No more meat on Fridays as the bishops of England and Wales begin to respond well to Pope Benedict XVI's "reform of the reform"

No more meat on Fridays! The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has ruled that from 16 September (the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK), Catholics are to return to the ancient practice of abstaining from meat on all Fridays throughout the year, as a simple but profound act of penance.

One of the Plenary Resolutions adopted at this week's Bishops' Conference meeting in Leeds is called "Catholic Witness - Friday Penance". Here is the resolution, which re-establishes the ancient Friday fast in England and Wales, as it appears on the Bishops' Conference website:

Catholic Witness - Friday Penance

By the practice of penance every Catholic identifies with Christ in his death on the cross. We do soin prayer, through uniting the sufferings and sacrifices in our lives with those of Christ’s passion; in fasting, by dying to self in order to be close to Christ; in almsgiving, by demonstrating our solidarity with the sufferings of Christ in those in need. All three forms of penance form a vital part of Christian living. When this is visible in the public arena, then it is also an important act of witness.

Every Friday is set aside by the Church as a special day of penance, for it is the day of the death of our Lord. The law of the Church requires Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays, or some other form of food, or to observe some other form of penance laid down by the Bishops’ Conference.

The Bishops wish to re-establish the practice of Friday penance in the lives of the faithful as a clear and distinctive mark of their own Catholic identity. They recognise that the best habits are those which are acquired as part of a common resolve and common witness. It is important that all the faithful be united in a common celebration of Friday penance.

Respectful of this, and in accordance with the mind of the whole Church, the Bishops’ Conference wishes to remind all Catholics in England and Wales of the obligation of Friday Penance. The Bishops have decided to re-establish the practice that this should be fulfilled by abstaining from meat.

Those who cannot or choose not to eat meat as part of their normal diet should abstain from some other food of which they regularly partake. This is to come into effect from Friday 16 September 2011 when we will mark the anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom. Many may wish to go beyond this simple act of common witness and mark each Friday with a time of prayer and further self-sacrifice. In all these ways we unite our sacrifices to the sacrifice of Christ, who gave up his very life for our salvation. (emphasis mine)

The Friday fast effectively came to an end for Catholics in England and Wales in 1984, when the then Bishops offered all sorts of "penitential" options for the laity to practice on Fridays. In reality, though, it seems that instead of choosing to attend Mass or give money to the poor as substitutes to abstaining from meat, most Catholics thought that the Friday penance had ended. Since then, many of us have felt a lack of resolve to abstain from meat or to do anything out of the ordinary on penitential days.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the decision to reintroduce the Friday fast was taken at least partly as a result of the papal visit, which had created "a fresh expression of self-confidence and identity amongst Catholics."

Archbishop Nichols also pointed to another factor in the Bishops' Conference's resolution to re-introduce the ancient practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, namely that the Bishops had "observed there was a greater enthusiasm amongst many Catholics to observe the penance in Lent." So, bishops do notice and respond to Catholicism as expressed by the Pope and those countless faithful who are loyal to him. Here is confirmation, then, the sensus fidelium (even in simple matters of devotion, penitential acts and Christian discipline) is still helping to guide the Church!

Bishops' Conference and the New Evangelisation

It also seems that the Bishops of England and Wales have resolved to restructure their Conference, taking note of Pope Benedict XVI's instructions to them during the Papal visit. The Bishops' Conference meeting also decided that its own structures should be "rooted in the requirement of the core work of Episcopal Conferences set out by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church."

Also, it seems that the Bishops' Conference wishes to take "account of the opportunities and challenges which arise from the contemporary cultural and social context within England and Wales and the need for the ‘New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith’ which will be the theme of the 2012 Synod of Bishops in Rome." Of course, we could read all sorts of things into this statement, but it might suggest that the Bishops are now more willing to engage with the new media (blogging, YouTube, etc) and with those who promote the Church's message free of charge on their own laptops in their own homes? There have been criticisms of the way the press department in Eccleston Square seems rooted to the in old fashioned, expensive and institutional models of communication. Unlike bloggers and other users of the new media, those who work for the Church as press and communications officers might find it more difficult to react to recent innovations in communication and reporting.

Education and other matters

The Bishops resolved to meet again in September to offer a first anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK, This Mass will be followed by another meeting of the bishops, which will discuss the impact of the Pope's visit on the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Bishops' Conference also criticised the proposed new English Baccalaureate, which will soon replace the A-Level system in many schools. As Archbishop Vincent Nichols pointed out during the Mass that marked the presence of the Torch of St Benedict in London, the new Baccalaureate will not cover Religious Education. According to the bishops, the downgrading of RE within the English schools' system would be "unwise to say the least", especially at a time of "increasing cultural and religious literacy."

All in all, then, I feel it only right to award top marks to the Bishops for positively reacting to Pope Benedict XVI's call for the re-Evangelisation of Europe and the renewal of tradition in the Catholic Church!

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Universae Ecclesiae

For Archbishop Vincent Nichol's reaction to the Instruction "Universae Ecclesiae", which clarifies Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum", please see Anna Acro's piece in the Catholic Herald and Joseph Shaw's post on the LMS Chairman's blog.

It would seem to me that Archbishop Nichols (in Anna Acro's post) wanted to downplay the Instruction, whilst emphasising the authority it seems to give bishops. Joseph Shaw, on the other hand, said that he "is very pleased" with "Universae Ecclesiae", adding that it is "a heavy blow to opponents of the Traditional Mass."

[Image: Still Life showing fruit, bread and cheese, dated 1613, by Floris Van Dyck (1575 - 1651); Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands; this image is in the public domain; source: Wikimedia Commons]