No meat on Fridays!

The Brigadier

Over here in England & Wales this has come back in from today for Catholics. Has it come in for Ireland as well?

I have been doing this for some time now and I think it is a good thing.


I have blogged about it briefly here if anyone is interested

georgieporgy

Not in Ireland (or if it is it's a well kept secret).

The self control and discipline required to abstain from a legitimate food item one day each week (regardless of personal preferences for fish or meat) has a great effect on the soul. It constantly reminds us we are 'in transit' in this life.

owenc

No it has not my mother is catholic so is some of my cousins and they eat whatever they want. Its a silly rule.

georgieporgy

The requirement to do some form of personal penance on Fridays applies to all catholics. Abstaining from meat used to be the accepted one but that changed in the sixties and we were allowed to substitute some other penitential act (or good work) instead.
In practice this resulted in nothing at all being done. So pretty soon we were indistinguishable from protestants who generally would see no need for penance.
I think it's a good idea to bring it back. It's a territorial rule. I think it still applies in the US and Italy. (could be wrong about that......)

The Brigadier

owenc wrote: »

No it has not my mother is catholic so is some of my cousins and they eat whatever they want. Its a silly rule.

The point of it is to remind ourselves of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. It is hardly silly.

Statistician

The Brigadier wrote: »

The point of it is to remind ourselves of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. It is hardly silly.

Why is Jesus' crucifiction a sacrifice? He knew there was an afterlife, so He didn't even need faith. What was He sacrificing? His life? He knew for certain that He was getting eternal life, so that wasn't much of a sacrifice.

I don't understand what this has to do with eating the flesh of warm bodied animals. Doesn't it say somewhere in the Bible something along the lines that we should not reject any of God's food? (when someone was asked about eating pigs)

Fanny Cradock

Statistician wrote: »

Why is Jesus' crucifiction a sacrifice? He knew there was an afterlife, so He didn't even need faith. What was He sacrificing? His life? He knew for certain that He was getting eternal life, so that wasn't much of a sacrifice.

I don't know if you have red the passion narratives in Gospels but the anguish and terror Jesus experiences is palpable.

We aren't saying that Jesus' crucifixion was just a particularly nasty and humiliating form of execution and we are to thank him for this. Nor are we saying that he merely had a bad day at the office only to turn up refreshed after a long weekend off. We believe that the lest guilty person that has ever existed was falsely tried and executed for our sins. We also believe that his sacrifice was beyond physical suffering, and that through this deed we are no longer condemned by our own failings.

chinwag

I despair when I read this.
There was a time in Ireland when a 'religious' calendar was marked with a "fish" symbol on the Fridays. This ban on meat (but not fish) was supposedly for penance. What damage did this do to our fishing industry at the time? And while the Irish did this, the rest of the world came here to eat our fresh fish (which is good for you by the way). Please, don't even think about going there again in any revised shape or form.

The Brigadier

chinwag wrote: »

I despair when I read this.
There was a time in Ireland when a 'religious' calendar was marked with a "fish" symbol on the Fridays. This ban on meat (but not fish) was supposedly for penance. What damage did this do to our fishing industry at the time? And while the Irish did this, the rest of the world came here to eat our fresh fish (which is good for you by the way). Please, don't even think about going there again in any revised shape or form.

I despair when I read things like this. Are you a Catholic? Are you a Christian?

Fanny Cradock

chinwag wrote: »

I despair when I read this.
There was a time in Ireland when a 'religious' calendar was marked with a "fish" symbol on the Fridays. This ban on meat (but not fish) was supposedly for penance. What damage did this do to our fishing industry at the time? And while the Irish did this, the rest of the world came here to eat our fresh fish (which is good for you by the way). Please, don't even think about going there again in any revised shape or form.

What a curious objection! Surely unsustainable fishing practices, weighted quotas and competition have had more impact on the industry than any half-followed Catholic tradition. I suggest you take it to the fishing forum.

georgieporgy

Luckily God made more fish.

chinwag

So you despair too? Then why not at least acknowledge that what I have written in my post is accurate (which it is). Frankly, it is irrelevant what religion I practise (if any). I find your attitude rather chilling and best consigned to the past where it belongs.

