(LifeSiteNews) — Several U.S. Catholic bishops have declared that they would support restoring abstinence from meat on Fridays.
During a November 13 talk at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) fall assembly, Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak proposed bringing back the traditional practice of meatless Fridays year-round, a suggestion supported by a number of U.S. bishops.
“We could renew the tradition of Friday abstinence from meat,” Archbishop Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia suggested, referencing a similar move by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales in 2011.
For centuries, Catholics abstained from meat on all Fridays except solemnities, as an act of penance in remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross on Good Friday. According to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, failure to abstain from meat constituted a mortal sin.
However, in the late 1900s, many Catholic bishops abandoned the practice, instead only requiring abstinence from meat on Fridays during Lent, including Good Friday.
In 1966, Pope Paul VI allowed bishops “to replace the observance of fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity.”
Later the same year, the U.S. bishops changed the fast to only apply to Fridays during Lent. At the time, the bishops said they hoped Catholics “will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law.”
However, instead of carrying on the tradition, most American Catholics have completely forgotten the practice, which is part of the reason why some U.S. bishops support the fast being reinstated.
Archbishop Gudziak called for a return to abstinence from meat on Fridays partly because doing so would allegedly be “good for the planet.”
“A return to Friday abstinence would be good for the soul and for the planet, maybe for something else, uniting our devotion to the Lord and reverence for the Lord’s creation,” he said. “Perhaps, providentially, 2025 memorializes not only Laudato Si’ but also the jubilee, a special year rooted in Sabbath rest.”
“On this theme, I would suggest efforts centered on contemplation of creation, leisure, and celebration. This could lead to a pilgrimage to a significant local shrine, basilica, or ecological site in your diocese or eparchy that evokes the marvel of God’s creation,” he continued.
The prelate also encouraged bishops to consider celebrating a “special Mass for care for creation on the feast of St. Francis,” according to Catholic News Agency, as well as “preaching on the union of creation and the divine in the Eucharist.”
According to the National Catholic Register, around 13 U.S. bishops either supported or were open to restoring the fast. The suggestion will likely be discussed at the upcoming June 2025 meeting.
“A voluntary return to an act of penance, for instance meatless Fridays, would be an opportunity for Catholics not only to demonstrate their shared commitment to care for God’s creation, but also reorient themselves to a spirit of self-sacrifice in gratitude for Jesus making the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross that first Good Friday,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, said.
Similarly, Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, said, “It seems to me that a little more sacrifice and penance couldn’t hurt, because of the demands of the world today. I think we need more opportunities for sacrifice, not less.”
“I think it’d be a way of reminding people of Friday as a day to honor the passion of the Lord,” Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, told the National Catholic Register.