Meatless Fridays

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aimekuelmc

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Not sure what forum to put this in …

My friend’s son asked a question which she has been having difficulty answering.
Perhaps someone here might be able to help out?

Regarding no meat on Fridays - why can we eat fish, since it is technically meat?

I was thinking it had something to do with meat being a luxury in times past, but maybe there is something else.

Thanks for any help

MC
 
The Latin term carne refers only to warm blooded animal tissue. Fish and the like are specifically excluded.

It is that term from which the fasting laws derive.
 
Way back when, all fridays were meatless. The laws of fast and abstinence were a lot tougher then, than they are now. You can still abstain from meat on fridays now, or you can do some other sacrifice.
 
MC,

You’re on the right track - meat has been considered a luxury to most cultures throughout the world and still is.

Vatican II abolished the requirement for Catholics to obstain from meat on Friday, although many people still follow the practice. Moreover, the prime reason is to withhold something important to us so we genuflect on Christ - to suffer, if you will. It’s a very small task we can practice and incorporate into our lives allowing ourselves to reflect on Christ’s passion.

I venture to guess that others go completely meatless each Friday to further the issue, even to the point of fasting.

Why is fish allowed? Anyone?

gs
 
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Greg:
Why is fish allowed? Anyone?

gs
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See my post (#2)

On ‘meatless Fridays’ we are actually prohibited from eating carne, which referes only to warm blooded animal tissue. This distinction is still valid in the Romance languages

(carne in Spanish also refers only to warm blooded meat, for example)

The fasting laws, like all other Church laws, are definitive in Latin.
 
Our family never eats meat on Friday, regardless of if you are allowed or not. I do not believe the Church made these rules lightly, there was great wisdom in Holy Mother the Church. Every Friday I acknowledge that My Lord and Savior died on the Cross for me.
1st and foremost I am reminded of this everytime I am forced to say no thank you to a hamburger.
2nd My Lord died for me, if to prove that I’m grateful all I have to do is not eat meat once a week, I’d say that’s a pretty small (& easy) price.

These “old fashion” rules is what made people Saints.
 
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Greg:
Vatican II abolished the requirement for Catholics to obstain from meat on Friday,
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I’m not so sure about that, but I don’t have reference with me.
 
What’s bad here, is that in Louisiana, we have access to the freshest tastiest seafood around, and live crawfish and crabs, etc…Fridays during Lent are almost a treat…I try and keep it to PB&J at least for lunch…
 
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ppcpilot:
What’s bad here, is that in Louisiana, we have access to the freshest tastiest seafood around, and live crawfish and crabs, etc…Fridays during Lent are almost a treat…I try and keep it to PB&J at least for lunch…
Click to expand...
I agree sometimes the opposite to meat can be an expensive and delicious treat. Not much of a sacrifice when the choice is boiled squirrel :eek: or lobster :love:. ha! ha!
 
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Mandi:
Our family never eats meat on Friday, regardless of if you are allowed or not. I do not believe the Church made these rules lightly, there was great wisdom in Holy Mother the Church. Every Friday I acknowledge that My Lord and Savior died on the Cross for me.
1st and foremost I am reminded of this everytime I am forced to say no thank you to a hamburger.
2nd My Lord died for me, if to prove that I’m grateful all I have to do is not eat meat once a week, I’d say that’s a pretty small (& easy) price.

These “old fashion” rules is what made people Saints.
Click to expand...
I agree. We’ve been having meatless Fridays for some time.

I’ve explained to our son that we don’t eat meat to remember what Jesus did for us. Also that since we’d have to do some other type of penance anyway, this is the easiest to remember every week.

He’s been very accepting of my explanation, to the point of being very upset with himself if he forgets. I try to help him understand that God is not mad if we forget. Just that once we remember we refuse any meats.

Since spaghetti or fish sticks are his favorite meals, the choices have been pretty easy.

It’s nice to know why fish is allowed though. Guess it takes a child to ask those types of questions!

MC
 
“Vatican II abolished the requirement for Catholics to obstain from meat on Friday, although many people still follow the practice”

This is not accurate and many people have quit doing any form of penance on Friday believing this to be true.

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 eating meat or some other food according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops is to be observed on ,of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year of age. The law of fasting, however, binds all those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors of souls and parents are to take care that minors not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are also educated in a genuine sense 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.

