Definitely! I love what the English and Welsh bishops are doing.

I think a return to Friday fasting as a devotional & ascetic practice is a good idea, so long as solid catechesis on the whys of fasting are heard from the pulpit.  In the Eastern Catholic Churches, there is a regular cycle of fasting periods throughout the liturgical year: Lent (the Great Fast), Apostle’s Fast, Dormition Fast, & the Filipovka (St. Philip’s Fast) or Advent/Christmas Fast.  It is a common devotional to fast on the eve of Theophany, the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, & the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross.  I think having these regular fasting periods during the seasons of the Church year has made it easier to retain the tradition of fasting on all Wednesdays & Fridays throughout the liturgical year.  That being said…I think a re-catechesis on the subject of fasting is much needed.  How many Catholics (& non-Catholics alike) believe that Catholics are actually supposed to eat fish (versus fasting from meat) on Fridays…hence the many (sometimes decadent) seafood specials offered on Fridays during Lent by many stores & restaurants?  Kind of defeats notion of fasting/penance…

I would like to see it restricted to Lent.  For one thing, it makes Lent stand out.  I totally agree that dining on gourmet seafood dishes is not a penance.  In my house, our Friday dinners this Lent were penitential, though!

I liked the idea behind letting people choose their own penances for Fridays but alas, what actually happened was that most Catholics just ended up doing nothing.  I don’t know if this was a failure of catechesis or if people just need concrete requirements.  In any case, under the present circumstances it appears to me to be a good idea to go back to a specific requirement for Fridays whether that is no meat or something else.

Our own family doesn’t consider going meatless to be a sacrifice so we give up sweets instead.

A return to the old fast and abstinence rules in toto would be great. Lent traditionally had a much more stringent fast and abstinence, even in the Latin Rite.

Our family observes meatless Fridays, and I think it would be wonderful if our country’s bishops would return to the mandatory practice.

We observe meatless Friday’s, except during the Easter season.  I’ve found it is mostly a “sacrifice” for my DH & me - especially me!  The kids just eat what I give them, but my oldest (12) almost always chooses to go meatless if she has a reasonable choice at a party.  There is so much work to be done.  At our Catholic school a family actually had a birthday party on Ash Wednesday (1/2 day of school) and my daughter was invited to a sleepover on Holy Thursday.  After much prayer we decided to let our daughter attend the party on Holy Thursday - but not sleepover. I think things like observing a fasto n Friday’s can be helpful to us.

I think this is fabulous and should be revived everywhere. It used to be so much a part of the Catholic Identity, which seems to have been lost along the way. I grew up in a family that always abstained on Friday, and I just kept doing it. It is so much easier to remember than finding a nebulous penance to perform. In fact, I know very few people who know they are supposed to perform some penance on a Friday, and nearly all of them abstain from meat.

Interestingly, the major supermarkets still promote Fish On Friday, during lent, by advertising. So the idea is still out there. (In Australia, we don’t even have a requirement to abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent, the only days required are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. How slack is that!)

I love the idea of the friday penance. Although I really have to admit that eating fish (even when the meal is really simple) is not a penance at all for our family. We keep the tradition of eating fish on fridays ... but it is not a sacrifice for us! Anyway.. what I like about the discussion is that you should really hold on to the church traditions. They are such a gift for us as families- especially with little ones. We can give our children so much by celebrating them- without using many words. Greetings from a german reader, Nicole.

We are in the UK and think this is great! I was brought up abstaining from meat on Fridays and I have often found that it is a source of witness to others. On a few occasions when I have opted for a vegetarian menu at a restaurant (or even when booking an international flight for a Friday!) I have been questioned whether I was a vegetarian and it has given me to opportunity to explain the Church’s teaching. You are right about a new generation discovering penances, Rebecca. Most of my post-Vatican II peers who are still practicing were brought up thinking you didn’t have to do anything, but through their own faith development have embraced Friday penance. Let’s hope the practice spreads through the whole of the Universal Church!!

Within the past few years, a neighboring diocese (Steubenville) has been required to go meatless on Fridays by their Bishop. When my husband read of it, we discussed it and decided that, although it is not required in our diocese (Columbus), we would give up meat on Fridays. It is more of a challenge than you might think, especially for those of us who work outside the home. However, I know that we were not complying with the Friday penance before we gave up meat on Fridays, so I am glad to do it, for love of my Lord.

I work at a Catholic School and we do observe the abstinence of meat on Fridays.  It is funny because as I grew up I recall my mom always cooking the “Friday meal” which it never occur to me when I was young that it was because of Friday penance, and we never did miss a bit eating meat on Fridays.  Anyway, we need to learn to sacrifice in little things so when big things come we know how to handle them.

I abstain from meat on Fridays anyways! I have at least 3 other Catholic friends who do also. (We are in the 20s age group.) And a few others decided to continue with it after Lent since Lent was able to demonstrate to them the “good” in it that we can only attempt to explain. So fine by me!!!

We abstain from meat on Fridays all year long.  Only on very special occasions do we eat meat on Friday and then try to abstain on another day of the week.  It is a meaningful practice for us and I would think many other families would find it to be so.

I wish the U.S. Bishops would do likewise.  We have been observing a Friday fast from meat for about 6 months at dinner, but I didn’t announce it and nobody really noticed.  Then during Lent, my husband announced that he wanted to continue fasting from meat on Fridays after Lent was over.  I then told him that I hadn’t cooked meat for dinner on Friday for 6 months!  However, he does intend to fast from meat at lunch as well.  I usually let the sandwich meat run out so there is nothing left but PB and J on Friday.  Anyway, this makes me realize that I should be explaining why I am doing this, not just sneak it in to my family unawares.  I hadn’t heard until about 1 year ago that a penance of some kind was still expected on Friday.  I did grow up fasting on Friday until the grade school years when it was “changed.”    I am happy to see this practice return.  Pope Benedict has done some excellent catechesis on fasting in his Lenten talks last year and this year.

I’m for it! We try to practice it anyway.

Personally, I find having meatless Fridays (or any other day for that matter) “normal” when it doesn’t even cross my mind I HAVE to.  If I think about it, then I want meat…if I don’t think about it, I can easily go meatless.