I understand that the Saturday Vigil fulfills the Easter Sunday obligation. However, if one wanted to attend both, would they not be able to receive the Eucharist at both Masses?

I don't think it does....

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=135139
The Catholic Apologist said the affirmative.

I honestly wouldn't trust Catholic Answers.....the Sunday obligation is to attend a Sunday Mass...and the Easter vigil is not a Sunday Mass...

But in answer to your question, yes you can receive at both....

Canon Law says:

A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

Since Easter Vigil is clearly a Mass "on the evening of the preceding day", it fulfills the obligation.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4N.HTM

Going to the vigil definitely fulfills your Easter obligation, and yes you can receive Communion at both Masses.

Thanks for your answer, I appreciate that. How is the Easter Vigil different from attending a Saturday evening mass at 5:30pm? That counts towards the Sunday obligation.

The only logical implication of that is that there is no obligation to attend Easter Mass, and the Easter Mass can be arbitrarily substituted with any other Mass....which is ridiculous.

The Canon Law I cited nowhere says Easter Mass can be "arbitrarily substituted with any other Mass".

If you don't go on Easter Sunday, it would HAVE to be the Easter Vigil, at least in the Latin Rite, because that is the only Mass celebrated "on the evening before".

FWIW, at Vigil practice today, we were informed by Father that attending tonight does indeed fulfill the Obligation.

It had been explained to me in an earlier RCIA class that the liturgical day actually begins at 5 pm the evening before. That's why Saturday evening Mass has the liturgy for that coming Sunday, and why Saturday evening Masses don't begin before 5.

Because it is NOT AN EASTER MASS...that's how it's different....every other Saturday it is exactly the same as what you get on Sunday morning, but the East Vigil Mass is different from the Easter Mass....I don't see how NOT celebrating a Holy Day can substitute for celebrating a Holy Day...that just seems absurdly lax.

Except that on Holy Saturday it is NOT the same Mass as the one celebrated on Easter Sunday....that's the difference.

In most cases what I bolded is true, although there are exceptions ..... tonight is one big exception, obviously. So is Christmas (different readings at the Vigil, at Midnight, and for the Mass during the day).

But in the law there is no requirement that you have to hear a particular set of readings.

All it says is you must attend:
1) anywhere in a Catholic rite
2) on the day of the feast, or on the evening before.

If you have any doubt on that you can check the link on the Vatican website I linked above.

You can always ask His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Doom. After all, as the current head of the Church, it's his rule.

But if the Pope made an infallible statement in the presence of Doom, would that be like mixing matter and anti-matter???

Doom, I'm afraid you have it backwards. The Easter Vigil is THE Easter Mass. The ones on Sunday are just followups of it.

To clarify, are you referring to the Catholic Answers question/answer forums, or to specific people, Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin, etc.?

That is irrelevant. The liturgical day is normally midnight to midnight (so the RCIA class was wrong, it does not start at 5 pm or 4 pm)

Otherwise you would be unable to have a Sunday evening Mass be a Sunday Mass!

6 things

1. With a Mass of anticipation, one can use the Sunday liturgical texts generally starting at 4 pm. That is a matter of local legislation, so may vary diocese to diocese.

2. But they can only do this if the Saturday itself is not a higher ranked day. Hence one cannot use Easter Sunday Mass texts on Saturday evening. Nor for that matter could they use the Mass for the Sunday of Advent when December 8th is on a Saturday. You have to use the Immaculate Conception texts. The anticipation of the Sunday liturgy is just that, it is using the Sunday liturgy prior to the liturgical day and you cannot override the liturgical day of Saturday like that if it is of higher rank

3. However, it doesn't matter what Mass is actually said. Hence a funeral Mass on Saturday evening would count for the Sunday's obligation. Or attending an Eastern liturgy for St. Basil on January 1st fulfills the obligation for Mary Mother of God/Circumcision even though it is not the same liturgical mystery. And for that matter, attending a Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy tomorrow counts, even if it is not an Easter Mass (many Eastern Catholics still observe Julian Easter)

4. When the Easter Vigil was moved to the evening, the legislation in 1955 explicitly allowed it to fulfill the Mass obligation

5. The time which a Mass the day before can fulfill your obligation may be as early as 12pm, and according to most canonists at least as early as 2pm. So a Saturday Mass at 2:30 pm, though not the same texts of Sunday, would count.

6. While in the 1955 legislation one could not receive communion at both Masses (the presumption being with the Easter vigil that the Mass began at about midnight, they were unduly specific about that), current canon law allows communion twice in the same day as long as the 2nd time is in the context of a Mass (technically one could receive a third time, if that third was the viaticum)

Hope that helps

ETA: In older law, pre-1983 at the latest, one needed to attend the liturgy within their own rite on days of obligation in order to fulfill it. Further, previously the 2nd communion not only had to be at a Mass but it had to be a different liturgy, such as attending a nuptial Mass after attending Mass in the morning. This is no longer the case

the missal says that the Easter Vigil satisfies the obligation and it says that you may receive communion on Easter Sunday as well if you go to Mass on the Sunday.

so doom, when you came into the Church at your Easter vigil, did you also go on Easter sunday to "fulfill your obligation"... i did, but it had nothing to do with fulfilling the obligation...which of course, no one is required to do since they have already fulfilled their sunday obligation ... but i was just so thrilled i was in full communion with the Church , i wanted to experience that joy again...in fact, in my ignorance, i was going to try to assist at Mass at 2 or 3 different parishes during the course of the day... didn't happen, but i did indeed make a Mass on Easter sunday at a different parish

You do not understand my difficulty here AT ALL....

And I am not going to bother to continue to discuss this, because I already know how it will go, everybody here will insult me belittle me, tell how stupid and wrong I am (which has already happened, thanks for the knee to the groin ghall ) and not once in ten paragraphs actually address my concern...

Have a blessed Easter I'm done here....