Depending on where you live, there may be differences. In the U.S. one has a choice of abstaining from meat or doing some other penance EVERY FRIDAY - all the Fridays during Lent are still meatless with no other penance choice instead of abstaining from meat.
 
Although this probably not the reason why fish was allowed, an interesting fact: A recent study was done on fish consumption. Apparently fish helps activate the part of the brain that is used during meditative prayer. It takes about 36 hours to work.:hmmm: (I can’t tell you exactly where or when, but it was readers digest or more probably prevention) I don’t know how accurate the study was but instead of meatless, I choose fish on Fridays!

God Bless
 
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MariaG:
Although this probably not the reason why fish was allowed, an interesting fact: A recent study was done on fish consumption. Apparently fish helps activate the part of the brain that is used during meditative prayer. It takes about 36 hours to work.:hmmm: (I can’t tell you exactly where or when, but it was readers digest or more probably prevention) I don’t know how accurate the study was but instead of meatless, I choose fish on Fridays!

God Bless
Click to expand...
Yes, fish contain alot of omega-3 fatty acids which aren’t produced by your body in large numbers, and probably not found in most types of meat. In addtion to help reducing heart disease, cancer, and arthritis, fish is ‘good brain food.’ I actually consider fish a delicacy, since it’s not often that it is eaten or offered.
 
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ppcpilot:
What’s bad here, is that in Louisiana, we have access to the freshest tastiest seafood around, and live crawfish and crabs, etc
Click to expand...
Believe it or not, but there is a dispensation here in Michigan for the use of muskrat on Lenten Fridays.

That went back to the early French colony in Detroit. The Wyandot Indians also had a word for meat, that did not include fish. But that word for them also excluded things that swam. So muskrat and beaver were considered ‘fish’ to the local indians.

To encourage conversions and reduce confusion, the ArchDiocese of Montreal (which Detroit was under at the time) allowed musktrat to be eaten on Fridays.

This dispensation continued and was incorporated when Detroit became it’s own diocese. It’s now an obscure tradition.

I personally know of two shops that stock muskrat during Lent.
 
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Greg:
Vatican II abolished the requirement for Catholics to obstain from meat on Friday, although many people still follow the practice.
Click to expand...
Vatican II said nothing about eating meat on Fridays. The 1983 Code of Canon Law still says that we shouldn’t eat meat on any Friday of the year.
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.
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A number of years ago, the U.S. bishops obtained permission from the Holy See to modify this rule in the U.S. On Fridays outside of Lent, we are to either abstain from eating meat or perform an equivalent penance.

It seems that while few people abstain from eating meat on every Friday, few of those who do eat meat perform an equivalent penance.

Jason
 
catholiclady said:
“Vatican II abolished the requirement for Catholics to obstain from meat on Friday, although many people still follow the practice”

This is not accurate and many people have quit doing any form of penance on Friday believing this to be true.

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 eating meat or some other food according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops is to be observed on ,of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year of age. The law of fasting, however, binds all those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors of souls and parents are to take care that minors not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are also educated in a genuine sense 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.

Depending on where you live, there may be differences. In the U.S. one has a choice of abstaining from meat or doing some other penance EVERY FRIDAY - all the Fridays during Lent are still meatless with no other penance choice instead of abstaining from meat.
Click to expand...

This is very true, unfortunately most Catholics do not acknowledge it. When I have been ridiculed (by other Catholics) for not eating meat. When I point out that as a Catholic they are still obligated to make a sacrifice of some sort on Friday, they laugh and scoff it off. - Unfortunately Catholics no longer take their religion seriously!!!😦
 
I’ve had 2 priests tell me after confessing my laziness in regards to friday that I didn’t have to refrain from eating meat. Neither one mentioned that I could’ve performed a different act of penance (which I hadn’t and was the reason I was confessing). I’ve debated in my head whether I should talk to them outside the confessional on this matter.
 
You know it is sometimes disturbing to find out we know a church rule or tradition or understand it more thoroughly than may an individual priest. But today with lay persons having access to all the Church Documents, the CCC and the Code of Canon law on line, this sometimes is the case.

By all means talk with him but have your ducks (documents) in order:D
 
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