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

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It’s funny that in our increasingly secular Bristish society, Fridays are still the busiest day for fishmongers and fish and chip shops. They’ll be even busier come September.
 
Obeying the Church is a very good, even if it is not particularily hard to do in some cases. By intentionally not eating meat on Fridays, and giving that specific consideration and thought each week, a Catholic is showing clear obedience to Jesus’ Church. That alone is a very good thing indeed.

If we are obedient in the littlle things, then we stand a better chance of being obedient in the more significant matters. Yet, if we think we can cast aside Church rules just because they seem meaningless, then there really is not end to that and we end-up with a Catholic laity that goes to Mass whenever they feel like it and it results in 70%+ of all Catholics not believing in the Real Presence, contracepting, aborting, etc.

The idea here is to make every attempt to obey.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
Yes, when you go to confession and the Priest gives you a penance, this is entirely voluntary. The act of going to confession is a voluntary act, and actually performing the penance is also a voluntary act.

But, a blanket proscription on eating meat is NOT a voluntary act. The leadership is, in effect, telling you that you either follow their idea of a penance, or you are a sinner.

It is MUCH better that a person voluntarily choose to abstain, not be told that they have to.
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Doing your penance is voluntary in that you can use your free will and chose not to do it. The same applies to Friday abstinence. In eithe case, if you willfully disregard it, you may have committed a sin.

And while voluntary acts of penance may be “better”, that doesn’t mean that common, required acts of penance are not valuable too.
 
We still have a pentance requirement for Friday and the standard is still no meat. The big issue is nobody is taught that and nobody is reminded about it. It is hard for us to ask our kids to do it, since the school system no longer supports it - but my wife and I do our best. Most of her friends families also try to support it.
 
Submission to a required penance is a salutory action. Whether it’s a requirement imposed by the priest in confession, a dietary discipline determined by the bishops, or a parental admonition, it trains us to be obedient and submit our own will to another authority placed over us by God. It also teaches humility. Obedience and humility are two virtues this world desperately needs!
 
The_Old_Medic said:
…That’s exactly why meatless Fridays were abolished, …
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They were not abolished, as post #1 indicates. The faithful were given the option of performing some other form of penance, or not eating meat. However, …
… 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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Like it was a penance to eat lobster instead of a hot dog. Hence the option to select some other form of penance.
 
sedonaman said:
They were not abolished, as post #1 indicates. The faithful were given the option of performing some other form of penance, or not eating meat. However, …
Like it was a penance to eat lobster instead of a hot dog. Hence the option to select some other form of penance.
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who can afford Lobster?
In my home its tuna.
 
oneGODoneCHURCH said:
who can afford Lobster?
In my home its tuna.
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I ate at Long John Silver’s last Friday evening. I can’t recall the last time I ate at one, but it has been at least twenty years.

As I was eating at Long John Silver’s I wondered what terrible sin I must have committed to have been punished with such food.

Now I know why I haven’t been there in twenty years.
 
1holycatholic said:
I ate at Long John Silver’s last Friday evening. I can’t recall the last time I ate at one, but it has been at least twenty years.

As I was eating at Long John Silver’s I wondered what terrible sin I must have committed to have been punished with such food.

Now I know why I haven’t been there in twenty years.
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LOL
See now that is real penence.
 
Even if we like stuff without meat, we will still think about avoiding meat and meat-based food and this will lead us to think about why we can’t have it.

As for me; smoked haddock (Finnan Haddie) in a tomato and onion sauce with lovely buttery mashed potatoes like my mama used to make. ❤️
 
The new emphasis on Friday as a day of penance began last week, on Sept 16th

Here is the Q & A posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

catholicchurch.org.uk/content/download/8691/59200/file/friday-penance.pdf

Perhaps of particular note is question #5
Q5. Eating meat is not that important to me and therefore not much of a penance or sacrifice on my part. What then is the value of my abstaining from meat on a Friday?
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For some people abstinence from meat will not necessarily be much of a ‘personal’ penance or sacrifice. Indeed, many people do not eat meat. Giving up going out with friends on a Friday night, for example, would be for some much more of a penance or personal sacrifice. However, to say that we do not eat meat or we dislike meat, or that we ‘prefer fish’, is to miss the point!
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What the Bishops are asking us to do, first and foremost, is to make abstaining from meat a common act of penitence; a common witness and sacrifice. This act unites us and reminds us of our personal duty, each Friday, to sacrifice something which is precious to us out of love for Almighty God and out of love for others.
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Moreover, it is not just as an individual act of witness that we are asked to undertake Friday penance but as a weekly prophetic witness of the whole Catholic community. It witnesses that being a Catholic requires us, as a community, through our prayer, abstaining and almsgiving/works of charity, to stand alongside those who are in need.
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If abstaining from meat is not really a sacrifice for us then we should consider doing something in addition to abstaining from meat. This will keep us united in this common sign of witness and enable us to
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I come from a family of fishermen. I’m quite happy about this. 🙂
 
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