I did not have a super traditional Catholic upbringing growing up, so I’m not sure about the official rules for how we are supposed to treat meat on Fridays.
I happened to hear from a priest just during a sermon that we aren’t supposed to eat meat any Friday, not just during Lent, which I had never heard before.
But doing some research I’ve seen some sources saying we only are supposed to give up red meat. And some saying some council of bishops said that since in the modern era meat is everywhere and giving it up is really no longer that big a sacrifice, that we can replace that with some other thing more dear to us, or just do additional prayer or go to mass or something along those lines.
Can someone straighten me out on this?
The general discipline of the Church is that we must abstain from all meat (generally, flesh meat of animals, not just “red meat”, chicken and turkey are considered “meat” too, but fish is not considered “meat”) on Fridays as penance for our sins.
In the United States, there is a derogation from this rule, and at one’s discretion, another penance may be substituted — an act of charity, prayer, abstaining from something else (alcohol, tobacco, etc.). But you must do some form of penance. What you choose is up to you, and you may consult your confessor if you wish, to find an alternative penance.
However, Americans Catholics generally just interpreted this as “we can now eat meat on Fridays”, and didn’t absorb the part about adopting an alternate penance.
Friday abstinence doesn’t bind if the Friday falls on a major feast day or solemnity (Christmas, Immaculate Conception, etc.). All Latin Rite Catholics age 14 and over are bound to abstain or to perform some alternate penance every Friday.
The Eastern Rites of the Church have their own regulations on fasting and abstinence.
Also, all Latin Rite Catholics are bound to fast and abstain on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday from the ages of 18 to 59. This means one full meal and two half-meals, all meatless, no eating between meals.
I will “age out” of the fasting requirement next year when I turn 60. Talk about feeling
old.
Catholics who do not fall into the age requirements may still fast and abstain at their discretion, but it is not binding. I fully intend to continue fasting even though I don’t strictly have to.
These are very, very lenient requirements compared to times past, and compared to Eastern Christianity.
Is it possible that your priest is SSPX or sedevacantist? I don’t know whether the SSPX regard the newer disciplines as sufficient (they should if they recognize the Holy Father and the liceity of post-Vatican II rules), but sedevacantists typically proceed as though the newer disciplines don’t exist, and adhere to the older rules.
