Britain's Roman Catholic Church brings back no-meat Fridays

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Britain’s Roman Catholic Church brings back no-meat Fridays
ROMAN Catholics in Britain will be urged to abstain from meat on Fridays, reviving an ancient tradition of sacrifice to honor the death of Christ, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported today.

A conference of British bishops made the decision to reinstate the rule, with the practice to return September 16 to mark the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the country.

The no-meat rule was changed in 1984 after hundreds of years of tradition, with the faithful given the option to choose a different form of penance or attend Mass instead. However, most Roman Catholics still observe the rule on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday.
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Amen,

I was so afraid to post that view point seeing I am a new member and all. But yes, thanks for posting that. Got one hearty supporter over here. 👍

Little One0307
 
Little_One0307 said:
Amen,

I was so afraid to post that view point seeing I am a new member and all. But yes, thanks for posting that. Got one hearty supporter over here. 👍

Little One0307
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Don’t be afraid. the barking here is much worse than the bitting. 😃
 
I was hoping they would bring back Penny Catechism before meatless Fridays. 😦
 
In the best possible way, I very nearly fell off my seat when I read the news. It was very much not what I was expecting to come out of the recent meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, particularly as until now we’ve only had abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, not even the Fridays of Lent. I am pretty enthusiastic about this development (have been trying, with my wife, to observe non-meaty Fridays as much as possible hitherto). I think it’s significant that this will come into effect on the anniversary of His Holiness’ visit to the UK – may his presence here continue to bear fruit for years to come.

Can anyone name other countries in which every Friday (excepting, of course, Solemnities) is to be observed with abstinence from meat?
 
Just a minor correction, they’re only back in England and Wales as of yet. Scotland, also part of the UK, has a separate Bishops’ Conference, although I’d be quite happy to see it follow suit. I’ve always felt rather averse to eating meat on Fridays anyway, regardless of the official line.
 
A “Required Act of Penance” is absolutely meaningless.

Penance must be voluntary to have any real meaning. That’s exactly why meatless Fridays were abolished, because most Catholics did not consider it to be penance, it was just a requirement of the church.

Requiring that all Catholic refrain from eating meat on all Fridays will quickly become another superstition. It will just be a meaningless ritual that they all have to go through, with little (if any) personal meaning at all.

And sadly, all too many will simply ignore this “requirement”.

I vividly remember the old days. I knew very few Catholics (including Nuns, Brothers and Priests) that ever considered meatless Fridays to be an act of penance. In fact, many of us looked forward to Fridays, because we got some delicious non-meat treats to eat, like cheese enchilada’s, etc. It was just something that Catholics did, not a real act of penance at all.
 
I am very pleased with this development. I think that it will help cement us again and give us back some of the identity we have lost over the last 30 years. It forces us to bear witness when we, for instance go out for a meal on a Friday and let it be known that we won’t be having a meat dish as we are Catholic and are commemorating the day when Christ died for us.

I have continued to practice abstinence from meat on a Friday but some of my friends haven’t and have admitted that action of giving something up on a Friday has been a bit wooly at times.
 
Its’ only meaningless if you don’t attach any spiritual meaning to it, which sadly most of this corrupt world does not do.
 
Vincent1984 said:
Can anyone name other countries in which every Friday (excepting, of course, Solemnities) is to be observed with abstinence from meat?
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United Arab Emirates (well, the Vicarate of Arabia, I guess), although it’s Wednesday here (well, our week days are all mixed up anyway); I think it’s recommended in South Africa (my family does)…so when I fly home from here on a Thursday (as I will be in July) I end up having 2 days of abstinence in the week.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
A “Required Act of Penance” is absolutely meaningless.

Penance must be voluntary to have any real meaning. That’s exactly why meatless Fridays were abolished, because most Catholics did not consider it to be penance, it was just a requirement of the church.

Requiring that all Catholic refrain from eating meat on all Fridays will quickly become another superstition. It will just be a meaningless ritual that they all have to go through, with little (if any) personal meaning at all.

And sadly, all too many will simply ignore this “requirement”.

