A reader writes:
I’m a teenager that needs money for college, is it a sin to work on Sunday? I will fulfill my Sunday oligation to go to Mass. I’m involved in activities after school that might restrict the amont of hours I can work and will probably have to work on Sundays. I would appreciate any light that you can shed on this.
It is not a sin to work on Sunday if you are required to do so by your employer. If you need to make money and your employer requires you to work on Sunday then you work on Sunday. It is not a sin.
That said, one would want to try to find a job that doesn’t require one to work on Sunday. For most people–at least after their college years–this is achievable. But for many folks who are still in school or just starting out, it is not.
The Catechism states:
Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. the faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health [CCC 2185].
It also says:
Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure [CCC 2187].
Now, getting money for college is an important need and would clearly allow for Sunday work. Getting a college degree will open innumerable doors that would otherwise be closed to you in later life, so the gravity necessary for Sunday work is clearly present.
Assuming that there isn’t another possibility.
And here’s where we get to a judgment call: You mention that you are participating in activities after school that may be pushing you toward working on Sundays.
I don’t know what these activities are. They may be things that are themselves important to making your school record look good (so as to get into a better college) or they may be things that will look good on future job resumes (e.g., social service things) or they may just be personally psychologically important to you. So you may have reason to keep doing them on weekdays and then going to work on Sunday.
But I’d at least ask the question of whether the afterschool activities are of sufficient value that they should be done instead of Sunday work. If it were possible to get an afterschool job on weekdays and then rest and do leisure activities on Sunday, that would be preferable.
What the right thing to do in this situation is a judgment call, and I can’t make that for you. I’d therefore advise you to talk it over with your parents and see what they think.
Just make the best judgment call you can and act on it, entrusting the situation to the Lord.
Those three things–using our reason to make judgment calls, acting on them, and trusting God with the results–bring glory to the Lord for they show the attitude of faith coupled with the exercise of the gifts that God gave us to employ.
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Sounds like good common sense to me, Jimmy. I always work on Sunday – in my garden! It’s hard work, but I love doing it, so it’s leisure for me.
Good advice, Jimmy. Education is important, and it sounds as though this young person has his/her head on straight by making certain of meeting Sunday Mass obligation.
Many schools require participation in activities outside of classroom time in order for the student to attain top grades that will be needed for college. This certainly limits time for money-earning.
Some managers are not very accomodating. I actually had, in writing, an agreement that there would be no Sunday work unless there was an emergency. A new manager came along, tossed the agreement, declared every Sunday to be an emergency (because an ex-Catholic and a Mormon needed the time off) and told me to have my priest move Sunday Mass to Tuesdays because that was to be my day off. An appeal to the corporation led to a trumped up charge of “customer abuse” and the corporation was notified of my termination three days before I was.
Best wishes and God Bless you to the student who asked this question.
Our family is very tight-knit. We talk, have fun and, particularly in the last couple of years, have grown close to each other and closer to God, appreciating all He has done for us. Having been repeatedly disgusted with school systems we’ve tried, both Catholic and government-run, we homeschool, which involves great financial sacrifice. As a result, I have to work a part-time job, which includes four or five hours (sometimes more) on Sundays. Without it, we’d be in dire straits. We compensate by working family time around my work requirements. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best we can do for the moment.
I’d like to think Our Lord wouldn’t hold that against me, come Judgment Day.