Why does EWTN say this?

[Ilovejesus1234]

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. ** However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. **For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.

ewtn.com/faith/lent/fast.htm

Why does ewtn say the part in bold, if I don’t do penance on friday it is sinful? It really confuses me because the USCCB doesn’t say anything about this instead they say something like this " 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 by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial " . Can someone help, sorry if this text shows many errors I am a little drowsy right now.

 

[flower_lady]

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. ** However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. **For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.

ewtn.com/faith/lent/fast.htm

Why does ewtn say the part in bold, if I don’t do penance on friday it is sinful? It really confuses me because the USCCB doesn’t say anything about this instead they say something like this " 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 by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial " . Can someone help, sorry if this text shows many errors I am a little drowsy right now.

I can’t imagine. I’m waiting on answers to this question myself. I thought eating meat on Friday was fine except during Lent Season. Good question.

 

[JimG]

Jimmy Akin did an analysis of the state of Friday penance as a mandatory practice.

To summarize what I understand of it, the national bishops’ conferences were given authority to make a decision for their own jurisdictions. The U.S. Bishop’s Conference seems to have done two things: 1) It removed the non-Lenten Friday abstinence as an obligation, while recommending that it continue to be practiced.

And 2), it did not replace it with a different obligation.

That is Mr. Akin’s reading of the state of affairs in the U.S.

Here is his analysis:
jimmyakin.org/2004/07/since_tomorrow_.html

And here is a follow up column.
jimmyakin.com/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

I don’t know whether perhaps he has changed his opinion since those columns were written.

 

[tm21]

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. ** However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. **For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.

ewtn.com/faith/lent/fast.htm

Why does ewtn say the part in bold, if I don’t do penance on friday it is sinful? It really confuses me because the USCCB doesn’t say anything about this instead they say something like this " 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 by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial " . Can someone help, sorry if this text shows many errors I am a little drowsy right now.

I think the bold section is saying that if someone made a general declaration like “I never need penance”, (weather on Friday or any time) that would be a grave sin, since we all need to perform acts of penance.

 

[JamalChristophr]

Actually, there are various modes of penance. Prayer is a from of doing penance. So is prayerfully reading a bit of scripture. Peacefully accepting even small sufferings in one’s day is another for of penance.

It is true, the man or woman who does no penance in life shall perish.

Your quotation did not specifically say that one must do penance on Friday, but it is the traditionally prescribed day.

Ask SMD. She is the expert.

 

[revert_jen]

Why does ewtn say the part in bold, if I don’t do penance on friday it is sinful? It really confuses me because the USCCB doesn’t say anything about this instead they say something like this " 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 by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial " . Can someone help, sorry if this text shows many errors I am a little drowsy right now.

Well, the USCCB isn’t the source of all knowledge.

You may want to check the Code of Canon Law here: vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM

It says that the USCCB can “determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance” for Fridays, but it doesn’t say they can do away with it altogether. And I can’t see anywhere where the USCCB has tried to do away with it anyway.
USCCB (Penitential Practices for Today's Catholics:

In memory of Christ’s suffering and death, the Church prescribes making each Friday throughout the year a penitential day.

Emphasis mine. As I understand it, “prescribes” in the non-medical sense means basically “makes it a rule.” The leaflet ends with 15 different kinds of penance people can do. You can download the leaflet in PDF format from the USCCB site for less than a dollar (I don’t 100% understand their pricing, but the highest price listed is $0.99.) store.usccb.org/penitential-practices-for-todays-catholics-pdf-p/7-142.htm

But I think generally what EWTN is trying to say is something like, “Missing out on doing penance on one Friday is not a big deal, but knowing that it is required and just refusing to do it ever is a big deal.”

I added the bold part, but as a person who had entered her 30s before she ever heard that we were supposed to be treating Fridays specially, I find it pretty important. (It’s a general principle of sin. If it’s not a question of natural law, you have to know it’s wrong for it to count. )

–Jen

 

[EmeraldOak]

The U.S. Bishop’s Conference seems to have done two things: 1) It removed the non-Lenten Friday abstinence as an obligation, while recommending that it continue to be practiced.

And 2), it did not replace it with a different obligation.

And that is exactly what I find confusing. I do not understand why they removed the obligation if they believed it should continue to be practiced. I think this brought more confusion.

