Friday Fasting?

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augustine33

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First of all I am a convert.

I have googled and googled and still haven’t found an answer to this: Is it mandatory to fast from meat every Friday or only during Lent?

Thanks!
 
I think it is encouraged as it used to be mandatory, I think.

Vegetarians have to abstain from vegetables. 😃
 
When you google, make sure you use the word “abstain” and not “fast.” To fast is to not eat, or to eat minimally, for a time. To abstain means to not eat a certain food, in this case meat. And I apologize for my lack of time to find and quote the document that gives this information :o

There is not a requirement to abstain from meat on Fridays. As Catholics we are, however, expected to make some sort of sacrifice every Friday, in commemoration of and to unite ourselves with Christ’s passion.

Gertie
 
It depends on your rite and where you live. The universal norm is still to fast on Fridays throughout the year, but the U.S. Bishops made it optional for U.S. Catholics, at least in the Latin Church. I don’t know about the Eastern rites. Read more here.
 
You have a choice. You can either abstain from meat on Fridays or do an act of penance. You must do one or the other.
 
augustine33 said:
First of all I am a convert.

I have googled and googled and still haven’t found an answer to this: Is it mandatory to fast from meat every Friday or only during Lent?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Only during Lent. (Btw, I’m a convert too—congratulations and welcome!!! :clapping::dancing: ) All Fridays are encouraged as days of penance; but except for
the Lenten season, the meat “thing” is optional. One could do without a favorite movie or TV show, sacrifice some activity they enjoy, go to Adoration or like that.
 
augustine33 said:
First of all I am a convert.

I have googled and googled and still haven’t found an answer to this: Is it mandatory to fast from meat every Friday or only during Lent?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
It depends which country you live in.
While most countries allow you to choose other forms of penance, in other countries it is mandatory to abstain from meat.

For example, if you live in the US it is not obligatory to abstain from eating meat but some form of penance is obligatory.
 
With respect to the U.S. today, the day after Thanksgiving, wasn’t there an indult from Pius XII permitting the eating of meat (read: leftover turkey) on the Friday after Thanksgiving? Since this dates from before the USCCB penitential alternative, wouldn’t this permit the eating of meat today without a corresponding penitential act?
 
As others have noted it depends on the country. On CAF there is a tendency for posters to jump in with US specific requirements without any qualifications- people from all around the world read this forum.
In Canada, for Latin Catholics, abstinence from meat can be substituted with another penance on ALL Fridays INCLUDING the Fridays of Lent- though both fasting and abstinence remain binding on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

In England and Wales the faithful are expected to abstain all Fridays throughout the year.
 
There is a small ‘t’ tradition of FASTING–not abstaining–on Tuesdays & Fridays as mentioned by Russian Catholic Josyp Terylev R.I.P. Some Catholics in America fast on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I don’t get those days…Anyhoo, thanks for good question and NELKA! GOOD ONE!
 
augustine33 said:
First of all I am a convert.

I have googled and googled and still haven’t found an answer to this: Is it mandatory to fast from meat every Friday or only during Lent?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
The Latin canon law (CIC) states:Can. 1250: The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

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.

Can. 1252: The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

USCCB Complimentary Norms (USA):**Canon 1253 - Observance of Fast and Abstinence **
Code: 
                           **Complementary Norm:** Norms II and IV of *Paenitemini*  (February 17, 1966) are almost identical to the canons cited. 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).
Approved: Administrative Committee, September 1983

Promulgated: Memorandum to All Bishops, October 21, 1983

Amended: “… the age of fasting is from the completion of the twenty-first year to the beginning of the sixtieth” (Paenitemini, norm IV) is amended to read “‘… the age of fasting is from the completion of the eighteenth year to the beginning of the sixtieth’ in accord with canon 97.”

Promulgated: Memorandum to All Diocesan Bishops, February 29, 1984

(See On Penance and Abstinence, Pastoral Statement of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 18, 1966)
So it means for Latin Catholics in the USA:
  • Those 14 years or older must abstain from meat on all other Fridays of the year except solemnities, unless substituting anther form of penance for abstinence.
  • Those 14 years or older must abstain from meat items on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent%between%.
  • Those between 18 and 59 must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
 
Ad_Orientem said:
It depends on your rite and where you live. The universal norm is still to fast on Fridays throughout the year, but the U.S. Bishops made it optional for U.S. Catholics, at least in the Latin Church. I don’t know about the Eastern rites. Read more here.
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I think the universal norm is to abstain from meat on Friday. The only two days of required fasting are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
 
Jerurussia said:
There is a small ‘t’ tradition of FASTING–not abstaining–on Tuesdays & Fridays as mentioned by Russian Catholic Josyp Terylev R.I.P. Some Catholics in America fast on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I don’t get those days…Anyhoo, thanks for good question and NELKA! GOOD ONE!
Click to expand...
The ancient Christian norm, still observed in the East, is to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays - not Tuesdays. We have a remnant of that still in the Latin Church with Ash Wednesday - and in the older Extraordinary Form calendar during Ember Days.
 
Jerurussia said:
…Some Catholics in America fast on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I don’t get those days…
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Some of the ancient churches had the practice abstinence and fast on Saturday (when it is not a solemnity) which was a prolongation (continuare jejunium or superponere jejunium) of the Friday fast. This was common at the end of the third century.

newadvent.org/cathen/01067a.htm
 
Nelka said:
Vegetarians have to abstain from vegetables. 😃
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Haha!
I was vegetarian before I was Catholic, but I gotta say, Fasting and Fridays were an absolute breeze. I have no idea what is so hard about it for the rest of you. :dts:

J/K 😛
 
BLP said:
You have a choice. You can either abstain from meat on Fridays or do an act of penance. You must do one or the other.
Click to expand...
What is an act of penance?
The works of corporal and spiritual mercy.

What are the works of corporal mercy?
  1. To feed the hungry – Abraham entertained the three men, Christ fed five thousand people
  2. To give drink to the thirsty – The samaritan woman gave Our Lord water to drink at Jacob´s well
  3. To clothe the naked – Tabitha at Joppe made garments for destitute widows (Acts of Apostels)
  4. To harbor the stranger – the good Samaritan took the man being wounded by robbers to an inn
  5. To visit the sick –
  6. To ransom the captive - Christians in Damascus rescued St. Paul out of prison
  7. To bury the dead – the inhabitans of the city Naim accompanied the bier on which the young man was carried to the grave., Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laid the body of Our Lord in the sepulchre
What are the spiritual works of mercy?
  1. To instruct the ignorant
  2. **To counsel the doubtful **– Joseph in Egypt counsels the farao,
  3. To admonish sinners – the thief on the cross on the right reproves the thief on the left
  4. To bear wrongs patiently
  5. To forgive offences willingly
  6. To comfort the afflicted
  7. **To pray for the living and the dead
    **
Source: Spirago, F. (1921) The catechism explained, p. 421 - 422
With Nihil obstat and Imprimatur
Accessed on: www.archive.org
 
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