To Meat or not to Meat, that is my question

[Lorrie]

Even though its no longer a requirment, do you abstain from eating meat on Fridays (outside of Lent)?

I’ve been doing this for the last few months, its made me feel good about taking the initiative to do something that isn’t a requirment - totally doing it on my own in rememberance of Jesus dying on the cross.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

Lorrie:

Even though its no longer a requirment, do you abstain from eating meat on Fridays (outside of Lent)?

I’ve been doing this for the last few months, its made me feel good about taking the initiative to do something that isn’t a requirment - totally doing it on my own in rememberance of Jesus dying on the cross.

It is still a requirement. Only a shockingly small number of Catholics apparently know this. Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required. And for forms of penance, meat abstinence is still given “first place.”

Read up on this here:

catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5303

Changing circumstances, including economic, dietary, and social elements, have made some of our people feel that the renunciation of the eating of meat is not always and for everyone the most effective means of practicing penance. Meat was once an exceptional form of food now it is commonplace.

Accordingly, since the spirit of penance primarily suggests that we discipline ourselves in that which we enjoy most, to many in our day abstinence from meat no longer implies penance, while renunciation of other things would be more penitential.

For these and related reasons, the Catholic bishops of the United States, far from downgrading the traditional penitential observance of Friday, and motivated precisely by the desire to give the spirit of penance greater vitality, especially on Fridays, the day that Jesus died, urge our Catholic people henceforth to be guided by the following norms:

1. Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified;
2. Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday be freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ;
3. Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence as binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law.

 

[flamingsword]

Scotty PGH
I don’t think you are quite right there in saying that it is still required. Jimmy Akin (Sp?) covered this in one of his letters and I have read the document the USCCB has put out on the issue. The practice of abstaining from meat WAS lifted and no other practice was put into place. Therefore it is extremely meritorious but not required.

Does anyone have links to the two things I mentioned. I am on a modem and it is tiring to try and find them.

 

[Deacon_Tony560]

I still try to carry out this penance. There is still a requirement to do a special penance on Fri. When I do eat meat on Fri, I meditate on the Passion of Christ as a penance or say an extra rosary.

Deacon Tony

 

[Adonis33]

I goofed on the poll (I put no) - I usually do not eat meat on Fridays - but once in a while I slip.

 

[Loboto-Me]

No meat on Fridays here. I do believe that some form of penance is required on fridays… I prefer the traditional way.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I answered “No”, but I meant: “No, not as a rule, though I do make exceptions”. I can’t remember the last time I “slipped up” on something like this.

For instance a few weeks ago I attended the Catholic wedding of a friend, and at the reception I chose to hospitably eat the meal set before me, rather than making some kind of scene. It wasn’t a slip. It was a conscious decision.

tee

 

[tee_eff_em]

On the other hand, for a story of someone else’s slip:

When I was in college, one Ash Wednesday morning a friend sat down to breakfast with me.

“You’re not going to eat that bacon, are you?” I asked.

“Of course I am!” she replied idignantly.

Then another friend joined us. “You’re not going to eat that bacon, are you?” I asked.

“Why not?” asked she.

“It’s Ash Wednesday”

“Oh yeah. Thanks.” as she pushed the bacon aside.

The first friend almost burst into tears. “Why didn’t you tell me that!?” Heck, she was a music minister for the campus Masses – I figured she knew what day it was.

tee

 

[There_Go_I]

Scotty PGH:

It is still a requirement. Only a shockingly small number of Catholics apparently know this. Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required. And for forms of penance, meat abstinence is still given "first place.

Yes, it is still a day of observed sacrificial penance. I did not vote since there was not a response that fit my Friday observance (i.e. “Other”).

Meat is not difficult for me to give up for the most part so I try to give up something, or do something that is more of a challenge. Admittedly, lately I have been preoccupied and have observed less deeper of a commitment thereby giving up things that are more convenient to give up and on occasion forgetting to do anything at all . Sometimes giving up anything on a Friday is not easy, especially after working hard all week. The tendency for me is to want to indulge (not necessarily overindulge)-(no excuses intended).

During Lent I do abstain from meat on Fridays so as to participate in more consistancy and tradition with the Body and then, of course, giving up something that is more of a sacrifice for me personally, during the duration of the Lenten Season.

 

[Michael_Welter]

I don’t specifically give up meat on Fridays. However, I eat meat, perhaps once or twice a week already, just for health reasons. So giving it up on Friday would be absolutely no penance at all for me.

The article cited by Scotty PGH did not state that abstaining from meat is required. It said that it is urged, and recommended, but that some form of sacrificial penance should be observed.

