As you may have heard, the Bishops conference of England and Wales has re-instituted meatless Fridays (year round) as a normative act of penitence.
I think this is wonderful.
The Bishops also wish to remind us that every Friday is set aside as a special day of penitence, as it is the day of the suffering and death of the Lord. They believe it is important that all the faithful again be united in a common, identifiable act of Friday penance because they recognise that the virtue of penitence is best acquired as part of a common resolve and common witness.
The law of the Church requires Catholics on Fridays to abstain from meat, or some other form of food, or to observe some other form of penance laid down by the Bishops’ Conference. The Bishops have decided to re-establish the practice that this penance should be fulfilled simply by abstaining from meat and by uniting this to prayer. Those who cannot or choose not to eat meat as part of their normal diet should abstain from some other food of which they regularly partake.
This decision will come into effect from Friday 16 September 2011.
Like I said, wonderful if even a little surprising that this happened in England. I think that the US Bishops conference would do well to follow suit.
Although, being identifiably Catholic comes with some responsibilities other than ordering plain cheese pizza on Fridays. If you are going to be identifiably Catholic on Fridays, we should make an extra effort to be identifiably Christian every day.
September 8, 2011 at 3:32 am
Anchovies, anyone?
Been a long time since I've tasted that salty pizza ingredient.
September 8, 2011 at 8:00 am
When we would go for pizza in college I would usually share a small anchovy and garlic pizza with a certain young woman. It's too bad for me she became a nun as it's hard to find anchovy lovers.
September 8, 2011 at 8:53 am
As someone who lives in England, I think this is great. You should hear the liberals whining about it though! You would think they have been asked to cut off an arm…
September 8, 2011 at 12:47 pm
My son, inspired by classmates, brought meatless Fridays home from school three years ago. Our family embraced it and we are happy to recommend it to all. It is spiritually rewarding to partake of abstinence along with others!
September 8, 2011 at 1:43 pm
The whining liberals in England are probably just annoyed that observation of meatless Fridays by Catholics will overshadow that of meatless Mondays by environmentalists.
September 8, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Thanks for posting this! A friend of ours has been doing meatless Fridays year-round for a while now, but he never told my husband and me that it's been re-instituted by the Church. Good to know. No meat tomorrow.
September 8, 2011 at 6:26 pm
I've been doing meatless Fridays for about five years now since I returned to the faith. I understand that there's the "other suitable penance" provision for us American Catholics, but I'm not creative enough to come up with something like that on my own, so I just stick to the tried and true.
No other pious act has opened more opportunities for me to discuss my faith with my co-workers. They always wonder why the big guy who goes on and on about how awesome steaks and burgers are eats plain cheese pizza while the office orders pepperoni on Fridays.
Outward sacrifices speak louder than just about any other action, so I'd invite those outside of England and Wales to give meatless Fridays a try in place of whatever penitential act they've been observing on Fridays.
September 8, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Thankfully my parish has Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday and I use my holy hour as my "other suitable penance." It actually isn't very penitential but turns out to be the best hour of the week.
September 9, 2011 at 2:34 pm
We've been having meatless Fridays since my conversion about 11 years ago. The kids have grown up with it and are so used to it that when Lent comes, it's nothing new. Their friends complain about it during Lent and our kids just shrug.
(btw, when Lent comes, we do add to the penance.)