Fish On Fridays Just During Lent or Not?

[Genesius]

I have heard conflicting reports on this. I always assumed that it was just during Lent until I heard an apologist on Catholic Answers Live once say that contrary to popular belief it was originally every Friday year round, and it has never changed. It’s just that you can also do some other sacrificial act of charity in lieu of eating fish.

I told my convert friend, and he very confidently assured me, no, that is not true. It’s only during Lent.

Which one is true? Is there some documentation to support either/or?

 

[damooster]

The short answer is that there is no obligation to abstain from meat or to do some act of charity/increase prayer on Fridays outside of Lent in the United States. However, we are encouraged to do something on all Fridays, whether it is abstain from meat, fasting etc. but it is not considered a sin if you do not choose to do so.

The best explanation I’ve found on the matter was written by Jimmy Akin and you can find it here:

catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0501bt.asp

Here’s an excerpt to summarize his thoughts:

Thus we conclude that the American bishops have exercised their competence, later acknowledged by canon 1253 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, to “determine more precisely” the observance of abstinence by restricting the obligation to do it to a few days a year (Ash Wednesday, the non-solemnity Fridays of Lent, and Good Friday—the last being part of the Triduum rather than Lent) and by recommending the continued practice of abstinence and other penances on other Fridays.

In doing so, they did not completely eliminate the legal obligation to do penance on Fridays. They restricted the legal obligation to certain Fridays of the year and replaced it with an exhortation to penance on the remaining Fridays.

Personally, I do abstain from all meats (other than fish) on all Friday’s of the year and I double my prayer time and Bible study. But that is considered a personal devotion and is certainly not required.

 

[Joannm]

The discipline was not that you had to eat fish but that you can’t eat meat. I think that in more recent decades abstaining from meat isn’t seen as that much of a penitential practice. I could go days without eating meat or fish. What is important is that Friday include some form of penitential act. The bishops have allowed us to choose for ourselves what it will be. So for some it may mean abstaining from meat. For other it can mean not watching TV or spending more time in prayer.

 

[Joe_5859]

This is what the current Code of Canon Law says:

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

So, the apologist is correct. The requirement to abstain from meat on every Friday has never been abrogated. But the U.S. Bishops did exercise their lawful authority to allow individual Catholics to substitute another suitable penance on Fridays outside of Lent with their November 27, 1966, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence (see paragraphs 18-28). This remains in effect for those of us in the U.S.

 

[Barbkw]

It’s determined by each Bishop.

Ours here, has asked that we either choose to abstain from meat (or) to devote the day to finding and doing a good deed for another person.

 

[ohioszo]

Just wanted to add that being obedient to the Father in little things, as St. Therese of Liseaux did, is very helpful to a human being. Little Sacrifices. We try, don’t we? The fasting and abstaining is very good for us physically. There are physical benefits: It is like the Vatican is preparing good soldiers for Christ, physically, mentally and spiritually. Read Saint Therese of Liseaux. I am reading a book written by a former Anglican, who attributed his conversion to her Little Way, and herself.

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

I have heard conflicting reports on this. I always assumed that it was just during Lent until I heard an apologist on Catholic Answers Live once say that contrary to popular belief it was originally every Friday year round, and it has never changed. It’s just that you can also do some other sacrificial act of charity in lieu of eating fish.

I told my convert friend, and he very confidently assured me, no, that is not true. It’s only during Lent.

Which one is true? Is there some documentation to support either/or?

Fridays in and outside of Lent are days of Penence, they were and are still. the Norm of the universal church is to abstain from meat. the local bishop can and in the US has said that some other form of penence may be done in leiu of abstaining from meat. but abstaining from meat is still the Norm.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have heard conflicting reports on this. I always assumed that it was just during Lent until I heard an apologist on Catholic Answers Live once say that contrary to popular belief it was originally every Friday year round, and it has never changed. It’s just that you can also do some other sacrificial act of charity in lieu of eating fish.

I told my convert friend, and he very confidently assured me, no, that is not true. It’s only during Lent.

Which one is true? Is there some documentation to support either/or?

no Catholic is or ever has been required to eat fish on Friday or any other day.

