Is breaking your Friday obligation a mortal sin?

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Let’s say you break your Friday obligation. Is this a mortal sin?

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fish90
 
fish90 said:
Let’s say you break your Friday obligation. Is this a mortal sin?

Thanks,
fish90
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It depends on the reason for breaking it. If you simply forgot that it was Friday, there is no sin. There is also no sin if someone offered you something to eat, and in order not to offend or inconvenience your host, you ate what was given to you, even if it contained meat (assuming your ordinary Friday penance is to abstain from meat).

But if it was done deliberately for the purpose of rebelling against the authority of the Church, then this is a huge problem.
 
It would depend. If you forgot it was Friday, then of course it wouldn’t be sinful at all. Even if you chose not to do whatever penance you normally did it still wouldn’t be sinful. You could even just say a penenential(sp?) prayer. If you chose to do absolutely nothing extra for penance on Friday despite the fact that you were aware it is your duty, then yes it would be a mortal sin.
 
(PS as too if someone has “already” broken the penance today (like they are in a country that has the abstinence from meat on all Fridays) and wonders was it a mortal sin…remember for a mortal sin one needs grave matter and full knowledge and deliberate consent…so one has to examine things back “at the moment of breaking it” …no matter what the actual case may be…without scruple nor laxity)

PSS: Pope Paul VI notes a “substantial” breaking of the penitential days is what is grave…again see Jimmy Akin…he (JA) seems to have found the argument that a single day was not understood as being substantial back at that time…but again read his site for details and consider the argument.
 
It’s actually a pretty complicated topic, in the U.S. anyway. **Canon Law gives authority to the Conference of Bishops to determine more precisely the fasting and abstinence of the laity. However, the way that the US Catholic Bishops wrote their own rule, the actual requirement for a Friday fast/penance was unclear…they used the word “voluntary” when describing the requirement of the faithful, while the Bishops would observe the fast. So it became unclear whether the Friday fast was still mandatory (as it previously was). It gets more complicated still…read the blog below for better info. The short answer is, you can offer another form of penance on Fridays if you do eat meat.

Here is Jimmy Akin’s explanation, for what it’s worth:
jimmyakin.org/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

**Keep in mind, this is in the US only. Those in other countries shall follow the rule of their respective Conference of Bishops. Then, as Bookcat noted, there are conditions for a sin to be a mortal sin.
 
fish90 said:
Let’s say you break your Friday obligation. Is this a mortal sin?

Thanks,
fish90
Click to expand...
Not performing a Friday penance is a sin of grave matter because it is a divine obligation. The Bishops Conference may determine the type of penance that can be done but it cannot dispense with the obligation.

CHAPTER II : DAYS OF PENANCE

Can. 1249 All Christ’s faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe.
 
fish90 said:
Let’s say you break your Friday obligation. Is this a mortal sin?

Thanks,
fish90
Click to expand...
what Friday obligation is that? do you mean the obligation to Fast and Abstain on the Fridays of Lent? What does your bishop’s conference say about the fast and abstinance guidelines being binding under pain of sin?
 
puzzleannie said:
what Friday obligation is that? do you mean the obligation to Fast and Abstain on the Fridays of Lent? What does your bishop’s conference say about the fast and abstinance guidelines being binding under pain of sin?
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I thought every Catholic has to perform a penance every Friday in and outside the Lenten Fast. That is the Friday obligation I am referring to.

I am from the U.S., so there is no mandate to fast or abstain from meat, but we are to do some kind of penance. I do not know the other guidelines.
 
fish90 said:
I thought every Catholic has to perform a penance every Friday in and outside the Lenten Fast. That is the Friday obligation I am referring to.
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I, for one, understood you to mean this. 🙂
I am from the U.S., so there is no mandate to fast or abstain from meat, but we are to do some kind of penance.
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Right, exactly. 🙂
I do not know the other guidelines.
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Check with your local Bishop - he will be happy to help you. individual Bishops can add other guidelines, but they can’t take away the universal obligation to do penance on Fridays. The normative penance is to abstain from all warm-blooded meat.
 
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