Fish on Friday

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babs57

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OK. Why is it OK to eat fish on Fridays during lent, but not “meat”. What makes a food “meat”?

I have heard that it is because the flesh of fish has no blood in it.

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Not sure which heading it should go under.
 
babs57 said:
OK. Why is it OK to eat fish on Fridays during lent, but not “meat”. What makes a food “meat”?
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There is no hard and fast rule, however, generally speaking, warm-blooded creatures are considered meat and cold-blooded creatures are not.

Quoting from the old (1911) Catholic Encyclopedia:

Throughout the Latin Church the law of abstinence prohibits all responsible subjects from indulging in meat diet on duly appointed days. Meat diet comprises the flesh, blood, or marrow of such animals and birds as constitute flesh meat according to the appreciation of intelligent and law-abiding Christians. For this reason the use of fish, vegetables, molluscs, crabs, turtles, frogs, and suchlike cold-blooded creatures is not at variance with the law of abstinence. Amphibians are relegated to the category whereunto they bear most striking resemblance. This classification can scarcely preclude all doubt regarding viands prohibited by the law of abstinence. Local usage, together with the practice of intelligent and conscientious Christians, generally holds a key for the solution of mooted points in such matters, otherwise the decision rests with ecclesiastical authority
oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Abstinence_%28Food%29

BTW, if you live in the US and want to eat an alligator for Lent, the USCCB has ruled it okay. (However, you probably don’t want to eat an American Crocodile as they are endangered and the feds would come after you.)
 
The Catholic Church has laws written by God, and laws written by man.

I’m sure most Catholics would agree that, while it is a rule we should probably follow, “Thou shalt eat only fish, and shrimp and crawfish, and crabs, but not pork nor cow, nor goat on six consecutive Fridays in a row leading up to Easter” is almost certainly a law of humans not a law from God.

Not that that means we shouldn’t follow it. After all, “Thou slat not travel faster than seventy miles-per-hour” is not a law from God, but we still follow it. Mostly anwyay 😛

The rule on giving up stuff for lent is also, I believe, a Human law not a God law.
 
Coatimundi said:
BTW, if you live in the US and want to eat an alligator for Lent, the USCCB has ruled it okay. (However, you probably don’t want to eat an American Crocodile as they are endangered and the feds would come after you.)
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:rotfl:
 
Coatimundi; said:
Never mind the Feds, watch out the crocodile doesn’t eat you. They don’t observe Lent. By the way, thanks for Sic Transit Caotimundi. Still laughing.
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Kevin_B said:
The Catholic Church has laws written by God, and laws written by man.
The rule on giving up stuff for lent is also, I believe, a Human law not a God law.
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Yeah, I know. “Word of God vs. Traditions of men…” Lenten abstinence, though, is actually, a DISCIPLINE. A spiritual exercise to strengthen you for trials to come, and to keep your mind on Jesus when there are no trials. But, the question is, where is the origin of the “fish is not meat and is OK for Lent” TRADITION come from?
 
My father used to always jokingly claim that the fish on Friday rule was there because most of the apostles had been fishermen.🙂
 
Miserissima said:
Is muskrat still allowed in the Michigan Diocese? Because I’ll tell ya that I’d like to try it. 😉
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Well, to each his (or her) own, I guess… 😛

That said, wouldn’t muskrat be a warm-blooded animal and therefore verboten?
 
RPRPsych said:
Well, to each his (or her) own, I guess… 😛

That said, wouldn’t muskrat be a warm-blooded animal and therefore verboten?
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No. Indults are given in diocese that
a. respect local (usually indigenous) cultures, like muskrat in Michigan and
b. holding traditions of explorers who were granted insults, as in eating capybara in Venezuela.

Check out this old thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=329167

…and this blog post I found interesting:
marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/02/capybara-beaver-and-manatee-for-dinner.html?m=1
 
Kevin_B said:
The Catholic Church has laws written by God, and laws written by man.

I’m sure most Catholics would agree that, while it is a rule we should probably follow, “Thou shalt eat only fish, and shrimp and crawfish, and crabs, but not pork nor cow, nor goat on six consecutive Fridays in a row leading up to Easter” is almost certainly a law of humans not a law from God.

Not that that means we shouldn’t follow it. After all, “Thou slat not travel faster than seventy miles-per-hour” is not a law from God, but we still follow it. Mostly anwyay 😛

The rule on giving up stuff for lent is also, I believe, a Human law not a God law.
Click to expand...
In fact, “giving up for Lent” is not a matter of law at all. It is not as such required of anybody.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Origen52 said:
My father used to always jokingly claim that the fish on Friday rule was there because most of the apostles had been fishermen.🙂
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The version I heard was that the Pope instituted it in the 1400s to protect the fishing industry off the coast of Rome. 🙂

ICXC NIKA
 
Fish does indeed have blood.

But the whole point of abstinence is that our LORD gave up the flesh of His own body for us.

So we give up “flesh” for Him.

Human flesh is warm when alive, and cold in death. So for Lenten purposes, warm-bodied critters are considered “flesh.”

ICXC NIKA
 
Miserissima said:
No. Indults are given in diocese that
a. respect local (usually indigenous) cultures, like muskrat in Michigan and
b. holding traditions of explorers who were granted insults, as in eating capybara in Venezuela.

Check out this old thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=329167

…and this blog post I found interesting:
marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/02/capybara-beaver-and-manatee-for-dinner.html?m=1
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Ah, I see. Thanks for the information! 🙂

I’m going to try some snake this time. 😃

(Inspiration: sandraandwoo.com/2008/12/18/0017-the-forbidden-fruit/)
 
babs57 said:
OK. Why is it OK to eat fish on Fridays during lent, but not “meat”. What makes a food “meat”?

I have heard that it is because the flesh of fish has no blood in it.

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Not sure which heading it should go under.
Click to expand...
My understanding was that in the past, fish was a normal part of the food and daily diet. It was “commoner” food.

Meat from mammals and Birds was much less widespread and was seen as a luxury eaten on special occasions and by those who were more wealthy in general.

So on Fridays, one was not to have the elegant food, but the plain food in remembrance of the suffering of our Lord on Good Friday.
 
Miserissima said:
That was priceless!
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Couldn’t resist. 😃

Maybe we should compile a list of all the esoteric Lent foods and make it a sticky on this forum, as a future reference! 😉

So far, we have:
  1. Muskrat
  2. Alligator
  3. Capybara (from the other thread you linked to…)
What next?
 
RPRPsych said:
Couldn’t resist. 😃

Maybe we should compile a list of all the esoteric Lent foods and make it a sticky on this forum, as a future reference! 😉

So far, we have:
  1. Muskrat
  2. Alligator
  3. Capybara (from the other thread you linked to…)
What next?
Click to expand...
I think the other thread listed seal, walrus, dolphin, and whale. 😃
 
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