No Meat On Fridays

[EMAC]

I know there have been several threads on this issue, but I can’t find an exact answer to my question.
Yesterday my husband and I (both practicing Catholics) were talking about how he forgetfully ate meat last Friday. I told him since he “forgot” and did not do it intentionally it was not a sin. Well my mother-in-law was in the room (she is non-practicing Catholic who attends a Baptist church) said well, she stopped eating meat on Fridays when the church said it wasn’t required anymore so hence my husband did not need to abstain anyway. I think she was talking about ALL Fridays during the year. Was that the rule sometime before? I just want to know because I would like to explain to her that we still need to abstain from meat on Fridays during lent. She lives with us and I’m really hoping that my husband and I can bring her back to the church.

 

[awalt]

In the US the rule used to be no meat on Fridays every week of the year. The Bishops modified it slightly. The original reasoning behind no meat on Fridays was that Friday is a day of penitence to remember the Crucifixion of Christ. That still is the case, but the bishops now ruled that in place of abstaining from meat (which is still valid to do), you are able to pick another act of alms giving, sacrifice, charity etc. as a substitution. The days when you MUST abstain from meat now are Fridays in Lent and Ash Wednesday only.

Unfortunately many only heard “we don’t have to abstain from meat on Fridays any more”. They did not hear “It’s still a day of penance, do something else if you eat meat”. So if you do not eat meat on all Fridays, be sure to consciously be doing something else as a worthy remembrance of the supreme sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf!

 

[chevalier]

The general rule is no meat on Fridays. Here’s from canon law:

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.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM

However, in the US, it’s just Fridays in Lent, not the whole year, because that’s what the local conference of bishops there decided. According to what I’ve read in various places, including here, even dancing during Lent doesn’t seem to be a problem. I remember an EWTN letter and reply from a girl being suggested not to go to prom on Good Friday because dancing wouldn’t be such a good idea (it shocked me). We are forbidden meat and loud celebrations (it’s understood not to include a glass of wine for a friend’s birthday, but dancing etc falls under it unless it’s a dancing class or similar) on Fridays and the latter throughout all of Lent (there’s a provision for that in commandments of the Church as we have them here). It differs from one conference of bishops to another, it seems.

 

[nichjake]

Slightly off topic but I’d like to interject with a question. I think I understand why you can’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent…but why can you eat fish? Isn’t fish considered meat?

 

[Andruschak]

Slightly off topic but I’d like to interject with a question. I think I understand why you can’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent…but why can you eat fish? Isn’t fish considered meat?

Fish do not have warm, red blood. That’s the point. So seafood is OK, as are eggs and dairy products.