Yes Friday remains a penitential day throughout the year for all Catholics, with the choice up penance or observance up to the individual. During Lent the Church in the US mandates fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence from meat on those days and all Fridays of Lent. The bishops conference of each country set the law for that country. the local bishop also determines what constitutes “fast and abstinence” for his diocese.

 

[Adeodatus]

As others have said, all Fridays of the year (unless Solemnities) are penitential days. The norm of penance for Friday is abstinence from meat (fish* is allowed). In areas where a substitute penance is permitted (only outside of Lent), the local bishop determines what constitutes an appropriate substitute.

• “fish” here seems to include anything that breathes water; so you’re OK with shellfish, eels, etc.

Basically, the norm is no meat on Friday. If you must eat meat for whatever reason, get in touch with your chancery and find out what substitute penance has been deemed acceptable by your local ordinary.

This is a sacrifice to help unite you with our Lord upon the Cross.

 

[cyberwolf001]

The short answer is that there is no obligation to abstain from meat or to do some act of charity/increase prayer on Fridays outside of Lent in the United States. However, we are encouraged to do something on all Fridays, whether it is abstain from meat, fasting etc. but it is not considered a sin if you do not choose to do so.

It is beyond amazing how many people don’t get this. When I was a Catholic I’d always get “If you wont eat fish how can you handle Lent!” Every time I’d point out vegetarian options. She would then forget this and the cycle will repeat…

 

[Genesius]

Okay, I’m still just as confused. I have heard some of you say abstaining from meat is *required, *while others are saying it is a mere suggestion or encouragement.

If I weren’t so absolutely confident about the Catholic faith, and knew that Christ is the one who founded her, and taken into account we are all imperfect humans…I would question an institution whose members cannot even agree on internal matters. Sorry…just venting. It’s frustrating…just like not being able to get a straight answer as to what sins are grave and which ones aren’t (and I don’t mean the obvious ones).

On another note, I didn’t mean to imply that we were required to eat fish. I just worded it wrong. The point I was getting at was that we were to abstain from meat. BTW, why doesn’t fish constitute meat? Isn’t that splitting hairs? Maybe there’s some historical or traditional reason I’m unaware of.

 

[Joannm]

It is beyond amazing how many people don’t get this. When I was a Catholic I’d always get “If you wont eat fish how can you handle Lent!” Every time I’d point out vegetarian options. She would then forget this and the cycle will repeat…

I hated fish as a kid, and I wasn’t big on veggies either. We would have pizza on friday nights…or pancakes and eggs (yes for dinner)…and there is always pasta.

 

[damooster]

Okay, I’m still just as confused. I have heard some of you say abstaining from meat is *required, *while others are saying it is a mere suggestion or encouragement.

If I weren’t so absolutely confident about the Catholic faith, and knew that Christ is the one who founded her, and taken into account we are all imperfect humans…I would question an institution whose members cannot even agree on internal matters. Sorry…just venting. It’s frustrating…just like not being able to get a straight answer as to what sins are grave and which ones aren’t (and I don’t mean the obvious ones).

On another note, I didn’t mean to imply that we were required to eat fish. I just worded it wrong. The point I was getting at was that we were to abstain from meat. BTW, why doesn’t fish constitute meat? Isn’t that splitting hairs? Maybe there’s some historical or traditional reason I’m unaware of.

Let me expand on my original answer since there does some to be some confusion here.

Canon law states the following:

1. All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

1. It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

Notice how Canon 1253 states that it is up to the conference of bishops to determine what, if any, penitential observance is to be made on Fridays both inside and outside of Lent.

So, if you are in the United States, you can go to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website and find all of the amendments or, as they refer to it, norms.

usccb.org/norms/norms.htm

Scroll down to Canons 1252 and 1253, Observance of Fast and Abstinence, and you will come to this page:

usccb.org/norms/12521253.htm

On this page, you will find this statement:

The November 18, 1966 norms of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on penitential observance for the Liturgical Year continue in force since they are law and are not contrary to the code (canon 6).

This refers to the document, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, which was a statement issued on this November 18, 1966, by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now called the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops). In this document, the USCCB states the following:

1. Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ.

1. Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law.

1. Every Catholic Christian understands that the fast and abstinence regulations admit of change, unlike the commandments and precepts of that unchanging divine moral law which the Church must today and always defend as immutable. This said, we emphasize that our people are henceforth free from the obligation traditionally binding under pain of sin in what pertains to Friday abstinence, except as noted above for Lent. We stress this so that “no” scrupulosity will enter into examinations of conscience, confessions, or personal decisions on this point.

