Question: What is the current teaching of the Church regarding abstinence on Fridays? I’ve come across information stating that during the Fridays of Lent as well as on every Friday throughout the year, Catholics aged 14 and older are mandated to avoid meat. However, in the United States, for Fridays that fall outside of Lent, we have the option to engage in another form of acceptable penance instead of abstaining from meat. When I brought this up with my prayer group, none of the members seemed to recognize that we still have this obligation to obey. fast from meat on Fridays or engage in an alternative form of penance on that day. How should we interpret this guideline, especially given that many remain uninformed about it?
— Joan Metzger
Answer: The issue you mention is unfortunately valid and widespread. It reflects human tendencies and highlights a demand for unambiguous standards. The traditional acronym SMART is relevant here, indicating that a task or objective is most effective when it is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. The existing standards for Friday practices fail to meet these criteria in various aspects, particularly concerning their vagueness and the challenge in determining if an individual has fulfilled the (ambiguous) aim of a Friday sacrifice comparable to abstaining from meat.
The existing regulations in the U.S. trace back to 1966. This era marked significant transformations within the Church. The Second Vatican Council had just concluded, and numerous elements were being reshaped in ways considered to illustrate the revival stemming from the council. A prevalent belief during that time was that Catholics had advanced beyond many of the conventional standards that unified us and constituted the foundation of devotion in the years of immigration. Additional acts of justice within the community were a significant focus during this era. There was also considerable stress on social justice being more essential than acts of penance. These kinds of trends were mirrored in the finale of the bishop’s statement regarding Friday abstinence in 1966:
“It would bestow immense honor upon God and benefit souls if Fridays saw our community engaging in volunteer efforts at hospitals, visiting the ill, addressing the needs of the elderly and the isolated, educating the youth in the Faith, taking part as Christians in local activities, and fulfilling our responsibilities to our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, including our parishes, with a particular enthusiasm inspired by the wish to enhance the merit of penance alongside the other virtues demonstrated in good deeds stemming from genuine faith.”
“… Let it not be claimed that through this measure, embracing the essence of renewal arising from the Council, we have eliminated Friday, rejected the sacred customs of our ancestors, or weakened the Church’s emphasis on the reality of sin and the necessity of penance. Instead, let it be demonstrated by the attitude with which we approach prayer and penance, including freely chosen fasting and abstinence, that these current resolutions and suggestions from this assembly of bishops will usher in a rebirth … through which we unite with Christ, becoming mature children of God and servants of God’s people” (“Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence,” Nos. 27, 28).
These might be commendable objectives, yet to reword St. Paul, if the trumpet gives an ambiguous signal, who will get ready for the fight?cf. 1 Cor 14:8). In other terms, the substitution of a concentrated and communal tradition among Catholics with a broadly outlined set of actions has not been effectively embraced by the congregation, which has mostly abandoned any observance of Friday outside of Lent. Even when educated about this guideline and the recommendation from the bishops of 1966, many Catholics remain unsure about how to carry out another practice regularly on Fridays. Consequently, with the requirement becoming unclear and self-directed in its execution, numerous people merely shrug it off, and it disappears from their thoughts entirely. It is not that they are inherently irreverent; rather, they lack direction from a guideline that is not “SMART,” as previously mentioned. They are also not bolstered by the shared practices of other Catholics who collectively foster a culture of Friday abstinence. Acknowledging this, the bishops of England, who had a comparable approach, have reverted to meatless Fridays and the mandatory norm. Hopefully, we might anticipate the same from our own bishops since suggesting we should engage in “something” for Fridays appears too ambiguous for everyone to comprehend and adopt. A focused and cooperative initiative seems to better address the human necessity for explicit instructions.
