Catholic Answers and Penance

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I believe that when the Indult was given in the 1960s, the reason given by the bishops as I read the document was so that people could, actually, ‘do even more’. Apparently the thinking was that since meat was no longer the ‘luxury’ it had been (hard to realize, but in the 1960s meats were cheap. I mean, really cheap), and since even back then things like lobster (originally itself a very, very cheap foodstuff!) and other fish dishes were actually considered ‘more luxurious", and with people also becoming vegetarian, and since we were trying to ‘blend in more with the culture’ (and the Catholics ‘eating fish on Friday’ were a very visible sign of ‘culture’ and some called it ‘ghettoization’), the bishops had come to believe that (in the typically ambiguous language of the time which alas exists to this day) it would be a wonderful opportunity for American Catholics to be able to find their own ways to have a more meaningful relationship with God (the word penance being ‘played down’ to the point of almost disappearance.) You really have to look and extrapolate to get the idea that the whole reason for removing "abstinence’ was to encourage people to deeper penance as a part of their long-standing and traditional deepening of their faith and relationship with God. The three part, "prayer, alms, and fasting/penance’ has always been there (Jesus Himself remarked that 'when the bridegroom has gone his friends will fast–and fasting is a penitential action), and it was meant to remain. . .

BUT (you knew there’d be a but) this is couched in such ambiguous terms, and the catechesis was so abysmal, that it never came across correctly. (Just as happened with the many documents of Vatican II).

And so one can say, quite correctly, that it is never explicitly spelled out as in “Thou shalt do penance on every Friday, whether it be abstinence or something else”, and therefore, one need not do penance (though still abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent unless one is released by the bishop, or one falls into one of the many categories of exempt, or one forgets or doesn’t wish to cause offense). . .

And one can also say quite correctly that even if it is never said in KJV ‘the words of the Lord beeth written in ye red’), since the norm of the Church remains year-round Friday abstinence and since the intention of the bishops was clearly that some sort of ‘replacement penance’ would remain on a Friday (they probably thought since we were so smart in asking to do more, we didn’t need to be TOLD to), that we should indeed do penance every Friday.

It’s just another of the many, many ‘ambiguities’ in which you can find two perfectly ordinary, pleasant Catholics who truly desire to live their faith, honor God, and obey His teachings, come up with polar opposite understandings of those teachings, and who totally, utterly, sincerely believe their way is the right way and that the other person is the spawn of the devil. They can each quote Scripture to support their position, bring out Church documents, bring out Church leaders, saints, popes to ‘support the position’, and even use the same dang documents because they’re so ambiguously put!
 
Afaik each diocese can make its own rules about Friday and/or Lenten penance, with the exception of some rules like no meat on Ash Wed / Good Fri which are universal
 
It depends where you live, I think. But if you’re an American, then on Fridays even outside of Lent you are called to penance. This has traditionally been abstaining from meat but it can be another penance, but the penance is still necessary, unless it so happens to fall on something like a holy day of obligation (and I think a solemnity) since those take precedence over the penance.

During Lent, however, you are not to eat meat on any Friday.
 
Although I often like Jimmy Akin’s pieces and especially when he is analyzing Scripture, that particular piece you linked is not one of his better works, IMHO. One would have to be a lawyer to understand it, and even as a lawyer I found it difficult to follow. Jimmy ends up concluding that apart from Ash Wednesday and the Fridays in Lent, there is no longer any “obligation”, just an exhortation - in other words, Catholics are strongly encouraged to do penance, but not required/ obligated to do so.

Interestingly, the Canon Law Made Easy blog, written by a canon lawyer, analyzes the same question and concludes that there is still an “obligation” to do some form of penance on Fridays outside Lent, although the individual Catholic is allowed to decide what penance to do.


When the bishops present material so poorly that we end up with Jimmy Akin vs. a canon lawyer in some big legalistic analysis, I’m not surprised people reading it get confused.

I myself decided to just go the KISS (“Keep It Simple…” ) route and abstain from meat on all Fridays. There’s plenty of veggie and cheese and egg and fish in the USA to eat that day, and it’s a lot easier than trying to figure this gunk out.
 
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As Canon 1249 says, “The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way.” The Church, in its motherly concern, has always had rules to ensure we did some and to build community by ensuring we did it together. For better or worse, there are few communal penances required anymore. We’re pretty much left to our own devices to fulfill that divine law.

The old disciplines can still be helpful to us in this regard, however, marking out a proven road to follow, as the prophet Jeremiah tells us (Jer. 6:16):

Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
 
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I have been having fish every Friday for years and then two weeks ago I ate seafood salad. I had an anaphylactic reaction which came back twice while I was at the hospital. I am looking for another form of penance. I can eat cheese but not eggs and my husband really does not like the vegetarian option. I would love ideas. I will do mac and cheese during Lent but what about the rest of the year?
 
After reading the USCCB statement and a canon lawyer’s explanation of it, I’m thinking that a good penance might be to read the statement every Friday and attempt to write the conclusion into no more than two sentences.

Or maybe I’ll just pray a rosary.
 
I should probably read the statement every Friday. On the other hand a rosary would be much less penitential.
 
Pizza, pasta (doesn’t have to be with cheese), salad, Vegetarian Chinese food (some places make good fake meat dishes), baked beans, bean burritos, roast veg hoagies, fresh veg pita pockets, PBJ sandwiches, bread and butter and jam and tea, fruit salad, cake with fruit on milkshakes, tomato bisque, vegetable soup, vegetarian chili.

If your husband doesn’t like vegetarian, you can put some meat in his dish or on his pizza or in his hoagie etc
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
When the bishops present material so poorly that we end up with Jimmy Akin vs. a canon lawyer in some big legalistic analysis, I’m not surprised people reading it get confused.
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This question has come up before.

I’ll agree, the bishops stated it in such a way that it’s not totally clear whether “binding under pain of sin” means only the abstinence of meat or the whole Friday obligation. I asked the question a while back under “Ask an Apologist” and I got the impression from the reply that the obligation is no longer “binding under pain of sin.”

Nevertheless, I still observe the obligation. I still consider it an “obligation” whether or not there’s a “sin” involves. If I plan to eat meat that day I pray an additional five decades of the Rosary.
 
I think I ate meat on a Friday once in the past year. It was at the church’s Birthday Party for the Blessed Mother’s Birthday which happened to fall on a Friday, and I took a bite of what I thought was a vegetable dish and discovered meat in it.

I decided the Blessed Mother’s Birthday counted as enough of a feast day that I could eat a little meat, especially when it’s the parish church party serving it to me.
 
Thanks for the reply’s guys! Would saying an extra rosary or an extra Divine Mercy Chaplet count as penance?

I would abstain from meat, but I dont really have controll over what I eat for dinner.
 
Chicken? I think it only applies to red meat (correct me if I’m wrong)
 
FCS said:
Would saying an extra rosary or an extra Divine Mercy Chaplet count as penance?
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That’s what I do when I eat meat on Fridays outside of Lent (pray an extra Rosary).

Not sure if this has been addressed directly in this thread, but in some countries, the Bishops have ruled that the meatless obligation is in force on Friday all year round. I believe this is the case in the UK. So your obligation in this regard does depend on where you live.
 
Prayer is always a good penance.

The main three traditional forms of penance are prayer, fasting (abstinence would fall under this heading), and almsgiving. There is no strict rule, but traditionally almsgiving is associated with sins against our neighbor, fasting with sins against ourselves, and prayer with sins against God–and ultimately since all our sins are against God, prayer is always a good penitential practice.
 
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