Re: Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays and during lent?

"Rockinghorse Winner" <rwinner@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f7ydnfyjPcLEkBbWRVn_vwA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Edward Curtis <whfastus@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

On Feb 28, 3:09=A0am, J30988V5C@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays and during lent?
I was told they are not supposed to eat meat. =A0Well, fish IS meat.
It's surely not fruit, vegetable, or grain. =A0But my point is how this
all began. =A0I heard that one of the popes long ago wanted to help the
fishermen who were not making enough sales, so he declared that all
Catholics must eat fish on Fridays. =A0Is this true? =A0This sure seems
like a scam to me. =A0Then I hear that Catholics who DO eat meat on
Fridays or lent, will go to hell because of it. =A0If this is true, I am
surely glad that I am not a Catholic. =A0Any "God" who determines a
person's eternity in heaven or hell, based on diet, is not the kind of
God I want to worship. =A0
I suppose the next Catholic rule will become "Every Catholic must
spend at least 2 hours every Saturday, working out at a fitness
club"....... =A0If they don't, they go to hell ......

http://www.jimmyakin.org/2005/02/fish_fridays.html

No conspiracy here to prop up the fishing industry.

Church law is written in Latin. In Latin what we are forbidden to eat
on Lenten Fridays is "carnis". "Carnis" means, specifically, the meat
of warm-blooded, land-dwelling animals. Thus fish is not prohibited.
Note also, nowhere in Church law does it say "You MUST eat fish on
Lenten Fridays". You can go vegetarian if you wish.

Edward
who has a feeling that he just fed the troll

So the prohibition against carnis does *not* apply to all Fridays of the
year? Is this only for U.S. Catholics? What exactly changed with the
Vatican
II to ammend this?


The strict prohibition was lifted in 1966 ONLY for US Catholics. At that
time, vegetarianism was on the rise in the United States, and the USCCB
(NCCB) gave United States Catholics the option of choosing another form of
penance to take the place of abstaining from meat on Fridays.

Sadly, most Catholics only heard the first part - that they were no longer
bound to abstain from meat on Fridays - and missed the second part
entirely - that they were encouraged to continue abstaining from meat on
Fridays unless a more meaningful penance was chosen to take its place.

See:
http://www.usccb.org/lent/2008/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf

and also this letter offering a more recent view on the situation:
http://web.archive.org/web/19980508215019/dioceseoflafayette.org/wordarchives-121497.html




.

Relevant Pages

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