Does the Catholic Church Still Teach...

Mad Dawg

That it is a sin to eat meat on Friday? If so, it seems that it is ok to kill man on Friday as long as you don't eat him.

BurnTheShips

No they do not, at least not in the US (it varies by locale). During Lent, abstaining from meat or performing some other act of penance on Fridays is encouraged.

BTS

Snoozy

Nope, they also did away with a few saints..I believe St Christopher was one of them..also St George the dragon slayer and our good old St Nick..

Snoozy

Mad Dawg

Really? How come? Does that mean St. Chris wasn't looking after me all those years?

Berengaria

Saint Joseph is alive and well. I mean people are burying him all over the country to help sell thier homes.

It's part of Canon Law, so whether individual Catholics observe it or not, they're technically required to unless a) their conference has special permission from the Holy See to substitute it with another act of penitence and/or b) they meet one of the exemptions (like being sick or pregnant). This website explains it well, especially in the second paragraph, so no point in me restating it:

The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.
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. They must do some penitential/charitable practice on these Fridays. For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere.

So basically, if you're not abstaining from meat on Fridays in the U.S., you're supposed to be doing something else penitential. Maybe that's why so many Catholics in the U.S. think it's not required any longer. Though I wonder if they realize they're supposed to be doing something else in its place...

Interesting aside: My mother came very close to becoming a Benedictine nun (left as a novitiate) and one of her brothers was a Jesuit priest. Coming from such a strong religious tradition, my mother has still never broken her Friday abstinence habit (no pun intended). I always find it funny that Ms. SuperPioneer is still, perhaps unconsciously, participating in one of "Christendom's" evil practices. ;)

EDIT: Oh, and regarding St. Christopher, and St. George...St. Christopher doesn't have a feast day any longer in the Roman Catholic Church, but he's still considered a martyr and is eligible for devotion. He's definitely still a saint for Orthodox Catholics. St. George's feast day is optional for Roman Catholics (outside of England, naturally), but he's still a saint. I'm not sure about St. Nicholas. :/

More reasons why the '60s was a wild time for Rome. :)

Mad Dawg

Thank you for the insight, it is most interisting. How did the U.S. manage to get an exemption?

Palimpsest

Thank you for the insight, it is most interisting. How did the U.S. manage to get an exemption?

You're welcome! :)

The Code of Canon Law allows individual conferences to appeal to the Holy See if they feel that a particular law is too difficult for adherents to meet based upon local culture and needs. With the U.S. not being a majority Catholic country -- and most food here being pre-packaged/processed instead of made from scratch -- asking Catholics to completely abstain from all forms of meat (which can include gelatin, broths, etc.) was considered too problematic. Also, this happened during the 1960s, when Catholics in the U.S. were trying to ride on Kennedy's coat tails by becoming more "normal" and accepted within the larger culture, so the conference was sensitive to Catholics being seen as "weird" for the meat thing. Basically, they were trying to make life easier for adherents and also do a little PR work. The See approved it, so that's how the exemption happened -- but again, it's with the caveat that Catholics are supposed to substitute with another form of abstinence.

I've also heard, but have never verified, that school lunches had something to do with it. By the 1960s, more and more Catholic schoolchildren were enrolled in public schools that weren't particularly keen on adjusting their menus to cater to particular religious subsets. It's not a problem for lower school students, but for high schoolers (14+), that could be a challenge. But again, not positive on that particular part.

I'm from a heavily Catholic and Jewish area, and we always had meat-free lunches on Fridays and during Lent (even for lower grades), and we also had everything kosher. But we're definitely an outlier there, I have to imagine...

BurnTheShips

Thank you for the insight, it is most interisting. How did the U.S. manage to get an exemption?

Bishops have a lot of say over the application of things within their dioceses. If you live in Boston, for example, and St. Patrick's (which is always during Lent) lands on a Friday, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts the local Bishop will create an exemption so everyone can party, eat corned beef, and get sloshed on that Friday. :-)

BTS

Mad Dawg

Thank you both for your input. Some more questions - if I may.

Would it be considered a sin to eat meat on Friday, where it is forbidden, or is the whole issue a matter of good practice? It is a good thing to do, but God understands if you don't. As I understand Catholic doctrine, one must work to earn the grace of God - please correct me if I am wrong. Does this make meat-on-Fridays a salvation issue?

A couple of years back, the Bishop in Boston indeed allowed corned beef on St. Pat's on a Friday.

Does the Catholic Church Still Teach...

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