Abstinence in England

[robin_hood]

liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Penance/Abstinence.pdf
Why do the Bishops have to keep changing rules abstinence on Good Friday meant not eating meat,but the Bishops in England and Wales have decided that abstinence means that we give up a particular kind of food or drink or form of amusement.
I wonder if other countries have done similar things, a Catholic traveling around the world can get very confused

 

[Crepusculum]

Unless I’m very mistaken, it’s not just an England and Wales thing - it’s a 2nd Vatican Council thing. The no meat on fridays thing was meant to be about self sacrifice and identifying (albeit in a small way) with Christ’s suffering. At the time it was set up, vegetarianism was a lot rarer than it is now. Today many people (myself included) have no problem giving up meat on fridays because we don’t eat meat saturday to thursday either.

For anyone who still eats meat all week, giving up meat is still a perfectly good sacrifice, but for myself, I give up caffeine which is a struggle for me.

We are the universal church - the sacrifices should be universal also.

Hope that helps,

 

[1ke]

This statement does not indicate the Bishops of England and Wales are “changing” anything. It is merely an explanation of these Canons along with their Bishops’ Conference decision on penance. This is from 1985-- hardly a “new” statement.

Days of Penance

Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

**Can. 1253 **The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

 

[jackjones]

Hello…

According to 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and (commanding) to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Both foods and marriage are creations of God, and are not to be refused if … received with thanksgiving.
Matthew 6:16 Moreover when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly i say to you they have there reward. (does someone know you are fasting, you have your reward, the praises of men) But when you fast anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in (secret) will reward you openly.

If you fast,by all means do it in your own time and in secret, if you would like your hevenly Father to reward you and answer that prayer, or maybe even His will… If you obey that you must fast on a certen day, you are obeying men, and not God, you are being deceived by the doctrines of demons. If you are being told you are sinning by not refraining from eating meat or certen foods on a certen day, this is the teaching of demons. As long as you obey God and not man, your reward will be from God.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

**The PP is not Catholic according to his profile, so he can’t help you out. The Church indeed does have the power to bind and loose, and that includes fasting and abstinence. **

There is nothing new here. Did you see the date on the bottom of the pdf? It’s dated 24 January 1985. As the Code of Canon Law was revised in 1983, that makes good sense that the bishops in England and Wales took the two years to think about it before they wrote it.