Are Meatless Fridays Still a Thing? Does it Matter?

Michie

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50 years after the U.S. bishops made it optional, year-round Friday abstinence is making a modest comeback — but for many American Catholics it isn’t even a real option, because they’ve never been told it’s still a thing.

Continued below.
Are Meatless Fridays Still a Thing? Does it Matter?
 
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Joyous Song

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50 years after the U.S. bishops made it optional, year-round Friday abstinence is making a modest comeback — but for many American Catholics it isn’t even a real option, because they’ve never been told it’s still a thing.

Continued below.
Are Meatless Fridays Still a Thing? Does it Matter?

Its sad, when my husband and I returned to our Hebrew Heritage while remaining Catholic one other tradition, the fast was brought into greater clarity. On Yom Kippur no water or food maybe eaten all day least eating distract you from prayer and return to what you should believe. (techuvah)

So modern versions are already watered down, exactly how do these Catholics repent?
 
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Michie

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I suppose go to confession, repent and start the practice. I was taught that one could forgo a Friday fast outside of Lent if you performed some act of charity or prayer. Some Catholics genuinely do not know.

From the article:


Finally, some closing thoughts:




    • The crucial point that Friday is a day of penance. Don’t let it be just like any other day. Whether or not you choose to abstain from meat — and I heartily recommend that you do — do something. Consider doing more than abstaining: consider fasting every Friday. Or perhaps do without your evening beer or glass of wine. If you’re a vegan and a teetotaler, that still doesn’t get you off the hook! Find something. It could be something positive: Pray the Liturgy of the Hours or the rosary if you don’t already do it every day, or do some extra spiritual reading.
    • Whatever you do, do it in a prayerful, penitential, Christian spirit. Do it to honor God, to remember Christ’s crucifixion, to discipline your appetites, to obey the Church, to express solidarity with your fellow Christians living and dead, and to prepare for Sunday Mass. (If you feel yourself weakening sometime in the afternoon, remember that it was in mid-afternoon that Christ died, and stay strong.)
    • Don’t make avoiding meat the be-all and end-all. For example, avoid whatever would be a special indulgence for you. Make it meaningful to you. There is literally nothing in this world I enjoy eating more than really good sushi. Since I typically eat sushi once or twice a month, it’s definitely a special indulgence for me. It’s fish, but for me it’s contrary to the spirit of Friday penance, so I should probably avoid sushi on Fridays. The same would go for other fish delicacies. For that matter, if pizza is your favorite food in the world, maybe don’t do pizza on Fridays.
    • Don’t complain about your penances, voluntary or otherwise. Every year those of us who don’t give up social media for Lent experience the special treat of certain Catholics who find it necessary to moan and groan every Friday about the intolerable burden of going without their bacon cheeseburgers for an entire day at a time. A certain amount of this in the right spirit can be funny and human; more often it’s unattractive and lame, and contrary to the Christian spirit of ascesis given by our Lord.
    • Spread the word. Like I said, many faithful Catholics are entirely willing to embrace Friday abstinence if someone invites them to do so. This is a delicate business because you don’t want to go around loudly proclaiming your own spiritual disciplines to the world; here, too, we are constrained by our Lord’s words. There’s a right way and a wrong way to share with others what’s been helpful to you. Look for the right ways. (If you found this article or any of the articles linked above helpful, consider sharing them with others.)
    • There’s nothing wrong with respectfully asking your priest or deacon if he would consider preaching about Friday as a day of penance, and perhaps even recommend Friday abstinence.
    • Don’t judge others on what they do or don’t do. Whether or not Friday abstinence should be binding, the bottom line is that it isn’t. We can recommend it, and I do recommend, but we can’t and shouldn’t try to make it quasi-mandatory.

Its sad, when my husband and I returned to our Hebrew Heritage while remaining Catholic one other tradition, the fast was brought into greater clarity. On Yom Kippur no water or food maybe eaten all day least eating distract you from prayer and return to what you should believe. (techuvah)

So modern versions are already watered down, exactly how do these Catholics repent?
 
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Joyous Song

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I suppose go to confession, repent and start the practice. I was taught that one could forgo a Friday fast outside of Lent if you performed some act of charity or prayer. Some Catholics genuinely do not know.

From the article:


Finally, some closing thoughts:




