What are the guidelines regarding Mass outside of a Church setting?

Question

I was talking to a rather hardcore TLM'er last weekend who, when it was mentioned that we're having an all-city Mass next week held in an amphitheater outside of our courthouse (which I thought was cool) that only in emergencies - like a time of war - is it licit to have mass outdoors like that. I was like "we're at war with the culture" and he was like "mhmm", well anyway, the conversation didn't go so well.

In any event, the previous weekend, I attended a TLM outdoors at camp and the week before I went to Mass several times in the Lucas Oil Stadium (Holy Ground now, next time Taylor Swift plays, I guess). In any event, there's gotta be some rubric around it. Is this just a "spirit of Vatican II" abuse that I've been frog-boiled into or is this actually something permitted by the US Bishops and is unique to the USA (but strangely ubiquitous) or is this a thing that can never be done under any circumstances?

Answer 1

The Codex iuris canonici from 1983 says something about this:

Can. 932 §1. The eucharistic celebration is to be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place.

§2. The eucharistic sacrifice must be carried out on a dedicated or blessed altar; outside a sacred place a suitable table can be used, always with a cloth and a corporal.

So the normal case is to celebrate in a "sacred place" (a church, a private chapel etc.) and on an altar. But if there is a "necessity" ("necessitas") in a particular case, any other "decent place" is also possible. Than an altar is not obligatory (there are portable altars), but a "suitable table" is enough.

If there is a necessity the priest has to decide – he does not need the approval of his bishop or an other authority. A "necessity" is more than a "just cause" (often required in canon law), but is not bound to particularly grave causes such as emergencies.

So if there is no (big enough) church for the congregation, it is clearly possible to use another room or celebrate outside (so the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n. 288). If it is only for the special atmosphere of a mass in the garden (I often attended such masses), one can argue if there is really a spiritual "necessity".

There are special provisions in can. 933 CIC for masses in a not-Catholic church.

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Before Vatican II this was possible too, only under stricter conditions. The more important change is, that today an altar stone is no longer strictly needed. The Codex iuris canonici from 1917 says:

Can. 822. § 1. Missa celebranda est super altare consecratum et in ecclesia vel oratorio consecrato aut benedicto ad normam iuris, salvo praescripto can. 1196.

§ 2. Privilegium altaris portatilis vel iure vel indulto Sedis tantum Apostolicae conceditur.

§ 3. Hoc privilegium ita intelligendum est, ut secumferat facultatem ubique celebrandi, honesto tamen ac decenti loco et super petram sacram, non autem in mari.

§ 4. Loci Ordinarius aut, si agatur de domo religionis exemptae, Superior maior, licentiam celebrandi extra ecclesiam et oratorium super petram sacram et decenti loco, nunquam autem in cubiculo, concedere potest iusta tantum ac rationabili de causa, in aliquo extraordinario casu et per modum actus.

Normally the mass is celebrated in a church on an altar (§ 1). Some people (I don't know, who) have the privilege to use a portable altar by law or by special Apostolic indult (§ 2): they can say mass on any suitable place, but not on sea, and on a sacred altar stone (§ 3; the portable altars contained a stone). In extraordinarial circumstances the ordinarius (normally the bishop) can license to celebrate on any suitable place (but not in a bedroom) on a sacred altar stone (§ 4).

In 1963 the competence of the bishops was extended: they now were able to permit the celebration according to can. 822 § 4 CIC/17 in case of a just cause, for permanent cases a grave cause was needed ("ex iusta causa, habitualiter autem solummodo ex causa graviore", P. Paul VI., MP Pastorale munus, I n. 7). The new missal in 1970 already had in core the regulation later in can. 932 CIC/83. There was some discussion, if there should be an approval of the local ordinarius, but it was seen as unnecessarily complicated.

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Literature: Althaus, in: Münsterischer Kommentar zum Codex Iuris Canonici, hrsg. von Klaus Lüdicke, Ludgerus Verlag (38. Lieferung Juli 2004), can. 932.

Answer 2

There are all sorts of reasons why someone might have Mass outside, beyond mere emergency. True, the most common reason might be that the celebrant is a military chaplain accompanying a group of Catholic soldiers to offer prayers and sacraments for them, but that is not the only conceivable reason.

Priests ought to say Mass daily (they are technically not under any obligation), but they may find themselves in situations where that would not be possible in a church building. For example, say a group of priests are going on a retreat for a few days together hiking in the Rocky Mountains. There's no consecrated building here. But the priests still ought to say Mass. So, they can bring a portable altar with them to celebrate.

For an historical example, Bl. Raymond of Capua refers in his The Life of Saint Catherine of Siena to a papal bull that gave him and some of the other Dominican friars permission to take a portable altar on the road specifically so that Catherine could receive communion whenever she wanted. There was no emergency here. Catherine could have missed communion on, say, a Wednesday while she was traveling between two cities. But she didn't want to, and the Pope saw it fitting to give her permission to receive even on the road, meaning a Mass would need to be said outside.

I wasn't able to find anything specifically allowing or prohibiting outdoors masses in the GIRM, though it seems clear the consecrated church building is the ordinary space for Mass. But we already knew that. Since I know that saints in history were given special permission to celebrate outside when there was no emergency, I'm inclined to think this is not an abuse, but that permission from a competent authority is necessary. I also think there needs to be a sufficient reason for it, though not necessarily an emergency. Having Mass in the stadium because there are tens of thousands of Catholics in attendance at the National Eucharistic Congress seems to me like a sufficient reason. But we are venturing into opinion.