Its Okay to Eat Meat on Friday Again
Editor's note: This story was originally published Feb. 20, 2021, and available but to subscribers. Nosotros've made it available to all readers as this year'south Lenten season begins. If you are not withal a subscriber, please consider condign one here.
After a Mardi Gras flavour that wasn't, and with the coronavirus pandemic even so raging, local Catholics may ask what, if anything, is different in their traditional observance of Lent in 2021.
The short answer is not much.
Well-nigh 90,000 Catholics live in Terrebonne, Lafourche, Grand Isle and Morgan City, the surface area covered by the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.
Ane key aspect of Lent will be observed as usual this year, said the Rev. Patrick Riviere, director of the diocese'southward Function of the Priesthood.
"Aye, information technology's a sin to consume meat on Fridays during Lent," Riviere said. "The Church does enquire Catholics to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent."
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Last yr, due to COVID-19 and Louisiana'due south stay-at-home 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.
"At that place are those who, due to the current challenges from the pandemic and stay-at-home guild, might find information technology burdensome to enter into the practice of abnegation from meat," he said at the time.
But the 2020 waiver, or dispensation, was not universal.
"For those who are able to keep this exercise, I encourage you 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-home orders.
"Since these circumstances no longer exist at present, there is no demand at this time during Lent 2021 for the same impunity," Fabre said last week.
The Church building asked Catholics to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent in memory of Proficient Friday, the mean solar day the Bible says Jesus died on the cantankerous, Riviere said. Meat was chosen every bit a sacrifice because it was a celebratory food. By abnegation, Catholics tin can share a mutual experience in remembrance of Jesus' cede.
The Courier and Daily Comet asked Catholics on Facebook whether they follow the practice or view not doing so equally a sin. The question drew more than than 300 responses.
"Catholic teachings tell u.s. to refrain from eating meat on Fridays as an deed of penance," Sheila Wolf LeBouef wrote. "Friday is a twenty-four hours of penitence, equally information technology is believed Christ died on a Friday. Anybody has the right to either eat meat or non. I choose not to."
"It'due south a sin not taking your own spirituality seriously," Christopher Shane commented. "That you trade red meat for fried shrimp, or boiled crawfish, etc. is a joke, and deep downwards y'all know it's true. Such a luxurious sacrifice doesn't really brand sense. Being honest with yourself about information technology is probably a ameliorate sacrifice, a sacrifice of mitt-me-down traditions, behavior and social acceptance."
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"I agree with you that it's better to detect an alternating way to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of u.s.a. if you choose not to follow a traditional path," Greg Szanyi responded.
"It's meant to be a course of penance," wrote Mary Beth Guidroz Gast. "I sympathize 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'south a sin," said Christy Walker. "It's more of a sacrifice. I don't eat meat on Wednesdays or Fridays during Lent. That'south how my mom was raised, and that's how she raised united states."
Lent, which began Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, and ends on Easter, April 4, is a menses when Catholics focus on growing spiritually and refocus their religion with God. The three traditional practices Catholics are called to observe 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 deportment and where he might have turned away from God. On days of fasting, Wednesdays and Fridays, he limits unnecessary screen time and gives to charity or helps people in demand.
In a year of hardship, Fabre said penance and self-deprival during Lent is still important.
"As we did last year during Lent, I call back 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 once again speak to our hopes rooted in the risen Jesus Christ," Fabre said.
Riviere said the pandemic has put Lent in a dissimilar calorie-free.
"This year, there has been a lot of hardship, so the invitation is particularly for Lent is less so almost, 'What more can I do?' and more of, 'We take had hardships imposed on us, and so am I entering into those hardships well?' " Riviere said. "God is present in every experience, and every experience 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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