Practicing Abstinence Every Friday?

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Regarding the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays [outside of lent (not currently required in the United States)]:

I am curious how many “traditionalist” posters here DO NOT observe the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays outside of lent? If not, why not?
And which “non-traditionalist” posters DO?

I am not a “traditionalist,” and I do abstain from meat every Friday, unless it’s a solemnity. For instance, this month two solemnities (the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 15 and Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles on June 29) fall on Friday, and I won’t be abstaining on those days. Other than that, though, I abstain from meat every Friday.

I started to do so after being inspired by the example of the eastern churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. Their fasting and abstinence standards are so much more hardcore than western Christianity’s today, and because they helped me see how important such things are, I decided that the least I could do would be to observe the current fasting and abstinence laws of the Latin Church, despite the permission we U.S. Catholics have not to do so.

I was inspired to begin the practice for myself while reading this forum (in particular on the abstinence subject) and seeing this blog post this past March: newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-do-catholics-abstain-from-meat.html

Interesting article. The stuff about how eggs and dairy have the same effect as meat is really interesting, and it helps explain the reason that the ancient fasting standards of eastern Christianity to this day prohibit eggs and dairy along with meat.

I have some questions, though:

(a) If abstaining from fish isn’t part of traditional fasting because fish have less zinc and therefore don’t excite the passions, why is abstaining from fish a routine part of the Eastern Christian tradition’s fasting standards? They often get to eat fish during fasting seasons - on Sundays or special feast days, etc. - but during the strictest fasting seasons, like Lent, they don’t eat fish on any day of the week. Why is this the case with their ancient traditions if fish don’t fit the reason for fasting?

(b) Also, I’m pretty sure that the author is incorrect about the eastern tradition and shellfish. Shellfish is actually never prohibited by eastern Christianity’s fasting and abstinence traditions, not even during the Great Fast (i.e. Lent). Why is this the case, if they’re high in zinc and if that’s the first reason for fasting?

Anyway, these are minor questions; the article was well-worth reading, so thanks for sharing it!

I am glad I did, and plan to continue to do so.
Thank you to each of you for being an inspiration in my life!

I do abstain on Fridays and sometimes Wednesdays as well. A couple of times, it completely slipped my mind!

Ah, yes. Wednesday and Friday - the regular days for Christians to fast since apostolic times.

Why would you abstain from eating meat on Fridays after Lent? I’m just curious.

Lots of reasons.

(a) It’s still the universal standard for Catholics of the Latin Church (i.e. western Catholics).

(b) Every Friday (unless it’s a solemnity) remains a day of penance.

(c) Fasting in some form, and doing so regularly, is pretty much a necessary part of the Christian spiritual life. Our Lord explained that once He was gone, His disciples would fast.

(d) The saints of every age have fasted/abstained far more rigorously than the current law requires, and their example is most worthy of emulation. Fasting and abstinence can be very spiritually beneficial, as the OP attests.

I have pretty much routinely abstained from meat every Friday since the dark ages. Back when they made the change in the rule for the U.S., we were supposedly allowed to pick some other penance or pious action. But in practice, most people gave up the Friday abstinence and substituted nothing. So it was simpler just to stay with it.

However, individual diocese or conferences of Bishops can call for a substitute penance. For a lot of us, just sticking with meatless Fridays is easier than trying to decide what to give up each week.

Only in recent years (since 1960’s or 70s) have certain faithful (certain areas of the world) been able to substitute abstinence with other practices.

Jim, Corki, and Big Feet:

Jimmy Akin makes a strong and very detailed case that there is no obligation binding under pain of sin to actually substitute something on Fridays outside of Lent.

Of course, he is careful to articulate that routinely doing nothing to observe Friday penance is a bad thing in and of itself anyway.

Why don’t more churches teach this then?

I don’t know. Fasting is a rather integral part of the Christian spiritual life, so I do wish more Catholic priests and catechists taught about it.

I was always under the impression that no-meat Fridays only happened during Lent.

You’re from Oregon according to your profile, so as a Catholic of the United States, abstinence from meat on Fridays is your obligation only during Lent and Good Friday.

So don’t worry, you haven’t been sinning or anything by not doing so on other Fridays. But on non-Lenten Fridays, the U.S. bishops encourage us to observe Friday penance by doing something else instead, if we don’t want to abstain from meat.

But yes, I do wish more Catholics knew that every Friday (unless it’s a solemnity) is a day for penance, and that the universal law for the Latin Church is still abstinence from meat every Friday.

Is this something only traditional Catholics do?

