Comments on: Are Catholics Supposed to Abstain from Meat Every Friday?

By: Tsanchez002

Tsanchez002 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:51:00 +0000

this should be told to all catholic persons, we need to to penance for the time of our life, we need God’s help now more than ever

By: Samwise

Samwise — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:01:18 +0000

I hope that all Catholics who truly practice the faith will find some way to do penance that will have meaning for them. An act of mercy or kindness, an abstaining from something…whatever, because satan is VERY active and is truly going around as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour…here in Connecticut we have proposed legislation that will diminish the authority of our Bishops and our Pastors. This is unimagineable and I think really that it is a kind of test case to see how many Catholics are really willing to stand strong with and for the Church. The legislation proposed is definitely unconstitutional but at one time, so was killing babies in the wombs of their mothers…or at least it was against the law. It is so true that evil thrives because good men and women remain indifferent and do nothing. If we don’t stand strong now, then we will have no reason to complain when we see the walls of a healthy and good morality crumble around us…it is already crumbing but held by the thread of fatih but the bodies of babies slaughtered in the wombs of their mothers go on piling up around us and we…or many of us, do nothing or even further the rights of abortion by voting for someone like Obama…please pray for all of us here in Connecticut that we may indeed have a massive turnout of all those who care for religious freedom….Sam

By: Doria2

Doria2 — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:08:23 +0000

The ambiguity of the USCCB from Friday abstinance to movies proves to me that all bishop’s conferences should be disbanded as soon as possible. These private clubs are value – less. They do more harm tham good.

Bishops are indeed fighting bishops – unity is dead. Pope Benedict was right when he intimated that we were probably going to have a smaller more faithful Church. The cafeteria is closing – AndyP/Doria2 Yonkers, NY HOSEA 4:6

By: edq

edq — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:46:34 +0000

FYI, there are also those who argue that Friday penance is not obligatory outside of Lent due to the wording of the 1966 USCB document. Here is Jimmy Akin’s take on the issue:

http://www.jimmyakin.org/2004/07/since_tomorrow_.html
http://www.jimmyakin.org/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

By: Samwise

Samwise — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:40:13 +0000

I don’t know any Catholic, even those who go to daily Mass, who have heard that we are supposed to abstain from meat on Friday…I don’t think it’s obligatory although I abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays as I can. But I think there is kind of an inner instinct that enables us to intuit that Friday is not like any other day…perhaps it is the resonance of the sufferings of Christ on that long ago Friday that continues to pierce our hearts…but we need so much to remember that prayer and fasting can and do work miracles, and we must try to actively do all we can to turn back the forces of evil, especially the anti life forces that seem to permeate our planet … we see prominent Catholic politicians fighting fiercely to push through anti life legislation, to remove all impediments to government funded abortions and to remove laws that allow medical personnel to refuse to do abortions if their faith prohibits them…so I believe we do need to do penance…to abstain from food or tv or gossip or indifference and to actively take on those causes that help to create a culture of life and of love…but prayer is at the root of all…especially the Mass, the Eucharist…the Rosary…individual and communal prayer…get involved, get informed…we all know the saying about how evil thrives because good men and women do nothing…remain uninvolved…Mother Theresa, with whom I worked in Calcutta, has said that no nation that kills its young can survive and we all see what is happening in our nation…so, it is Lent, it is time to pray for all in authority, and pray that we all will be attuned to the mind and Heart of Christ and with Him, bring about peace, healing, reconciliation and justice for all…especially those who have not yet been born…”whatever you do to one of these little ones you do to Me..”…so in slaying the innocent human baby in the womb, we slay Christ all over again; we reject the gift and the mission God sends to us with each little new baby…his/her mission, gifts and blessings that are so desperately needed…and yet, we break them and send them back…Father forgive them -us- for they/we know not what they/we do! …may it be so….Sam

By: javanderhulst

javanderhulst — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:57:35 +0000

Wonderful article. Many of us become preoccupied with what we are technically required to do without realizing why we are asked to do it.

One suggestion/amendment though: St. Joseph is the patron of the universal Church (the Church as a whole) and his feast is a Holy Day of Obligation in the universal Church (though the bishops in the US remove that obligation for those in the US on the feast day). Even if it isn’t a Holy Day, it is always and everywhere a Solemnity. So, wherever you are and whoever you are, if St. Joseph falls on a Friday in Lent, you are not required to abstain. No permission from the bishop is necessary.

By: Cooky642

Cooky642 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 07:34:59 +0000

Thank you, Ms. Caridi, for reminding us not only of our “duty” and “obligation”, but also of our profound joy in accepting the invitation to “draw closer” to Jesus. Surely, we can all think of something penatential to our specific lives, whether it is refraining from meat or not. As an “senior citizen” and diabetic, I am no longer able to fast as the Church prescribes (and I understand that it is not obligatory, at my age). However, I can abstain from meat, and from those little delicacies that “top off” a meal. I can also abstain from TV, the Internet, gossip, or a “sharp” tongue! If you have eyes to see, opportunities abound.

I’d like to make 2 “amendments” to your article. First, those of us in Orders have specific days of “fast and abstinance” that others in the Church are not bound to observe. When a celebration in the Order falls on a Friday, we are allowed to “anticipate” that fast to another day (except Sunday, of course).
The other observation is that those who would ask this question would seem to be “minimalists” who are more interested in the “least” they can do (get away with?) than in growing closer to Christ.