| Dear Rev. Know-It-All,
Why do Catholics not eat meat on Friday?
Mr. C. Bass
Dear Mr. Bass,
Bless you for thinking that Catholics don’t
eat meat on Friday.
Most Catholics you meet these days would
say that we used to give up meat on Fridays before the Vatican Council
but now we just do it on Fridays in Lent.
DON'T YOU BELIEVE
IT!
I'm sure you have read Canon laws 1249-1253,
wherein it is pointed out that all Christians must do penance and the usual
day for penance is Friday and the customary penance is to abstain from
meat, though this may be qualified by a local bishops conference.
In 1966 the American bishops said that
there would no longer be a restriction from meat on Fridays under pain
of sin, abstention from meat on Fridays was still to be practiced. If one
was in a situation in which one could not abstain, an act of charity or
special prayer can substitute for the usual penance, except of course during
Lent. Fridays and Ash Wednesday are still required meatless days under
pain of sin.
The only mistake the bishops made in this
regard is that they assumed Americans are grown ups.
Well our response was, “Nyah, Nyah, Nyah!
You didn't say I had to!”
We Americans have the attention span and
self discipline of a bunch of sugar-crazed ten years olds!
Where was I? Oh. Yes.
The Christian must do penance, and the
normal penance is to abstain from meat on Fridays.
Why meat? Why Fridays?
I have heard that the English favored meatless
Fridays to help a flagging fishing trade, or that a medieval pope had a
cousin who sold fish or a lot of other loads of hoo-ha. I suspect that
the prohibition against meat comes from three things.
All vegetables are kosher and
we started out as a branch of Judaism.
Meat was sacrificed to pagan idols and
so we were a bit suspicious about bad vibes from some pagan voodoo ritual
- though St. Paul said this is pretty much nonsense, provided we don't
give scandal.
And, there was an ancient belief that meat
inflames the passions. (A good steak certainly inflames my passions, but
only for a good steak.)
In addition, meat was and still is the food
of the wealthy. So abstention from meat touches on voluntary poverty. The
real reason, I suspect, is that for most of us, meat is just pretty darn
tasty. To give it up is an inconvenience and therein lies the point.
Jesus said that unless you deny yourself,
you cannot be His disciple.
That means you have to say no to yourself
now and then. If you loathe meat and don't eat it anyway give up Gummi
bears or oysters Rockefeller or whatever you happen to crave, except of
course during Lent when it is meat! If you think this is nonsense then
the penance of having to obey bishops should be penance enough.
Why Fridays?
Easy. Every Friday we remember Good Friday
and every Sunday we remember Easter Sunday. Even in Lent you are not expected
to fast on Sundays. We celebrate a mini-Holy Week every week of the year.
I hope this helps a little.
Rev. Know-It-All
The
Question Was
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Why do Catholics
not eat meat on Friday? |
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