No. I’m not a traditionalist Catholic. Abstinence from meat on Fridays is still the universal standard of the Latin Church. It’s just that our bishops’ conference (here in the U.S.), with the approval of canon law and Rome, has terminated the obligation to do so on non-Lenten Fridays.

Hmmm…

Well thank you for answering my question. If it applies to all Catholics then it applies to me too. I shall be abstaining from eating meat on Fridays.

I find it to be a good practice myself.

And yes, if one adheres to the laws of the Church, one must do some sort of penitential act on all Fridays that are not solemnities.

I don’t think that’s true. Jimmy Akin, over on his blog/website, has done an extensive analysis of the current rules/canons, and is of the opinion - which, mind you, he’s not happy about - that no such obligation exists.

But anyway, even the documents that have terminated the obligation are careful to insist that Friday remains a day of penance for all Catholic Christians.

Well, in the United States, only the abstinence from some type of food is required, not necessarily meat, as was prescribed many years ago.

If one chooses to substitute something else to observe Friday penance, it doesn’t have to be food abstinence at all. It can be certain prayers or an act of charity: for instance, a U.S. Catholic might observe Friday penance by praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or by spending some extra time volunteering to help the poor, the sick, the elderly, etc.

Please, I encourage you to take this to prayer and prayerfully decide what is best for you to do within your own life. Maybe even take it to a spiritual advisor.

Good advice! Every eastern Christian I know, that’s what they would say upon seeing this thread: take it to your spiritual father.

 

[Brendan]

Hmmm…

Well thank you for answering my question. If it applies to all Catholics then it applies to me too. I shall be abstaining from eating meat on Fridays.

Yes, the Code of Canon Law is binding upon all Roman Catholics.

What is asked of us, as Catholics, is to abstain from meat on all Fridays (that are not Solemnities) OR, in the US to perform some other act of penace.

That part may be of use to you spiritually.

The thing to keep in mind is that Friday throughout the year, are penitential and it advances our spirituality to do penance on that day.

The penance should be of sufficent nature to remind us of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross.

For some, giving up meat is really not that big of deal. I do that, but it became too habitual, to easy to do (and, it’s really hard to refer to my wife’s fish chowder as being anything other than incredible ). So I also refrain from coffee and soda.

 

[wasserfall]

All traditional Catholics abstain year round. No FSSP or ICKSP parishioner would EVER think of eatting meat on Fridays.

I hate to contradict you, but I have seen it with my own eyes.
However those persons did substitute another penance, as provided for in the law.

 

[Corki]

Jim, Corki, and Big Feet:

Jimmy Akin makes a strong and very detailed case that there is no obligation binding under pain of sin to actually substitute something on Fridays outside of Lent.

Apples and oranges. No one asked if it was a sin. Even the guidelines put out by the diocese prior to ever Lent mention that there failure to fast or abstain is not under pain of sin.

That being said, these two statements are fact, not opinion:

1. Canon law makes every Friday a day of abstinence.
2. One of the precepts of the Church is to observe her teachings on fast and abstinence.

That should be enough information for practicing Catholics.

 

[IrishRush]

I normally do not eat meat on Fridays but tonight I will be having chicken, only because I don’t want to waste food (which I do consider to be a sin). Otherwise, it’s no meat on all Fridays for me.

 

[JimG]

Jim, Corki, and Big Feet:

Jimmy Akin makes a strong and very detailed case that there is no obligation binding under pain of sin to actually substitute something on Fridays outside of Lent.

Yes, and I think he is correct.

If I recall correctly, national episcopal conferences were allowed to specify the mode of Friday penance or substitute some other penance.

The U.S. Bishops clearly removed the obligation of Friday abstinence.
They did not put in its place any other obligation. They recommended the continuance of abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year, but did not mandate it. They recommended the substitution of a different penitential practice for those who preferred that instead of abstinence from meat, but they did not mandate it.

The instruction was so confusing that it’s no wonder most people simply dropped the practice altogether.

 

[Rich_C]

Why don’t more churches teach this then? I was always under the impression that no-meat Fridays only happened during Lent. Is this something only traditional Catholics do?

Sadly, in my experience it’s something only traditional Catholics seem to know about, but it’s modern Canon Law so it applies to everyone. I don’t know why it isn’t taught but I was totally ignorant about it until a year ago, and so was every Catholic I knew. When I met my fiancee, she explained that it was universally binding (substitutions and exceptions exist, of course).

This is actually the thing most Catholics ask me why I do, and I gently tell them how the Lent-only thing is a misconception. So far none of them seem to have changed anything, but until I have children it’s not really my place to insist anyone do anything.

