Communion Service As Sunday Obligation?

[loveletslive]

My roommate participated in a 24 hr fundraising dance marathon this weekend in which one of the campus priests came and offered participants to receive the Eucharist in a communion service. In the past the marathon lasted 36 hours (participants are awake and on their feet the entire time) so they would have missed Mass Sunday morning and probably evening masses because they generally pass out and sleep at the end of the 36th hour.

My roommate was under the impression (whether her own or from the priest) that the communion service counted as her Sunday obligation. Definite answer, please?

When I mentioned that I was pretty sure she hadn't met her Sunday obligation she responded that since Fr. Stan came...it must have counted and she wasn't going to go to Mass regardless. I really want to explain to her the problem here and that she may be in mortal sin...but I don't want to anger her or come off as condescending. If i withhold the information I also don't want that sin to be on my conscience. Advice?

[cappie]

In one sense, no, it did not fulfill the obligation to participate at Mass, since it wasn’t a Mass.

The whole question hinges on the objective fact of Mass being impossible. When, and only when, this fact subsists, the consequent obligation disappears in accordance with classical principles of moral theology.

On the other hand, if there was no Mass then, barring the possibility of seeking Mass elsewhere, the person [i]couldn’t[/i] fulfill the obligation and therefore didn’t sin. We are not bound to do the impossible.