Ambiguity and the meat on friday rule

[garn9173]

**Will you perform some act of charity or penance instead?

I just don’t get it. Aren’t we supposed to obey the disciplinary laws of the Church? If it is STILL in the Law of the Church, and if the Bishops have given a specific directive on how to live this discipline (Perform some penance/act of charity in place of meat abstinence)- WHO then decided it was optional? I’m really confused .

To be perfectly honest, as a devout Catholic as my Mom is, the only thing we had to do on Friday’s growing up in the 80’s was no meat on Friday during Lent. I had no idea about pennance during the rest of the year until I saw this thread and i’m sure the majority of American Catholic’s don’t know about it either, all us Americans know is no meat on Friday’s during Lent & Good Friday.

 

[Dale_M]

I had no idea about pennance during the rest of the year until I saw this thread and i’m sure the majority of American Catholic’s don’t know about it either. All we know is no meat on Friday’s during Lent & Good Friday.

I suspect you are right. Faulty catechesis is likely to blame. But lack of role models, people whose visible practice encourages our own, may also play a part. One of the advantages of a concrete penance like meatless Friday is that is is visible to others, and the shared penance encourages us to continue.

 

[Marybeloved]

I’ve just been reminded on another thread that we are not supposed to perform acts of penance on Sundays and Easter season (50 days) when we are supposed to be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord or on solemnities. So we don’t abstain from meat on the Fridays that happen to fall on these days.

 

[adrift]

Why is it not obligatory? It’s in Canon Law to do it, and The Bishops have said to do other penance in place of meat abstinence. Now, who said it was optional? Was it the America Bishops? If not, then how can you presume that a law that the Church has set forth is optional or can be disobeyed?

Not true, while it is not observed in America, it is still part of our canon law that we should indeed do so. We have just stopped doing it for some reason.

You need to read all of the canon and you will discover that you have a faulty understanding.
I hope that this article will help.

Are Catholics Supposed to Abstain from Meat Every Friday?

Parts that article state

But less clear is the requirement that on all Fridays throughout the year, we are to abstain from meat or some other food as determined by the Bishops’ Conference…
But unfortunately, if we expect to find in this Pastoral Statement a black-and-white answer to our questions about Friday abstinence for American Catholics, we will be disappointed. The Statement contains many beautiful statements about the purpose of penance, which are theologically sound and thought-provoking, but it is decidedly non-specific about what exactly we are not supposed to eat on Fridays:…
In other words, the US bishops encourage all American Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays — but if we can find a more effective type of penance to perform on Fridays, we are invited to do so.

The obligation to do penance is still in effect. What penance is up to each individual.

This question was also answered here
Friday Penance

 

[grasscutter]

Canon law allows the bishops conference of a nation to “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.”

This seems to be the relevant section of canon law

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM

My understanding is that the US bishops, 45 years ago, decided they wanted Catholics to practice a Friday penance with more spiritual meaning than simply forgoing meat. However, this may have been too optimistic. My sense is that most US Catholics simply abandoned the Friday penance.

Perhaps it is easier to make a concrete penance spiritually meaningful, at least for most people. My guess (just a guess) is that US Catholics largely abandoned the Friday penance because they couldn’t make their individual penances spiritually compelling enough to sustain their efforts.

I think the bishops of England and Wales, when they re-instituted the practice of meatless Fridays (last year) may have been on the right track. But perhaps Catholics there can speak to the matter?

Thanks for that information. Here in Canada Friday abstinence was changed at the same time as the US. I always assumed, with so many vegetarians and people eating less meat in general, that it was not considered that much of a sacrifice so they added the option of charitable acts and other penances.

Anyway, I love meat so I do observe Friday abstinence all year.

 

[adrift]

**Will you perform some act of charity or penance instead?

I just don’t get it. Aren’t we supposed to obey the disciplinary laws of the Church? If it is STILL in the Law of the Church, and if the Bishops have given a specific directive on how to live this discipline (Perform some penance/act of charity in place of meat abstinence)- WHO then decided it was optional? I’m really confused .

Whoa! I did not mean to indicate that it was optional.

The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety"

I believe this means that you don’t have to give up something but to do something like feed the hungry or saying prayers. It is so broad as to what you may do that it has lost a great deal of meaning. It is only optional in the sense of what you may do. Interestingly, I searched the Bishop’s web site to find only references to lent.
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