The Brigadier

chinwag wrote: »

So you despair too? Then why not at least acknowledge that what I have written in my post is accurate (which it is). Frankly, it is irrelevant what religion I practice (if any). I find your attitude rather chilling and best consigned to the past where it belongs.

It is very relevant what religion you practice. This is the Christianity forum and if you are not a Christian than you really should not come in here spouting off this sort of bilge.

I have no idea about the impact of this on Ireland's fishing trade - as has already been suggested maybe that is something for the fishing forum?

If you are a Christian and you think that the sacrifice of our lord isn't worth remembering then you need to take a long hard look at your belief. What is chilling is the "a la carte" attitude too many "Christians" take.

Fanny Cradock

Chinwag, would you mind leaving the hyperbolic language behind.

chinwag

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

What a curious objection! Surely unsustainable fishing practices, weighted quotas and competition have had more impact on the industry than any half-followed Catholic tradition. I suggest you take it to the fishing forum.

I saw the heading No Meat on Fridays and responded to that. The era I am talking about in Ireland did not have fishing quotas, etc. Think of it, a "fish" symbol on calendars for Friday! How could that not have a negative affect on the fishing industry (and the consumption of fish) here at the time? Looking at the replies here, I can see that I'm in the wrong category as honest logical opinions are viewed with just utter contempt.
PS. The tradition was not half-followed, it was enforced.:mad:

Fanny Cradock

Let's not confuse disagreement with contempt. Furthermore, let's not confuse your opinion with fact. This is a discussion forum. If you state your opinion you should expect to be called on it. That you have immediately come out with a rather unique claim means that you have been challenged from the outset. I really don't understand why some people get uber defensive the moment somebody disagrees with them.

While I think the Catholic Church has been complicit in many crimes, I don't believe that the state of the fishing industry is one of them.

chinwag

I do not have contempt for religion or CC at all, you are IMO putting an unfair spin on my posts. I don't think my claims are unique, perhaps you should check them out yourself. I think you should also check the reply to my post and see who has been intolerant to the views of others - it is unfair to accuse me of being hyperbolic. I seem to have stumbled into a Christianity forum but I would have thought that any board member could respond to a No Meat on Friday discussion. I do not engage in aggressive posting and resent some of the conclusions drawn. I will leave it at that. Good night to all.

strobe

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Nor are we saying that He merely had a bad day at the office only to turn up refreshed after a long weekend off.

Wait...whoa, hold on... You are not saying that?

Statistician

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I don't know if you have red the passion narratives in Gospels but the anguish and terror Jesus experiences is palpable.

We aren't saying that Jesus' crucifixion was just a particularly nasty and humiliating form of execution and we are to thank him for this. Nor are we saying that he merely had a bad day at the office only to turn up refreshed after a long weekend off. We believe that the lest guilty person that has ever existed was falsely tried and executed for our sins. We also believe that his sacrifice was beyond physical suffering, and that through this deed we are no longer condemned by our own failings.

(off topic - I've started a new thread here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74464110#post74464110)

Fanny Cradock

chinwag wrote: »

I do not have contempt for religion or CC at all, you are IMO putting an unfair spin on my posts. I don't think my claims are unique, perhaps you should check them out yourself. I think you should also check the reply to my post and see who has been intolerant to the views of others - it is unfair to accuse me of being hyperbolic. I seem to have stumbled into a Christianity forum but I would have thought that any board member could respond to a No Meat on Friday discussion. I do not engage in aggressive posting and resent some of the conclusions drawn. I will leave it at that. Good night to all.

I'm not putting any spin on your posts. I've not claimed that you had any contempt for the RCC. If you want to provide evidence that the one day a week some Catholics refrained from eating meat has damaged the fishing industry then you can PM me the details. Alternatively you can start a thread in the appropriate forum.

In the context of this debate - which is about what one eats on Friday - I think words like "despair", "intolerance" and "contempt" are best described as hyperbolic. Fortunately we have smelling salts available for those of a more sensitive disposition.