So, as I said in my first post, Canon law states that it is up to each Episcopal Conference to determine proper fasting and abstinence laws. The USCCB, since 1966, has stated that Americans are no longer required to abstain from meat or perform penitential acts on Fridays outside of Lent, but are highly encouraged to do so.

If you want to read the entire 1966 document (so that you can put your mind at ease), you can find it here:

usccb.org/lent/2007/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf

 

[damooster]

Also, I’d like to state that I understand your frustration. These laws have been the norm for Catholics in the United States since 1966, yet people still don’t know about them. Even now, many people will read the documents that I provided and insist that we are still required to do some sort of penance on Fridays.

I consider it a “con” of having separate episcopal conferences within the Catholic Church. The very word Catholic means “universal” yet we are divided by the differences among the several conferences. So, again, your frustration is well founded.

 

[laszlo]

Until sometimes in the XX century there was fast and abstinence (no meat)

• during the weekdays of lent
• in the Ember days
• in all Vigils
• and abstinence only in all Fridays

The number of fast day were greatly reduced before WWII

When I was child fast was required on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday (till Saturday noon), on the Vigil of Assumption day or the Vigil of Immaculate Conception, and on the Vigil of of Christmas (half day) ; but the abstinence on all Fridays was in effect

Recently fast days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence days the Fridays of Lent.

Fish is not required to eat, you can eat vegetables only (including eggs) of abstinence days.

 

[jmcrae]

Okay, I’m still just as confused. I have heard some of you say abstaining from meat is *required, *while others are saying it is a mere suggestion or encouragement.

If you choose not to abstain from meat, then you must choose some other form of penance for Fridays. An example would be, to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, or else to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something like that.

My recommendation would be to pick one thing and do that one thing every Friday, rather than try to think of something to do for Friday, every Thursday evening.

Abstaining from meat remains the norm, and if you happen to be someone who eats meat at other times, it’s a good penance, as well as being easy to remember, and relatively easy to do.

For those who never or seldom ever eat meat, it would probably be appropriate to add extra prayers or good deeds every Friday - even during Lent, when we have to abstain from meat, anyway.

On another note, I didn’t mean to imply that we were required to eat fish. I just worded it wrong. The point I was getting at was that we were to abstain from meat. BTW, why doesn’t fish constitute meat? Isn’t that splitting hairs? Maybe there’s some historical or traditional reason I’m unaware of.

The Latin word used in the law is “carne” which refers only to warm-blooded meat; not cold-blooded meat. Since fish are cold-blooded, they are permitted.

 

[melekali]

Let me expand on my original answer since there does some to be some confusion here.

Canon law states the following:

Notice how Canon 1253 states that it is up to the conference of bishops to determine what, if any, penitential observance is to be made on Fridays both inside and outside of Lent.

So, if you are in the United States, you can go to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website and find all of the amendments or, as they refer to it, norms.

usccb.org/norms/norms.htm

Scroll down to Canons 1252 and 1253, Observance of Fast and Abstinence, and you will come to this page:

usccb.org/norms/12521253.htm

On this page, you will find this statement:

This refers to the document, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, which was a statement issued on this November 18, 1966, by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now called the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops). In this document, the USCCB states the following:

So, as I said in my first post, Canon law states that it is up to each Episcopal Conference to determine proper fasting and abstinence laws. The USCCB, since 1966, has stated that Americans are no longer required to abstain from meat or perform penitential acts on Fridays outside of Lent, but are highly encouraged to do so.

If you want to read the entire 1966 document (so that you can put your mind at ease), you can find it here:

usccb.org/lent/2007/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf

How interesting. Thanks.

 

[jmcrae]

How interesting. Thanks.

This is only in some locations, and only in the USA. Most Bishops require that you do some kind of Friday penance on all of the Fridays of the year.

 

[Genesius]

LOL, melekali. I just noticed your location: Earth…good one. There it is.

I have also heard somewhere that the restriction also includes any dairy product. Is that true?

 

[jmcrae]

I have also heard somewhere that the restriction also includes any dairy product. Is that true?

Not any more, in the Latin Rite - I’m not sure about the Eastern Rites.