 

[mercygate]

I am required to abstain from meat on Fridays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays according to our Rule of Life and also required to fast on Fridays. I’ve been thinking of adding the recitation of the seven penitential psalms to evening prayer but somehow haven’t got that one into gear yet.

Almsgiving is another good thing to do on Fridays, and I’m trying to remember to stuff a couple of dollars into the poor box on my way out of morning Mass . . . I have a way to go in making Fridays “special.” Since my Rule of Life requires abstinence from meat on the days mentioned, “giving it up” on Friday is scarcely a penitential offering.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

flamingsword:

Scotty PGH
I don’t think you are quite right there in saying that it is still required.

Friday penance is still required. And meat abstinence is given “first place” as the recommended act of penance.

So to state it another way, as I did: Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required.

 

[Michael_Welter]

Scotty PGH:

Friday penance is still required. And meat abstinence is given “first place” as the recommended act of penance.

So to state it another way, as I did: Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required.

Do you have any Church documents to demonstrate this requirement? The article you mentioned didn’t include any such referrences.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

A few years ago the USCCB asked for us to abstain as reparation for living in the “culture of death,” and we obeyed.

 

[gez722]

For the most part, I don’t eat meat. However, there are times when it becomes impractical and then I’ll substitute another act of penance. Starting today, I decided that on Fridays I will also give up sugar in my tea. I am trying to perform more small acts of self-mortification on Fridays. I really want to suffer a little bit on the day that Jesus died for our sins. It’s the least I can do!

God Bless,
Gary

 

[threej_lc]

Michael Welter:

Do you have any Church documents to demonstrate this requirement? The article you mentioned didn’t include any such referrences.

Canon 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.”

From the USCCB, describing that Fridays are still a day of penitance, and that they only lift the requirement of abstinence so that a more penitential observance may be made:

Accordingly, since the spirit of penance primarily suggests that we discipline ourselves in that which we enjoy most, to many in our day abstinence from meat no longer implies penance, while renunciation of other things would be more penitential.

For these and related reasons, the Catholic bishops of the United States, far from downgrading the traditional penitential observance of Friday, and motivated precisely by the desire to give the spirit of penance greater vitality, especially on Fridays, the day that Jesus died, urge our Catholic people henceforth to be guided by the following norms:

1. Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified;

1. Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday be freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ;

1. Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence as binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law. Our expectation is based on the following considerations;

catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5303

Oh, and I accidentally said I did eat meat, when I meant to say I didn’t in the pole.

Josh

 

[MaryAgnes]

Scotty PGH:

Friday penance is still required. And meat abstinence is given “first place” as the recommended act of penance.

So to state it another way, as I did: Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required.

c. 1253: **It is for the conference of bishops ** to determine **more precisely ** the observance of fast and abstinence **and to substitute in whole or in part ** for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

 

[MaryAgnes]

Scotty PGH:

Friday penance is still required. And meat abstinence is given “first place” as the recommended act of penance.

So to state it another way, as I did: Unless you perform some other act of penance, abstinence from meat on Fridays is still required.

See the Bishops’ Document, “Penetential Practices for Today’s Catholics” usccb.org/dpp/penitential.htm

The forms and expressions of penance listed in the appendix are enlightening … it’s no wonder abstaining from meat as a form of penance was reconsidered!

 

[Confiteor]

No wonder most people don’t observe this; the language in the bishops’ document is confusing. e.g. To “commend” something is different from requiring it. And I did hear Jimmy Akin tell people on the Catholic Answers show that it did not appear to be a “requirement”; so that is confusing as well. I suppose the Canon Law governs? Which seems to say some form of penance is a requirement, although our bishops (and probably many other countries’ bishops) have adapted the nature of the penance. This shouldn’t be as ambiguous as it seems…

 

[MaryAgnes]

Confiteor:

No wonder most people don’t observe this; the language in the bishops’ document is confusing. e.g. To “commend” something is different from requiring it. And I did hear Jimmy Akin tell people on the Catholic Answers show that it did not appear to be a “requirement”; so that is confusing as well. I suppose the Canon Law governs? Which seems to say some form of penance is a requirement, although our bishops (and probably many other countries’ bishops) have adapted the nature of the penance. This shouldn’t be as ambiguous as it seems…

The whole idea in lifting the obligation was to liberate us to meet the needs of the Church and God’s people in a variety of ways:

“It would bring great glory to God and good to souls if Fridays found our people doing volunteer work in hospitals, visiting the sick, serving the needs of the aged and the lonely, instructing the young in the faith, participating as Christians in community affairs, and meeting our obligations to our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, including our parishes, with a special zeal born of the desire to add the merit of penance to the other virtues exercised in good works born of living faith.” NCCB, “On Penance and Abstinence,” 1996.

But if you rather abstain from meat …