Its Okay to Eat Meat on Friday Again Catholic
Editor's notation: This story was originally published Feb. 20, 2021, and available only to subscribers. We've made it bachelor to all readers as this year'southward Lenten season begins. If you are non yet a subscriber, please consider condign one here.
After a Mardi Gras flavor that wasn't, and with the coronavirus pandemic still raging, local Catholics may ask what, if anything, is different in their traditional observance of Lent in 2021.
The short answer is not much.
About 90,000 Catholics alive in Terrebonne, Lafourche, M Island and Morgan City, the area covered by the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.
1 key attribute of Lent will be observed equally usual this yr, said the Rev. Patrick Riviere, director of the diocese's Office of the Priesthood.
"Yes, it'southward a sin to consume meat on Fridays during Lent," Riviere said. "The Church does ask Catholics to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent."
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Last yr, due to COVID-19 and Louisiana's stay-at-domicile mandates, Houma-Thibodaux Bishop Shelton Fabre waived the obligation to abstain from eating meat for the fourth and fifth Fridays of Lent due to those hardships.
"There are those who, due to the current challenges from the pandemic and stay-at-domicile gild, might find it crushing to enter into the exercise of abstaining from meat," he said at the time.
But the 2020 waiver, or dispensation, was not universal.
"For those who are able to keep this practise, I encourage you lot to continue to fulfill this obligation for your spiritual benefits and the good of the Church," he said.
The state has since lifted the restrictive stay-at-domicile orders.
"Since these circumstances no longer exist now, there is no need at this time during Lent 2021 for the same impunity," Fabre said concluding week.
The Church asked Catholics to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent in memory of Good Friday, the day the Bible says Jesus died on the cross, Riviere said. Meat was chosen as a sacrifice because information technology was a celebratory food. By abnegation, Catholics can share a common experience in remembrance of Jesus' cede.
The Courier and Daily Comet asked Catholics on Facebook whether they follow the practise or view not doing then as a sin. The question drew more 300 responses.
"Catholic teachings tell united states to refrain from eating meat on Fridays as an human activity of penance," Sheila Wolf LeBouef wrote. "Friday is a mean solar day of penitence, equally it is believed Christ died on a Friday. Everyone has the right to either eat meat or non. I choose not to."
"It's a sin not taking your own spirituality seriously," Christopher Shane commented. "That y'all trade red meat for fried shrimp, or boiled crawfish, etc. is a joke, and deep downwards you lot know it's true. Such a luxurious cede doesn't actually brand sense. Being honest with yourself virtually it is probably a better sacrifice, a sacrifice of hand-me-downwards traditions, beliefs and social credence."
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"I agree with you that it'southward better to detect an alternate way to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us if you choose not to follow a traditional path," Greg Szanyi responded.
"Information technology's meant to be a form of penance," wrote Mary Beth Guidroz Gast. "I understand we live in a celebratory culture, but going out to splurge on seafood or eating crawfish isn't the intention for Lenten days of fasting."
"I don't call up it's a sin," said Christy Walker. "It's more of a sacrifice. I don't eat meat on Wednesdays or Fridays during Lent. That'southward how my mom was raised, and that's how she raised the states."
Lent, which began Ash Wed, Feb. 17, and ends on Easter, Apr 4, is a period when Catholics focus on growing spiritually and refocus their faith with God. The iii traditional practices Catholics are chosen to discover during Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving, or charity.
Riviere said he personally applies this through prayer, reciting specific devotions to Jesus' mother, Mary. He reflects on where he sees God in his actions and where he might take turned away from God. On days of fasting, Wednesdays and Fridays, he limits unnecessary screen time and gives to clemency or helps people in need.
In a year of hardship, Fabre said penance and self-denial during Lent is still important.
"As we did last twelvemonth during Lent, I call up this season of Lent is another opportunity along with our penitential practices to enter into the coronavirus restrictions from a spiritual perspective and to allow the season of Lent to again speak to our hopes rooted in the risen Jesus Christ," Fabre said.
Riviere said the pandemic has put Lent in a different low-cal.
"This twelvemonth, there has been a lot of hardship, then the invitation is particularly for Lent is less so about, 'What more can I do?' and more than of, 'We have had hardships imposed on us, and so am I entering into those hardships well?' " Riviere said. "God is present in every feel, and every feel is an opportunity for growth and an opportunity for grace."
Source: https://www.houmatoday.com/story/news/2021/02/21/is-eating-meat-friday-during-lent-sin-locals-weigh-in/6785633002/
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