this point of legalism where not even the Catholic Church does! It is the deliberate act of missing Mass that makes this a grave sin — just as any grave sin requires a grave matter, performed with full deliberation and knowledge (CCC 1857). As it so happens, I missed Sunday Mass a week ago — to go to dinner at my mother’s for Mother’s Day! But this was a serious reason in the eyes of my pastor and I was excused. So don’t talk to me about the “grave sin” that results from this.
You behave as if it is the Church that cuts a man off from God out of spite if he misses Mass, to keep him on a chain. But the Church does not cut anyone off from God; the sinner does that himself. If I miss Mass because I needed to go to my mother’s dinner, or because I was in a traffic jam, or even because I in good faith simply forgot — then I have not deliberately turned from God; I am peachy keen in the eyes of God and of the Church. I would probably confess it anyway for my own good conscience, but my confessor would tell me, as he always does, that if it wasn’t my fault, if it wasn’t my deliberate intent, then there is no sin.
Peace be with you, Paul.
Hi Joseph,
You wrote,
“Yes, as I said, Jesus being really present in the Eucharist entails believing that He is specially in uniquely present there, over and above the way he is present everywhere.”
It’s that “over and above” part that is problematic. You see this was a serious issue in the fifth century that was solved by the Council of Chalcedon. So to say that Christ has a “special” presence in the Eucharist – which in Rome’s view exists in every Catholic Church in the world – is to “confuse”, “divide” and “separate” Christ’s physical presence in each and every tabernacle from his ubiquity as God in direct violation of Chalcedon. It confuses Christ’s corporeal human nature and His spiritual Godly nature. God is everywhere “spiritually” but Christ is only one place “physically” and that is in heaven. The Church has rejected that dualism down to this day:
“Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures,”inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;77 the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.” (Emphasis added)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.iv.i.iii.html
You wrote once more, “Yes, missing Mass, generally, in most cases, can be presumed to result in sin. But you are overlooking my point. There is nothing intrinsically, actually evil about the mere act of failing to be present at Mass”
So I’m confused, Joseph. How is that something “generally, in most cases” can be presumed to be sin but at the same time not be “intrinsically, actually evil’? I think you are trying too hard. Missing Mass is a grave sin.
The Catechism once again, Joseph:
Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
So to make this easier, let’s put aside the accidental miss at Mass for illness. Let’s posit the case of a recalcitrant Catholic – one who obstinately refuses to go to Mass. I think we are both agreed that that would constitute “grave sin”. (According to this Georgetown study recalcitrant Catholics would include 40% of Irish Catholics, nearly 50% of Mexican Catholics, 60% of Italian Catholics, 80% of Spanish Catholics, etc.) In that case those Catholics are willfully missing the Mass and in a state of grave sin. In that case they would, according to the Catechism, be separated from God contrary to the teaching of the Apostles.
So it all boils down to this, Joseph:
1. Does intentionally missing Mass put a Catholic in a state of grave sin and separate him from God, as per the Catechism?
2. If it does, how does that square with the Apostles’ teaching?
Gendron’s right. Rome puts its people in bondage.
Be well, Joseph.