Meat on Friday?

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paperwight66 said:
Agreed, and this is hardly ever mentioned outside of Lent, sadly.

Vico, I couldn’t tell from your comment whether you were agreeing with me or not, to be honest.

The claim was made that it would be a mortal sin in England and Wales to eat meat on Fridays from next weekend, I was quoting the Bishops’ own website to say that this is not so. That was all I was concerned to clarify.

The need for ongoing penance is a given.
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Agreement.
 
I don’t understand why it is not stated clearly whether we have to abstain or do penance on Fridays and why it is up for interpretation. 🤷
 
TrueLight said:
I don’t understand why it is not stated clearly whether we have to abstain or do penance on Fridays and why it is up for interpretation. 🤷
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It is not clear because it is complex. Obligation to do penance is one issue, the method of doing penance is another (and what may substitute), and if missing an individual instance of penance is sinful is yet another issue. And it varies by jurisdiction.

The way that Mr. Colin B. Donovan, STL (Licentiate in Sacred Theology), phrased it (for the USA not for Canada) is:

“On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.”

ewtn.com/faith/lent/fast.htm
 
TrueLight said:
I don’t understand why it is not stated clearly whether we have to abstain or do penance on Fridays and why it is up for interpretation. 🤷
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It is stated clearly, though.

When we read the bishops’ statement from 1966, I don’t see how it could be up for interpretation. It’s clear that every Friday remains a day of penance (excepting solemnities), but the penance need not necessarily be in the form of abstaining from meat.

Obviously, you do feel it is “up for interpretation.” Perhaps if you share why you see it that way, we can discuss it…
 
I had no idea we were supposed to do penance on Fridays anymore until I read this thread. I best most people don’t know. 🤷
 
You’re right, most people don’t know. There were a lot of misleading newspaper stories about this back at the time of the change to making it no-meat or a penitent act, even in the Catholic press. They were all claiming that there was no more penitence on Friday, no more fish on Friday. Even priests weren’t told any better. So of course most US Catholics thought it went away entirely.

I didn’t realize until about the zillionth time I saw the EWTN “commercial” for it, and finally looked it up on the Internet. It took me about a year after that to get into gear about it. I still forget sometimes, but not most of the time.
 
Vatican II never said that on Fridays outside of lent you don’t have to do nothing. However, if you choose to eat meat on a Friday that is not a feast or solemnity you still have to do some form of penance. 👍
 
Thanks for this thread. I really never “got” that we were still to be penitential on Fridays. I will think of something and start doing it.

I have to chuckle a bit about the “fish on Friday” penance. I always liked fish of one kind and another so it was really no penance - that even goes for the tuna noodle casserole! Living in the midwest, fresh fish was impossible, especially back in the day. Mom would buy that frozen fish in a rectangular block. It often said (?) perch. She would cut it up in squarish hunks and fry it. It was not until I was an adult that I figured out you could thaw that block and actually have several filets. 😃 I wish Mom was still here. She would get such a laugh out of this.
 
It’s a Sunday, and a three-month dead topic has risen from the dead. :eek:

In any case, I always found it amusing how some Catholic communities organise fish fry events on Fridays to satisfy the obligation. I don’t exactly approve, since it runs contrary to the spirit of abstinence, but I’m tickled by their creativity. 😛
 
Ohana said:
Thanks for this thread. I really never “got” that we were still to be penitential on Fridays. I will think of something and start doing it.

I have to chuckle a bit about the “fish on Friday” penance. I always liked fish of one kind and another so it was really no penance - that even goes for the tuna noodle casserole! Living in the midwest, fresh fish was impossible, especially back in the day. Mom would buy that frozen fish in a rectangular block. It often said (?) perch. She would cut it up in squarish hunks and fry it. It was not until I was an adult that I figured out you could thaw that block and actually have several filets. 😃 I wish Mom was still here. She would get such a laugh out of this.
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When the norm changed in 1966, abstaining from meat was recommended as the preferred form of penance on Fridays (for adults) for the Latin Catholic Church.

vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19660217_paenitemini_en.html
 
Filii_Dei said:
It’s a Sunday, and a three-month dead topic has risen from the dead. :eek:

In any case, I always found it amusing how some Catholic communities organise fish fry events on Fridays to satisfy the obligation. I don’t exactly approve, since it runs contrary to the spirit of abstinence, but I’m tickled by their creativity. 😛
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why on earth would a fish fry on Friday which enables people to adhere to the discipline, be against the spirit of abstinence from meat? I see no logic to that statement.
 
the US Catholic Bishops dispensed the obligation to abstain from meat on fridays.
SO
catholics are not under obligation.
 
puzzleannie said:
why on earth would a fish fry on Friday which enables people to adhere to the discipline, be against the spirit of abstinence from meat? I see no logic to that statement.
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I can tell you why. THese fish fry’s are "all you can eat’ and people tend to gorge themselves. ANd secondly, NOT eating meat is no penance these days. Check out Red Lobster parking lots on good friday, That speaks volumes.
 
maplebug55 said:
the US Catholic Bishops dispensed the obligation to abstain from meat on fridays.
SO
catholics are not under obligation.
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Canon Law says Catholics must abstain from meat on all Fridays. It also says that bishops’ conferences may substitute another food or something else entirely, in part or in whole, for Friday abstinence. Canon Law does not say that bishops’ conferences may dispense the penance requirement.
SO
No.
 
catholics are NOT required to abstain from eating meat on any friday of the year, except lenten fridays and ash wednesday.
 
maplebug55 said:
catholics are NOT required to abstain from eating meat on any friday of the year, except lenten fridays and ash wednesday.
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CHAPTER II.
Days of Penance
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
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.
Can. 1253 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.
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Note that the dispensation on Fridays requires the permission of the conference of bishops and the substitution of another equivalent form of penance.
 
maplebug55 said:
catholics are NOT required to abstain from eating meat on any friday of the year, except lenten fridays and ash wednesday.
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Yes they are, unless the particular Conference of Bishops decides on another type of penance to substitute, in whole or in part, for abstinence. Read above.
 
Is it permissible for a catholic to eat meat on fridays? (not counting the firdays of Lent and ash wed)
 
The present law of the Church is this:
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.
Therefore the ultimate answer depends on which country you live in, because the “Episcopal Conference” that this canon is talking about is the Conference of Bishops of each country.
 
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