Baltimore, Md., Nov 13, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).
A leading U.S. Catholic bishop on Wednesday called on his fellow bishops to help revive the tradition of abstinence from meat on Fridays as a way to commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si’.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, the committee charged with advancing Catholic social teaching, made his remarks at the conference’s annual fall meeting in Baltimore on Nov. 13.
In 1966, the USCCB (then called the National Conference of Catholic Bishops) removed the obligation of the faithful to abstain from meat on Fridays except during Lent. The tradition of fasting on Fridays dates back to the early Church but was codified in canon law in 1917.
“We could renew the tradition of Friday abstinence from meat,” said Gudziak, the metropolitan archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. “A return to Friday abstinence would be good for the soul and for the planet, maybe for something else, uniting our devotion to the Lord and reverence for the Lord’s creation.”
He noted that in 2011, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales introduced the pre-Vatican II practice, inspired by a pastoral visit to England by Pope Benedict XVI, who he said was known as the “Green Pope” for his emphasis on the importance of caring for creation.
Reintroducing fasting on Fridays would also bring the Roman Catholic Church closer to its Eastern brothers, he said.
“Furthermore, fasting could be an opportunity for synodal engagement, exploring ancient practices in the Latin rite, such as Ember Days or Advent fasts, and other rich Eastern Christian practices among Catholics and others,” Gudziak said.
In addition to fasting, Gudziak suggested Catholics honor the Sabbath and turn to the sacrament of the Eucharist.
“In a world of constant work and stimulation, with ever-present photos, screens, and gadgets, in essence, our world does not rest and struggles with leisure. Perhaps, providentially, 2025 memorializes not only Laudato Si’ but also the jubilee, a special year rooted in Sabbath rest,” he said.
“Our hyperactive world yearns for the Sabbath, which is expressed in the Sunday Eucharist when the Lord makes all things new,” he continued. “On this theme, I would suggest efforts centered on contemplation of creation, leisure, and celebration. This could lead to a pilgrimage to a significant local shrine, basilica, or ecological site in your diocese or eparchy that evokes the marvel of God’s creation.”
He suggested bishops consider celebrating a special Mass for care for creation on the feast of St. Francis or “preaching on the union of creation and the divine in the Eucharist.”
“To be truly restful, such an initiative should be oriented to the sacraments and overflow with celebration and joy,” he said. ”The goal of this suggestion is not to do something but to experience something, the mystery of God’s presence in the sacraments and in creation.”
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In Canada, the bishops have a allowed people to substitute the meatless Friday with an act of devotion or charity. For example, praying a pentitenial pslam or making a donation to the local food bank. Fish used to be the food of the poor. Now it’s very extravegant. A plate of fish and chips is hardly pentitential. Perhaps a vegetarian Friday would be more pentitential (like the Trappists or Carthusians)…and better for the environment too!
Well, I agree that legumes would be a more penitential choice than lobster but as far as the environment goes, crops requiring tillage take much more energy & chemicals than livestock grazed on pasture.
Yeah. No. We shall not be abstaining from meat. That is an unconstitutional demand. I didn’t expect this site to promote woke liberal veeegun crap. Abstaining from meat is for feminists and soy boys.
I actually gave us red meat for awhile for health reasons, and it had the desired effect. Said issue is gone, and now I can, and do, eat red meat again.
Considering the price of fish, and that fish generally seems to be a more “elevated” food, I think the giving up of red meat on Fridays is rather silly (although I don’t eat red meat generally because other family members want to observe that tradition.)
Give up social media, give up various tech devices, give us alcohol, give up any kind of cooked food (only raw foods). I think there are other substitutes that would be more meaningful.
No problem! Meat costs too much anyway! $12/pound for hamburger! And even more for chicken breasts! I buy meat about once a month!
Peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese sandwiches–yummy!
Yeah, that’s kinda the problem with giving up red meat. There are just too many other very tasty things out there that don’t require it.
Even my children (all men now), will happily eat grilled cheese especially with Campbell’s tomato soup. They won’t feel deprived.
Goodness, I don’t know where you live Mrs. Sharon but hamburger’s not nearly that expensive here. Too bad we’re not neighbors or I’d be glad to sell you some. I need to take a steer to the slaughterhouse after Christmas.
Sure, why not abstain from meat, now to commemorate Laudato Si….Laudato Si is fine, but why not leave the lights dimmed for a day? Or “off” the electron-sucking computer? Or, save a tree, or even a fish, or whatever.
Abstinence from meat used to commemorate the incarnate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of Himself (!) on Good Friday, but why go back 2,000 years to this, when our institutional memory is limited, as seemingly here, to the past ten years or so?
A complicated proposal, then, this restored abstinence thing. Perhaps a synodal study group should look into it? They might even find that Catholics were admonished to freely substitute some other penitential gesture in place of the uniform prohibition of meat. Haven’t heard much from the bishops about that detail in the past half century and more. And, too, there’s the matter of calendar days and the confessional, not on all Fridays but still at least once a year—on whatever weekend one might freely choose!