I vividly remember the old days. I knew very few Catholics (including Nuns, Brothers and Priests) that ever considered meatless Fridays to be an act of penance. In fact, many of us looked forward to Fridays, because we got some delicious non-meat treats to eat, like cheese enchilada’s, etc. It was just something that Catholics did, not a real act of penance at all.
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So even with your worst case scenario; Catholics are still at least doing 2 things which they do not w/o this required penance:
  1. They are thinking about and acknowledging God in their lives through the entire day. Remembering the entire day to go meatless still does require thought and open us to perhaps greater levels of fasting as we may be called.
  2. They are acknowledging real communion with and authority of the Catholic Church in a very physical way. The significance of this should not be belittled.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
A “Required Act of Penance” is absolutely meaningless.

Penance must be voluntary to have any real meaning. That’s exactly why meatless Fridays were abolished, because most Catholics did not consider it to be penance, it was just a requirement of the church.

Requiring that all Catholic refrain from eating meat on all Fridays will quickly become another superstition. It will just be a meaningless ritual that they all have to go through, with little (if any) personal meaning at all.

And sadly, all too many will simply ignore this “requirement”.

I vividly remember the old days. I knew very few Catholics (including Nuns, Brothers and Priests) that ever considered meatless Fridays to be an act of penance. In fact, many of us looked forward to Fridays, because we got some delicious non-meat treats to eat, like cheese enchilada’s, etc. It was just something that Catholics did, not a real act of penance at all.
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Yeah, make it as meaningless and requiring you to go to Mass on Sunday’s and HOLY DAYS. Penence on Firdays is still and has been required for Catholic on fridays, this did not change, what changed is that the bishops could leave what the penence was to be up to each person. We see how well that has worked. NOT!!!

So yes making it uniform Through out the whole of the church would be again a good thing.

I know you can lead the horse to water, but you can not make him drink. The rest of that goes like this You can give him the choice to drink or be drowned.
 
Saintlucy said:
I have continued to practice abstinence from meat on a Friday but some of my friends haven’t and have admitted that action of giving something up on a Friday has been a bit wooly at times.
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This is very true. We try to always abstain from meat on Friday’s, but have also done other penances as well and usually they end up half done, never gotten around to, etc.

For me, not eating meat is not difficult, but it does bring up the remembrance of why we do it each at each meal when choosing what to have. A very good practice! Now we can pray that the US Bishops make the same decision!
 
InspiritCarol said:
So even with your worst case scenario; Catholics are still at least doing 2 things which they do not w/o this required penance:
  1. They are thinking about and acknowledging God in their lives through the entire day. Remembering the entire day to go meatless still does require thought and open us to perhaps greater levels of fasting as we may be called.
  2. They are acknowledging real communion with and authority of the Catholic Church in a very physical way. The significance of this should not be belittled.
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Great post, thanks!

:blessyou:
 
Bring it to the U.S. I would love to see more Fish and Chip shops.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
A “Required Act of Penance” is absolutely meaningless.

Penance must be voluntary to have any real meaning. That’s exactly why meatless Fridays were abolished, because most Catholics did not consider it to be penance, it was just a requirement of the church.

Requiring that all Catholic refrain from eating meat on all Fridays will quickly become another superstition. It will just be a meaningless ritual that they all have to go through, with little (if any) personal meaning at all.

And sadly, all too many will simply ignore this “requirement”.

I vividly remember the old days. I knew very few Catholics (including Nuns, Brothers and Priests) that ever considered meatless Fridays to be an act of penance. In fact, many of us looked forward to Fridays, because we got some delicious non-meat treats to eat, like cheese enchilada’s, etc. It was just something that Catholics did, not a real act of penance at all.
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Um, with respect. . .how do you feel about going to Mass for the “Sunday obligation”? Attendence at Mass is required. I.e. not voluntary. It’s not an act of penance (well, setting aside a few Masses we’ve sat through in the last 40 years or so) but it is a required act.

If a good act like Mass may be (and is) required, what is so all-fired special about penance (also a good act) that it may NOT be ‘required’ but MUST be voluntary --and where is that listed in the catechism?

I also remember ‘the old days’.

You know, the great Catholic laity were not the ones responsible for the 1965 Indult. And it wasn’t because meatless Fridays were ‘meaningless’. If they were, how come we kept the ‘Lenten Friday abstinence’. Gee willikers, if it’s so involuntary as to be ‘meaningless’, why require IT?
 
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