Help - fish/meat on Friday?!

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lena28

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My dad has just cooked dinner and I don’t think he is aware that I do not eat meat on Fridays.
He has cooked fish in the same pan as meat and a potato dish that has small bits of meat in it.
My question is… can I eat the fish/can I eat the potato dish if I leave the meat?
Answers much appreciated!
This is really bothering me as I don’t want to show disrespect after my dad cooked a whole meal but I don’t want to sin!
 
lena28 said:
My dad has just cooked dinner and I don’t think he is aware that I do not eat meat on Fridays.
He has cooked fish in the same pan as meat and a potato dish that has small bits of meat in it.
My question is… can I eat the fish/can I eat the potato dish if I leave the meat?
Answers much appreciated!
This is really bothering me as I don’t want to show disrespect after my dad cooked a whole meal but I don’t want to sin!
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Eat the dinner your father cooked. You will not be sinning to charitably eat a meal prepared for you by someone who does not know you don’t eat meat on Friday’s. Especially since it is your Father.

You may take on another penance, perhaps special prayers for your father, or an offer to cook for the family yourself on Fridays from now on. 😉
 
lena28 said:
My dad has just cooked dinner and I don’t think he is aware that I do not eat meat on Fridays.
He has cooked fish in the same pan as meat and a potato dish that has small bits of meat in it.
My question is… can I eat the fish/can I eat the potato dish if I leave the meat?
Answers much appreciated!
This is really bothering me as I don’t want to show disrespect after my dad cooked a whole meal but I don’t want to sin!
Click to expand...
Eat the dinner and thank him for cooking it, then plan to do an extra act of corporal mercy.
 
Absolutely. It is out of your control. Be grateful and loving to your father. I think we can assume Almighty God understands! He is not a giant headmaster, waiting to rap us over the knuckles, and He is quite capable of seeing when someone has a dilemma but is trying to act out of love. ‘Charity covers a multitude of sins’, remember.
 
I would say I am greatly encouraged by you not eating meat on Friday:thumbsup: I like cristiano’s advice
 
lena28 said:
My dad has just cooked dinner and I don’t think he is aware that I do not eat meat on Fridays.
He has cooked fish in the same pan as meat and a potato dish that has small bits of meat in it.
My question is… can I eat the fish/can I eat the potato dish if I leave the meat?
Answers much appreciated!
This is really bothering me as I don’t want to show disrespect after my dad cooked a whole meal but I don’t want to sin!
Click to expand...
Today was a 1st class Feast Day (solemnity) so there is really no need to abstain from meat today.
 
lena28 said:
My dad has just cooked dinner and I don’t think he is aware that I do not eat meat on Fridays.
He has cooked fish in the same pan as meat and a potato dish that has small bits of meat in it.
My question is… can I eat the fish/can I eat the potato dish if I leave the meat?
Answers much appreciated!
This is really bothering me as I don’t want to show disrespect after my dad cooked a whole meal but I don’t want to sin!
Click to expand...
since there is no requirement, at least in this country, that Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays outside Lent, you have no problem.
Even in Lent there would be no problem in cooking fish in a pan that was used to cook meat, and yes you could eat a dish with meat in it if you left the meat and just ate the other ingredients.

honoring you father should be your first concern.

If these things cause you undue anxiety ask you priest to help you move past it.
 
EzraJacob said:
I am pretty new to Catholicism. May I ask, what is a solemnity?
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A solemnity is a feast day. Yesterday was the birthday of St. John the Baptist.

As I’m very addle brained in the mornings it only hit me halfway through mass: oh goodie, today’s a feast day and not a fast day!😉
 
puzzleannie said:
since there is no requirement, at least in this country, that Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays outside Lent, you have no problem.
Even in Lent there would be no problem in cooking fish in a pan that was used to cook meat, and yes you could eat a dish with meat in it if you left the meat and just ate the other ingredients.

honoring you father should be your first concern.

If these things cause you undue anxiety ask you priest to help you move past it.
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But we are still required to offer some sort of pennance on fridays. And even though we may substitute any other pennance for abstaining from meat, as far as I know it is still the preferred pennance by the church and highly recommended.
 
Hoernchen said:
A solemnity is a feast day. Yesterday was the birthday of St. John the Baptist.

As I’m very addle brained in the mornings it only hit me halfway through mass: oh goodie, today’s a feast day and not a fast day!😉
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Does that mean it was a holy day of obligation?
 
Hoernchen said:
But we are still required to offer some sort of pennance on fridays. And even though we may substitute any other pennance for abstaining from meat, as far as I know it is still the preferred pennance by the church and highly recommended.
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Under pain of sin? What’s frustrating to me is that what you posted doesn’t seem to be very well known. I wasn’t aware until recently and I haven’t been able to ubstain from meat since. I’ve been offering up prayers but I still feel guilty. I am also trying to not be scrupulous.
EzraJacob said:
Does that mean it was a holy day of obligation?
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No. It may have been at one point. Holy days of Obligation can be changed by your Bishop. But it’s a celebration none the less. So we don’t need to abstain that day.
 
I am new and not an expert, but there is a USCCB document here:
usccb.org/lent/2008/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf
  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
    emphasize that our people are as immutable. This said, we
    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.
  2. Perhaps we should warn those who decide to keep the
    Friday abstinence for reasons of personal piety and special
    love that they must not pass judgment on those who elect to
    substitute other penitential observances. Friday, please God, will acquire among us other forms of penitential witness which
    may become as much a part of the devout way of life in the future
    as Friday abstinence from meat. In this connection we have
    foremost in mind the modern need for self-discipline in the use of
    stimulants and for a renewed emphasis on the virtue of
    temperance, especially in the use of alcoholic beverages.
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I haven’t been able to figure out if, in the US, you must do SOME Friday penance under pain of sin. It is “easier” for me to abstain from meat; for whatever reason, every other day I’d eat veggies or fish for every meal but on Fridays I feel like I could devour a steak, and so it is a reminder.

I also wanted to add, in reply to the OP, that I don’t think animal fats are excluded under abstinence. So even if it hadn’t been a solemnity, it’s OK to eat a piece of fish that has been cooked in a pan that was used to cook meat.
 
I was told that yes we should abstain from meat on Fridays, OR, if impossible, do another penance. However, abstaining from meat is the advised penance.

Of course, if someone makes you dinner and it has meat, - it is more charitable to eat it 🙂 and then just substitute a different penance.

God bless
 
Hoernchen said:
But we are still required to offer some sort of pennance on fridays. And even though we may substitute any other pennance for abstaining from meat, as far as I know it is still the preferred pennance by the church and highly recommended.
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so, that does not require, if one chooses abstinence from meat, that one do more than what the church requires.
 
In the US, it’s not required to abstain from meat, but I feel more unified with the rest of the Church around the world in doing so and I don’t understand the reasoning behind abolishing that obligation.

But for the future, do suggest eating meatless on Friday to your family so that you can plan to observe this penance and avoid this situation in the future. You can do so without offending Charity (so many delicious vegetarian or fish meals out there!..though Friday is not about indulging) especially if, as another commenter suggested, you offer to cook for the family.
 
Hoernchen said:
But we are still required to offer some sort of pennance on fridays. And even though we may substitute any other pennance for abstaining from meat, as far as I know it is still the preferred pennance by the church and highly recommended.
Click to expand...
And starting in September, Catholics in England and Wales will no longer be able to substitute a penance for meatless Fridays. All Catholics in England and Wales will have to abstain from meat on Fridays.

Would to God that the Catholic bishops in the United States were as equally endowed with the wisdom, courage, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to restore this discipline!
 
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