Friday Fish Fry
Friday ... a day for penance.
If you're a Traditionalist, you are probably still following the old Church discipline of abstaining from meat. Good for you.
If you're a "Vatican II Catholic" (as if the rest of us aren't?), then you're probably going to eat meat today because "Vatican II changed all that."
I have something to say to both of you.
First, a bit of background.
Up until 1966, eating meat on Friday was a mortal sin. Period. That discipline has been lifted, so that, you may still abstain from meat on Friday if you wish, but if for some reason you need to eat a hamburger, it's not a mortal sin. Why? Because you're not violating a Church Law, you're violating a personal law - and you are authorized to "bind and loose" your own personal penances any time you wish.
What happened in 1966? Pope Paul VI placed the authority of binding and loosing the Friday abstinence laws into the hands of local bishops' conferences, but still said:
"By divine law all the faithful are required to do penance."
"... it is the task of episcopal conferences to: ... Substitute abstinence and fast wholly or in part with other forms of penitence and especially works of charity and the exercises of piety."
Further, the current Code of Canon Law says:
"All Christ’s faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance ... All Fridays throughout the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church ... Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year ..." (Canons 1249-1251)
So what is the current rule for the US? The USCCB has said:
"Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year ... we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly ... 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." (Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, 22, 24, 25)
Alright. So to the "Vatican II Catholics," I say this: your bishops have expressed the hope that you will continue, of your own free choice, to fast from meat on Fridays. If you do not choose to follow this particular and specific form of penance, the universal law still stands: Friday is a day of penance. So if you're eating meat, then ask yourself: what regular penance have I substituted in place of abstaining from meat?
Too many Vatican II Catholics think that the Friday abstinence was just lifted - that's all. Poof, gone. Hardly any of them know that 1) the option of eating meat on Fridays was introduced, but meat abstinence was given "first place" in preference, and 2) that some kind of Friday penance is absolutely binding.
Now, to the TradCats, I say this ... examine yourself. Beware of the Pharisaical tendency to follow the letter of the law, but forget the spirit of the law completely. The purpose of abstaining from meat on Friday is not just to skip eating meat for a day; the purpose is to adopt a penitential attitude throughout the day, and reflect on Christ's Good Friday sufferings.
In other words, if you're turning down hot dogs all day, but then you go out at night to gorge yourself at an all-you-can-eat Fish Fry, you stay out late, you don't add some kind of devotion (an extra decade of Sorrowful Mysteries, Stations of the Cross, etc.) - you've kind of missed the point.
Yes, I'm talking to me. But also you.
So really, my brief reminder to both TradCats and neoCats is the same: Friday is for penance (both in spirit and in body) and prayer - are you honoring that fact?
If you're a Traditionalist, you are probably still following the old Church discipline of abstaining from meat. Good for you.
If you're a "Vatican II Catholic" (as if the rest of us aren't?), then you're probably going to eat meat today because "Vatican II changed all that."
I have something to say to both of you.
First, a bit of background.
Up until 1966, eating meat on Friday was a mortal sin. Period. That discipline has been lifted, so that, you may still abstain from meat on Friday if you wish, but if for some reason you need to eat a hamburger, it's not a mortal sin. Why? Because you're not violating a Church Law, you're violating a personal law - and you are authorized to "bind and loose" your own personal penances any time you wish.
What happened in 1966? Pope Paul VI placed the authority of binding and loosing the Friday abstinence laws into the hands of local bishops' conferences, but still said:
"By divine law all the faithful are required to do penance."
"... it is the task of episcopal conferences to: ... Substitute abstinence and fast wholly or in part with other forms of penitence and especially works of charity and the exercises of piety."
Further, the current Code of Canon Law says:
"All Christ’s faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance ... All Fridays throughout the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church ... Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year ..." (Canons 1249-1251)
So what is the current rule for the US? The USCCB has said:
"Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year ... we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly ... 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." (Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, 22, 24, 25)
Alright. So to the "Vatican II Catholics," I say this: your bishops have expressed the hope that you will continue, of your own free choice, to fast from meat on Fridays. If you do not choose to follow this particular and specific form of penance, the universal law still stands: Friday is a day of penance. So if you're eating meat, then ask yourself: what regular penance have I substituted in place of abstaining from meat?
Too many Vatican II Catholics think that the Friday abstinence was just lifted - that's all. Poof, gone. Hardly any of them know that 1) the option of eating meat on Fridays was introduced, but meat abstinence was given "first place" in preference, and 2) that some kind of Friday penance is absolutely binding.
Now, to the TradCats, I say this ... examine yourself. Beware of the Pharisaical tendency to follow the letter of the law, but forget the spirit of the law completely. The purpose of abstaining from meat on Friday is not just to skip eating meat for a day; the purpose is to adopt a penitential attitude throughout the day, and reflect on Christ's Good Friday sufferings.
In other words, if you're turning down hot dogs all day, but then you go out at night to gorge yourself at an all-you-can-eat Fish Fry, you stay out late, you don't add some kind of devotion (an extra decade of Sorrowful Mysteries, Stations of the Cross, etc.) - you've kind of missed the point.
Yes, I'm talking to me. But also you.
So really, my brief reminder to both TradCats and neoCats is the same: Friday is for penance (both in spirit and in body) and prayer - are you honoring that fact?
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