 

[ProVobis]

And that is exactly what I find confusing. I do not understand why they removed the obligation if they believed it should continue to be practiced. I think this brought more confusion.

The story goes that Pope Paul never removed the obligation of meatless Fridays but by removing the pain of mortal sin attached to not abstaining, he was appealing to one’s higher spirituality levels to abstain. It seems today’s canon law is no less confusing.

 

[JimG]

And that is exactly what I find confusing. I do not understand why they removed the obligation if they believed it should continue to be practiced. I think this brought more confusion.

Yes, it did result in confusion. As I understand it, the bishop’s conference “determined more precisely” the practice of regular Friday abstinence by removing the obligation as binding under pain of mortal sin, (while still recommending the practice.) But it did not then go on to specifically state that some type of penance must be done under pain of sin. People generally got the message that the Friday abstinence was no longer a binding rule, and also that they were free to practice some other form of penance or charitable work, but not as a matter of binding obligation. In practice, most simply dropped the practice of Friday abstinence from meat without substituting anything else.

 

[JamalChristophr]

We had a thread on this a few months ago and it seems we came to the conclusion that in the U.S. it is not a sin to do no penance on Friday outside of lent. I’ll see if I can find the thread and citations.

I can’t find the thread, bit it was a document from the USCCB and I for one don’t think their authority need be questioned as they speak for what Catholics are obliged to do in the United States.

Regardless, though, it is imprudent I would say to not do some form of penance on Fridays outside of lent.

Suscipe M.D. knows the citiation.

JimG is correct. I didn’t read what he said carefully enough.

 

[808Catholic]

This may be a case where you have to check with your Bishop as each Diocese may have a different take on this subject. I’m unsure myself but follow our bishop’s lead.

 

[Vico]

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. ** However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. **For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.

ewtn.com/faith/lent/fast.htm

Why does ewtn say the part in bold, if I don’t do penance on friday it is sinful? It really confuses me because the USCCB doesn’t say anything about this instead they say something like this " 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 by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial " . Can someone help, sorry if this text shows many errors I am a little drowsy right now.

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 binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat.

…

1. Every Catholic Christian understands that the fast and abstinence regulations admit of change, unlike the commandments and precepts of that unchanging divine moral law which the Church must today and always defend as immutable. This said, we emphasize that our people are henceforth free from the obligation traditionally binding under pain of sin in what pertains to Friday abstinence,except as noted above for Lent. We stress this so that "no"scrupulosity will enter into examinations of conscience,confessions, or personal decisions on this point.

usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/us-bishops-pastoral-statement-on-penance-and-abstinence.cfm

Also in territorial norms it states that the Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence* Issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops November 18, 1966 is still current, except that the age of 18 is used due to the change in 1983 canon law, for fast.

**So “the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin” is the meat abstinence. Look at the 1966 norm itself for detail, that “other forms” are ratified:*To recall and urge all the faithful to the observance of the divine precept of penitence, the Apostolic See intends to reorganize penitential discipline with practices more suited to our times. It is up to the bishops—gathered in their episcopal conferences—to establish the norms which, in their pastoral solicitude and prudence, and with the direct knowledge they have of local conditions, they consider the most opportune and efficacious. The following, however is established:
In the first place, Holy Mother Church, although it has always observed in a special way abstinence from meat and fasting, nevertheless wants to indicate in the traditional triad of “prayer—fasting—charity” the fundamental means of complying with the divine precepts of penitence. These means were the same throughout the centuries, but in our time there are special reasons whereby, according to the demands of various localities, it is necessary to inculcate some special form of penitence in preference to others.(60)

• Therefore, where economic well-being is greater, so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given in order that the sons of the Church may not be involved in the spirit of the “world,”(61) and at the same time the witness of charity will have to be given to the brethren who suffer poverty and hunger beyond any barrier of nation or continent.(62)
• On the other hand, in countries where the standard of living is lower, it will be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the members of the Body of Christ if Christians—while they seek in every way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ.

Therefore, the Church, while preserving—where it can be more readily observed—the custom (observed for many centuries with canonical norms) of practicing penitence also through abstinence from meat and fasting, intends to ratify with its prescriptions other forms of penitence as well, provided that it seems opportune to episcopal conferences to replace the observance of fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity.
w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19660217_paenitemini.html