    • The crucial point that Friday is a day of penance. Don’t let it be just like any other day. Whether or not you choose to abstain from meat — and I heartily recommend that you do — do something. Consider doing more than abstaining: consider fasting every Friday. Or perhaps do without your evening beer or glass of wine. If you’re a vegan and a teetotaler, that still doesn’t get you off the hook! Find something. It could be something positive: Pray the Liturgy of the Hours or the rosary if you don’t already do it every day, or do some extra spiritual reading.
    • Whatever you do, do it in a prayerful, penitential, Christian spirit. Do it to honor God, to remember Christ’s crucifixion, to discipline your appetites, to obey the Church, to express solidarity with your fellow Christians living and dead, and to prepare for Sunday Mass. (If you feel yourself weakening sometime in the afternoon, remember that it was in mid-afternoon that Christ died, and stay strong.)
    • Don’t make avoiding meat the be-all and end-all. For example, avoid whatever would be a special indulgence for you. Make it meaningful to you. There is literally nothing in this world I enjoy eating more than really good sushi. Since I typically eat sushi once or twice a month, it’s definitely a special indulgence for me. It’s fish, but for me it’s contrary to the spirit of Friday penance, so I should probably avoid sushi on Fridays. The same would go for other fish delicacies. For that matter, if pizza is your favorite food in the world, maybe don’t do pizza on Fridays.
    • Don’t complain about your penances, voluntary or otherwise. Every year those of us who don’t give up social media for Lent experience the special treat of certain Catholics who find it necessary to moan and groan every Friday about the intolerable burden of going without their bacon cheeseburgers for an entire day at a time. A certain amount of this in the right spirit can be funny and human; more often it’s unattractive and lame, and contrary to the Christian spirit of ascesis given by our Lord.
    • Spread the word. Like I said, many faithful Catholics are entirely willing to embrace Friday abstinence if someone invites them to do so. This is a delicate business because you don’t want to go around loudly proclaiming your own spiritual disciplines to the world; here, too, we are constrained by our Lord’s words. There’s a right way and a wrong way to share with others what’s been helpful to you. Look for the right ways. (If you found this article or any of the articles linked above helpful, consider sharing them with others.)
    • There’s nothing wrong with respectfully asking your priest or deacon if he would consider preaching about Friday as a day of penance, and perhaps even recommend Friday abstinence.
    • Don’t judge others on what they do or don’t do. Whether or not Friday abstinence should be binding, the bottom line is that it isn’t. We can recommend it, and I do recommend, but we can’t and shouldn’t try to make it quasi-mandatory.

JS: our local priest says ding something positive can replace as repenting from something wrong. In a way that is repenting, for example exercises is repenting from sloth, You can give up sugary food (gluttony) by eating more healthy. The list goes on....
 
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chevyontheriver

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I suppose go to confession ....
Confession? What's that? I thought that was a medieval thing done away with at Vatican II? Catholics still do that? No way! Besides, what would I confess? Being too white is the only thing I can think of.

Father forgive me. It's been five weeks since my last confession. I look forward to Fridays because I get to have fish.
 
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Joyous Song

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Confession? What's that? I thought that was a medieval thing done away with at Vatican II? Catholics still do that? No way! Besides, what would I confess? Being too white is the only thing I can think of.

Father forgive me. It's been five weeks since my last confession. I look forward to Fridays because I get to have fish.

JS: Its strange, people we see as saints, saw their sins in things we consider human weakness or even harmless. So is it we no longer sin, or win sin so much we are blind to the sins we commit?
 
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Michie

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Confession? What's that? I thought that was a medieval thing done away with at Vatican II? Catholics still do that? No way! Besides, what would I confess? Being too white is the only thing I can think of.
Your penance is ten decades of the rosary inside a tanning bed my son.

Father forgive me. It's been five weeks since my last confession. I look forward to Fridays because I get to have fish.
Salads for you my son. Your penance for enjoying fish and one Hail Mary. Go in peace. Slams window shut. ;)
 
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chevyontheriver

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JS: Its strange, people we see as saints, saw their sins in things we consider human weakness or even harmless. So is it we no longer sin, or win sin so much we are blind to the sins we commit?
Sin makes people stupid. So they can't even tell they are sinning. Blind.
 
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chevyontheriver

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Your penance is ten decades of the rosary inside a tanning bed my son.

Salads for you my son. Your penance for enjoying fish and one Hail Mary. Go in peace. Slams window shut. ;)
But I like salads too.
 
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Michie

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chevyontheriver

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Well self-flagellation with a wet noodle while reciting a complete rosary. Go in peace my son. ;)
I don't know how to say a rosary. I'm a Vatican II kind of Catholic.
 
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Michie

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Michie

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Hey! I had fish tonight so I'm back in form now. No more vinegar out of me today.
God bless you! Check out the culinary forum for what we had for the second Friday of Lent today. :)
 
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50 years after the U.S. bishops made it optional, year-round Friday abstinence is making a modest comeback — but for many American Catholics it isn’t even a real option, because they’ve never been told it’s still a thing.

Continued below.
Are Meatless Fridays Still a Thing? Does it Matter?
I researched this issue a few years ago. One Ultra Traditional website even claimed that it was "probably" a mortal sin to eat meat on Fridays. That position would appear to be a wee bit of a stretch. However, I seem to recall that when the Vatican stripped the requirement, they also wanted local Bishops to require some other way of honoring Fridays and yet the USCCB appears to have fallen short in this regard. Then again, maybe the instruction from the Vatican was a recommendation and not mandatory?
 
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I researched this issue a few years ago. One Ultra Traditional website even claimed that it was "probably" a mortal sin to eat meat on Fridays. That position would appear to be a wee bit of a stretch. However, I seem to recall that when the Vatican stripped the requirement, they also wanted local Bishops to require some other way of honoring Fridays and yet the USCCB appears to have fallen short in this regard. Then again, maybe the instruction from the Vatican was a recommendation and not mandatory?

Lol, it kind of reminds me of how Luther stressed the importance of confession, and encouraged all believers to go on a regular basis. At the same time he considered it opional and degrated it from a sacramental position to something entirely voluntarily.
Tada; guess what happened to the practice in the long run...

Vatican ii is very much the same thing. Making mandatory things less normative and more optional equals spiritual decay in the life of the church. Vatican ii couldve read up om how Lutheranism turned out in the end, and thus avoiding to commit the same mistakes. I mean, the history is right there, available to read for anyone whos interested in learing about spiritual decay. But they didnt - wether or not their intent where pure is of lesser importance. They fell into the same trap.
 
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