Lent - What Can We Eat?

[thistle]

I believe some of you are interpreting the canon law incorrectly and assuming priests are always correct. Most priests are not canon lawyers. We should probably have a canon lawyer forum member comment.
I believe the fasting and abstinence for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are mandatory, as is the abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent.
In my view the Bishops only have wiggle room for substituting another penance on Fridays outside Lent.

 

[Phemie]

I believe some of you are interpreting the canon law incorrectly and assuming priests are always correct. Most priests are not canon lawyers. We should probably have a canon lawyer forum member comment.
I believe the fasting and abstinence for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are mandatory, as is the abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent.
In my view the Bishops only have wiggle room for substituting another penance on Fridays outside Lent.

Not when the decree reads

Decree No. 8

In accordance with the prescriptions of c. 1253, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops hereby decrees that the days of fast and abstinence in Canada are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Fridays are days of abstinence but Catholics may substitute special acts of charity or piety on this day.
(Official document No. 535; 14-05-85)

Decree No. 8…was reviewed by the Apostolic See (Letter of Apostolic Nunciature, Prot. No. 20506, March 8, 1985).

Canon 1253 says: “The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.”

If we were all meant to abstain on the Fridays of Lent, I think Rome would have insisted a change in this decree.

 

[thistle]

Not when the decree reads

Canon 1253 says: “The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.”

If we were all meant to abstain on the Fridays of Lent, I think Rome would have insisted a change in this decree.

I did not say I was right. I said it was my view. However, I wonder if Cameron_Lansing is around. He is a canon lawyer. I wouldn’t mind hearing his views.

 

[thistle]

Yesterday in RCIA someone asked these questions which no one really knew the answer to:

1. On Fridays during lent can you eat turtles?
2. How about bugs?

What exactly is defined as “carnis” and what isn’t?

I thought it meant the meat of all warm blooded creatures.

 

[jmcrae]

Don’t you have Bishop Henry? I’m surprised it required personal communication; I would have thought that in your diocese something so basic would be well publicized. I can honestly say that I have never heard that rule mentioned once since we were given the option.

Yeah, I’ve never seen anything, either, and I know there are a lot of people in Calgary who are totally unaware that we are supposed to be doing penances on Fridays - even though every parish in the Diocese has some kind of public penitential activity going on (Sorrowful Mysteries, Stations of the Cross, Adoration, litany of the Sacred Heart, etc.), every Friday - you’d think people would clue in.

 

[Mattjolley]

Hi,

I am unsure as to whether UK Catholics are required to refrain from eating meat on lenten fridays or is it just recommended?

Matt

 

[tee_eff_em]

I’ve got all kinds of dialogue raging here at work as to what you can and can not eat during Lent. The specific snafu seems to be dealing with eggs. Some say you can eat them, some say you can not eat them. From what research I’ve done, I believe you can eat eggs during Lent. Nonetheless, where can we find verifiable proof of what we can eat during Lent.

Unless there is some instruction more recent, this excerpt from *Paenitemini *(1966) should answer that question:

The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat.

I was also going to link Jimmy Akin’s writings about *soup *from 2005, but I see he recently re-revisited the question, so you might as well start here: Soups Re-Redux.

tee

 

[dans0622]

Hi,

I am unsure as to whether UK Catholics are required to refrain from eating meat on lenten fridays or is it just recommended?

Matt

Hi Mattjolley,

It is one option. The other options are:

abstaining from some other food or alcoholic drink or smoking or some other form of “amusement”

making a special effort in family prayer, taking part in Mass, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, praying the Stations of the Cross

fasting from all food for a longer period than usual and perhaps giving what is saved thereby to the needy at home and abroad

making a special effort to help someone who is poor, sick, old, or lonely

I have no link to this information but I suppose it is at the bishop’s conference website.

Dan

P.S. Regarding the policy in Canada, is it just me or doesn’t the sentence “Fridays are days of abstinence but…” make little or no grammatical sense? I guess it’s been a long week and maybe I need a triple bacon cheeseburger or something…

 

[Mattjolley]

the UK Bishops conference says absolutely nothing about fasting rules on their website. I abstained anyway and had fish

 

[jmcrae]

P.S. Regarding the policy in Canada, is it just me or doesn’t the sentence “Fridays are days of abstinence but…” make little or no grammatical sense? I guess it’s been a long week and maybe I need a triple bacon cheeseburger or something…

According to Bishop Henry, this construction is intended to convey that abstinence from meat is to be considered normative for all Fridays of the year, with substitutions of other penances being permitted, other than on Good Friday, and of course Ash Wednesday. (And since I think he actually wrote it, I would go with his interpretation of it.)

 

[dans0622]

the UK Bishops conference says absolutely nothing about fasting rules on their website. I abstained anyway and had fish

Good move. That’s why I like the idea of abstinence as a penance. You know what is required and you can easily be sure that you’ve fulfilled the expectation of the Church…and, speaking personally, it is really a form of penance!

Thanks for the response, jmcrae. That helps.

Dan

 

[Mattjolley]

Yeah haha i really missed meat today, especially since my dad and brother had a pizza for their dinner, as ive given up fast food for lent. ahhhh sacrifices. lol.

 

[RosalieM]

Welcome garagesaleamerica.com - Hostmonster.com
No, I is not break Ash Wenzday fast…

This is SO CUTE!!!

 

[maryjk]

I’m not interested in merely legally adhering to the fasting law but in spirit as well. It’s not a matter of what they eat, but the fact that they’ve scheduled an activity that would require them to take in more calories than on an average day on a day of fasting…at a Catholic School.

This is off-season training as well, and could very easily have been scheduled to leave out Ash Wednesday or done on a different week. Methinks the AD or coach or principal or whoever dropped the ball on this one, no pun intended.

OK, pun intended.

But what DVina was saying is that children should not fast, period. In fact, children under the age of 14 do not have to abstain from meat. They can, but they are not required to.

They can be doing some other sort of penance. Prayer, abstaining from things like TV or video games, reading the Bible would all be good options.

The spirit of the law is doing penance. The Church has determined that the penance for those older than 14, is to abstain from meat and those older than 17 will also fast. The age limits are to protect the children. There is also an upper age limit. This is to protect our elderly.

That said, my son, age 13 abstains. We have plenty of options for him that don’t include meat. But he does not fast. He is growing so fast that he needs new pants every couple months. I can’t imagine him not eating 3 meals.

 

[hamrthroer]

So according to Cannon Law are we to abstain from meat every friday of the year?

Go vegan and abstain from the flesh of murdered animals for good You will be blessed for it