Posted on 04/23/2009 9:57:33 AM PDT by NYer
Okay, technically, Catholics in the US are only allowed to dispense from the year-round Friday abstinence from meat if they substitute a comparable penance for it ... but in practice, the vast majority of Catholics have forgotten to even do this.
Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, however, has dispensed with the substituting ... and has instead brought back the simple Friday abstinence from meat in his diocese. I especially respect that he ties this sacrificial abstinence to witnessing for the unborn and providing them with concrete assistance:
"I am inviting the Catholic people of the Diocese of Steubenville to resume the practice of abstaining from meat on all Fridays throughout the year, but with a twist. I am asking that this be not only a penitential practice but also an experience of prayer and service. This can happen by connecting abstinence with our witness to the sacredness of human life. (In another section he says: Abstinence can also be service if we eat simple meatless food and donate the financial savings to the poor or to pro-life efforts.)
... The resumption of year-round abstinence in the Diocese of Steubenville will begin after this coming Easter, one week after Good Friday (April 17). Although the practice will not be a requirement of law, and failing to keep it will not constitute a sin, I hope every one who is old enough to receive Holy Communion and well enough to come to church will take it seriously. Our parishes, schools and organizations should provide meatless food at their Friday activities.
... the present challenge to the people in our diocese is not really radical. It is a call to what many if not most of us have put aside. And it is a way for us, like the apostles, to give up a little food and help Jesus feed the world."
Bishop Conlon, of course, placed the above mandate within a very well-crafted pastoral letter, which he had read before or at the end of all the Masses in his diocese on the weekend of March 28/29. His catechetical office has also followed-through and provided education materials for school-age children.
What a wonderful idea - and it need not be limited to Catholics living in the diocese of Steubenville, either! Their fine witness, and the words of their bishop, can inspire us to do the same.
I live near the ocean. I fish. Free food. YUM!
Fish, clams, crab. YUM!
I still like chicken best, though.
Yes!
Chicken of the sea?
The Church certainly does not command anyone not to receive the Eucharist (thanksgiving) who know the truth (Believe in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, the Body and Blood of Christ, with proper disposition as St. Paul commands in 1 Cor 11:27)
So the Holy Roman Catholic Church is in accordance with the teaching you have put forth from St. Paul.
Sea kittens?
“Dear friend, the bishop is not forbidding any foods.”
If not, fine. It reads to me as though folks in his area are being told not to eat meat on Fridays. I posted some Scripture on the idea because it seems to me to be a contradictory.
I understand your points about fasts, and history, and I think they are well considered. It’s just when someone starts telling us that we must abstain from a certain thing, or that we must fast, that I get concerned.
Psychologically, a uniform rule has benefits.
I love clams.
Right after Peter received that vision, he was asked to meet with Cornelius, a Gentile, who wanted to hear Peter's message. Peter goes to Cornelius' home and preaches the gospel there. When Cornelius and his household received the message and the Holy Spirit, Peter said that he was shown that the gentiles were considered clean. That was the real message of the vision (the Gentiles were clean and worthy of hearing the Gospel), it had nothing to do with Peter eating Pork ribs.
And faulty interpretations of the NT do not trump or cancel the Torah.
I have had tuna. Bluefin, though, not albacore. SO GOOD when really fresh.
We get false albacore, not real albacore like canned tuna, but they are pretty elusive. Frickin incredible fish to catch. a little 8 pounder can strip all the line off a reel (300 yards) in just a couple seconds.
It is not in the least contradictory. Jesus, His disciples and the Jews of that time all fasted and abstained on Mondays and Thursdays. This practice of self-discipline in reparation to God for sins, is ancient. Have you never offered up a personal sacrifice to God in atonement for your sins?
There’s plenty of options out there once you get into it. I don’t even like fish, but I get by—I just order fries, or pizza, or scarf some cookies or whatever.
I agree with you on the Kennedy’s et al. by the way. Some of those people are so far gone it’s not even funny.
But the rest of us who are trying to be good Catholics, we can’t ever rest on our laurels and be a “good enough” Catholic. It’s not enough to be better than Pelosi. The Church has the solemn responsibility to get us to heaven. And no way anything gets to heaven until it is perfect. You and I ain’t perfect. So we need the Church to be the stern voice of discipline once in a while. That’s what the bishop’s doing here. He’s calling the diocese to a higher level of participation, a higher level of holiness.
Anyway, remember, you can put in your penance now here on earth or later in Purgatory. :)
Googling sea kitten images with safe-search filters off is fun!
They have to, as a penance, eat the juiciest steak they can find in the local supermarket that week. If they don’t, they are risking hellfire.
;'}
It doesn’t seem she has a problem with fasting per se, but with someone telling her to fast.
It’s the old “authority” question.
I was supposed to go clamming with a coworker right after work today, but he had an erection last night, and can’t make it.
(He’s our lead bridge engineer, and they installed the structural steel last night)
You make a fair point. But I didn’t read a single word of command from the Bishop there. It’s all “I invite”, “this will not be a requirement of law”, etc
That said: Christ gave Peter the keys. The Church has a right to set its ordinances. And there are not very onerous: the only two fasts of the Church’s year are Good Friday and Ash Wednesday: if I’m not fasting on those days, then its fair to say that I’ve missed something important about what’s going on those days!
Different strokes ...
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