 

[figs]

I’m definately traditional and I’ve definately abstained on Fridays

and like Mrs Sally, ‘it reminds me of the the day and Our Lord’s sacrafice’

 

[Cristiano]

Yes, and I think he is correct.

If I recall correctly, national episcopal conferences were allowed to specify the mode of Friday penance or substitute some other penance.

The U.S. Bishops clearly removed the obligation of Friday abstinence.
They did not put in its place any other obligation. They recommended the continuance of abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year, but did not mandate it. They recommended the substitution of a different penitential practice for those who preferred that instead of abstinence from meat, but they did not mandate it.

The instruction was so confusing that it’s no wonder most people simply dropped the practice altogether.

The point is that we still have an obligation to observe a penitential day. The bishops do not have to put in a place another specific obligation to substitute abstinence but we still have an obligation that we must observe. The bishop have powers of discretion as granted by CCL but they do not have the power to eliminate obedience to the articles of the CCL.
I think that the UCCB was to cavalier in 1966 when they issued their statement and also when the new CCL came out in the 80’s, the UCCB did not say that the 1966 document was still in place, there was an office of the UCCB that simply stated that the document was not incompatible with the new CCL.

 

[JimG]

The point is that we still have an obligation to observe a penitential day. The bishops do not have to put in a place another specific obligation to substitute abstinence but we still have an obligation that we must observe. The bishop have powers of discretion as granted by CCL but they do not have the power to eliminate obedience to the articles of the CCL.
I think that the UCCB was to cavalier in 1966 when they issued their statement and also when the new CCL came out in the 80’s, the UCCB did not say that the 1966 document was still in place, there was an office of the UCCB that simply stated that the document was not incompatible with the new CCL.

Well, yes, but they did not even state an obligation to substitute anything. They removed the previous obligation. They then stated non- obligatory recommendations. They did not even say something like “Of course, all Fridays remain penitential days on which some type of penance is obligatory.”

Here is a link to Akin’s analysis:
jimmyakin.com/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

 

[TimothyH]

Does abstinance aslo mean sex? For some reason I always thought it did.

-Tim-

 

[TrueLight]

Does abstinance aslo mean sex? For some reason I always thought it did.

-Tim-

You know, I played with the idea of bringing this up even as a separate thread, but I figured I wouldn’t get enough responses.

I know I have heard that in the old days sometimes fasting, I don’t know about abstinence, included fasting from sex. Some people fasted from sex the night before receiving communion.

I might have heard that it is done in the East also.

Can anyone confirm this?

 

[JimG]

You know, I played with the idea of bringing this up even as a separate thread, but I figured I wouldn’t get enough responses.

I know I have heard that in the old days sometimes fasting, I don’t know about abstinence, included fasting from sex. Some people fasted from sex the night before receiving communion.

I might have heard that it is done in the East also.

Can anyone confirm this?

I can’t confirm it, but I have also heard somewhere that in the Eastern churches, married priests were required to abstain from sex the evening before celebrating Mass, which could make it difficult to have daily Mass with a married priesthood. But that’s just something from the back of my memory, which may be entirely in error.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Apples and oranges. No one asked if it was a sin. Even the guidelines put out by the diocese prior to ever Lent mention that there failure to fast or abstain is not under pain of sin.

For Catholics of the United States, eating meat on Fridays of Lent - unless one has a dispensation/good reason/etc. - is sinful, actually, even gravely sinful.

That being said, these two statements are fact, not opinion:

True. I agree that they’re facts.

1. Canon law makes every Friday a day of abstinence.
2. One of the precepts of the Church is to observe her teachings on fast and abstinence.

That should be enough information for practicing Catholics.

I agree.

Your point does not contradict my point, and mine is very important, too. Some U.S. Catholics think that it is a sin against the precepts of the Church not to observe Friday penance in some form. But that does not seem to be the case and thus merits correction.

 

[ByzCath08]

I like the Orthodox practice of keeping a strict fast on Wednesday & Friday. Wednesday because it was the day Christ was betrayed; Friday the day he was crucified.

 

[Rich_C]

I like the Orthodox practice of keeping a strict fast on Wednesday & Friday. Wednesday because it was the day Christ was betrayed; Friday the day he was crucified.

That’s neat. I know Wednesday was traditionally a penitential day for Roman Catholics, too but I never knew the significance.

 

[johnthebaptist1]

Durning Lent I do a lot of Abstinence of Meat, every Wed,and Friday, After Lent I do something else, I offer my meals that God gives me and offer it up for different reason’s. For example , I may offer up for the Soul,s on Purgatory, or I might offer it up for the suffering, etc.,and I also thank God for the food he has given me.