The Precepts of the Church

  1. To worship at Mass on Sundays and to observe Sunday as a day of rest.
  2. To confess one’s grave sins at least once a year in the Sacrament of Penance.
  3. To receive Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter Season (between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday).
  4. To attend Mass on Holy Days of Obligation. (Holy Days of Obligation in Australia are Christmas Day and the Assumption of Our Lady, August 15)
  5. To do penance by prayer, works of piety and charity, and fast and abstinence on the days commanded. The days of penance are each Friday of the whole year, and the season of Lent.
 
The days of fasting and abstinence from meat are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The Church also requires all her members to contribute, as best they can, to the support of their priests, parishes, schools and the Church’s works of charity, and to observe the laws of the Church about the sacrament of Marriage.
 
The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbour.