A Sunday Thought About Meatless Fridays to Start the Week Off Right
With Lent a distant memory, how many of us Catholics know that abstaining from meat on Friday remains a serious, recommended - if not obligatory - practice all year round? Vatican II did not end the practice, as some believe. The U.S. bishops simply decided that, here in the good old U.S.A, we do not commit a sin if we eat meat on Fridays.
The National Catholic Register published a lengthy and interesting review of the state of Friday abstinence recently. The article points out that abstaining from meat these days isn't really a "sacrifice" as it once was. Why? Most of us have access to all sorts of nutritious, tasty food that makes abstaining from meat not that big a deal. But there was and is more to abstaining from meat than sacrifice. In the words of our bishops:
I guess the conclusion here would be: Yes to meatless Fridays. But YES, YES, YES to teaching our children our True Holy Catholic Faith. As for us adults who might be a bit weak in our knowledge and understanding - never mind the practice - of our faith, get to work. Nothing's stopping you from seeking the truths of your faith and applying them in your everyday life.
The National Catholic Register published a lengthy and interesting review of the state of Friday abstinence recently. The article points out that abstaining from meat these days isn't really a "sacrifice" as it once was. Why? Most of us have access to all sorts of nutritious, tasty food that makes abstaining from meat not that big a deal. But there was and is more to abstaining from meat than sacrifice. In the words of our bishops:
We shall thus also remind ourselves that as Christians, although immersed in the world and sharing its life, we must preserve a saving and necessary difference from the spirit of the world. Our deliberate, personal abstinence from meat, more especially because no longer required by law, will be an outward sign of inward spiritual values that we cherish.
Get it? Avoiding meat on Friday mattered simply because it made us different. It’s something we do, other than going to Mass on Sundays, that marks us as Catholic — and this is beneficial both to us and to those around us.
As a kid growing up in a neighborhood with lots of Jews and Protestants, I remember "standing out" on Fridays - if that's the right way to describe how I felt. I also remember that my non-Catholic friends understood and respected the fact that I couldn't eat meat on Fridays. If I felt different, it was the kind of different that made me feel special. Not in any prideful way. While I knew that I had the "true faith," I also understood the virtue of charity would preclude any false pride. I was blessed to be born Catholic. My non-Catholic friends weren't, for whatever the reason. My job was to pray for them, ultimately to hope that they would find their way to Christ. And my responsibility was to give good example to them, as a Catholic.
When I think about this - something I haven't done in a while - I'm surprised. Did I really think that way? Well, if you factor in the fact of my fallen human nature which frequently caused me to fall short of the ideal, frankly I really did. I was taught well by the nuns in Catholic school. I learned my faith. And I did try to live accordingly. It's just something that was expected of us Catholics.
And so our meatless Fridays were a kind of badge of honor. Of course, we knew the whole point of it because we knew our Holy Faith. We were carefully taught.
Today things are different. So many Catholics I meet don't know their Faith, especially the younger Catholics. They were not carefully taught. So I'm not sure bringing back meatless Fridays would have the same significance it once did. On the other hand, now that I think about it, how about actually teaching the one true Catholic Faith to our kids. If we did that, then meatless Fridays could become that special badge of honor to them too.
So while I appreciate our bishops understanding of the importance and significance of encouraging, even possibly bringing back meatless Fridays, I would appeal to them to look at how they have been teaching the Catholic Faith to our youth. Catechesis today simply doesn't instill either the knowledge or the understanding that leads to our kids taking their faith seriously. You may disagree with this assessment, but if you do, you're likely in one of the very few parishes where the Faith is taught effectively, in all its parts, in an orthodox manner, both as to letter and spirit. Be thankful that you are.
As a kid growing up in a neighborhood with lots of Jews and Protestants, I remember "standing out" on Fridays - if that's the right way to describe how I felt. I also remember that my non-Catholic friends understood and respected the fact that I couldn't eat meat on Fridays. If I felt different, it was the kind of different that made me feel special. Not in any prideful way. While I knew that I had the "true faith," I also understood the virtue of charity would preclude any false pride. I was blessed to be born Catholic. My non-Catholic friends weren't, for whatever the reason. My job was to pray for them, ultimately to hope that they would find their way to Christ. And my responsibility was to give good example to them, as a Catholic.
When I think about this - something I haven't done in a while - I'm surprised. Did I really think that way? Well, if you factor in the fact of my fallen human nature which frequently caused me to fall short of the ideal, frankly I really did. I was taught well by the nuns in Catholic school. I learned my faith. And I did try to live accordingly. It's just something that was expected of us Catholics.
And so our meatless Fridays were a kind of badge of honor. Of course, we knew the whole point of it because we knew our Holy Faith. We were carefully taught.
Today things are different. So many Catholics I meet don't know their Faith, especially the younger Catholics. They were not carefully taught. So I'm not sure bringing back meatless Fridays would have the same significance it once did. On the other hand, now that I think about it, how about actually teaching the one true Catholic Faith to our kids. If we did that, then meatless Fridays could become that special badge of honor to them too.
So while I appreciate our bishops understanding of the importance and significance of encouraging, even possibly bringing back meatless Fridays, I would appeal to them to look at how they have been teaching the Catholic Faith to our youth. Catechesis today simply doesn't instill either the knowledge or the understanding that leads to our kids taking their faith seriously. You may disagree with this assessment, but if you do, you're likely in one of the very few parishes where the Faith is taught effectively, in all its parts, in an orthodox manner, both as to letter and spirit. Be thankful that you are.
For the rest of us, perhaps we could make it a habit to pray for a return of serious catechesis such that our children will grow up knowing and loving their faith as they should - and practicing it seriously. Their salvation depends on it, doesn't it?
I guess the conclusion here would be: Yes to meatless Fridays. But YES, YES, YES to teaching our children our True Holy Catholic Faith. As for us adults who might be a bit weak in our knowledge and understanding - never mind the practice - of our faith, get to work. Nothing's stopping you from seeking the truths of your faith and applying them in your everyday life.
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