To Abstain or Not to Abstain...

The Catholic Bishops in the United States assemble each autumn to discuss issues of common concern, address social challenges and debate proposed changes in Catholic life and worship. As I write this, the Bishops are finishing up this year’s assembly in Baltimore. Their annual gathering begins with an address by the Conference President, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. One of the points he made to his brother Bishops was the suggestion that they reconsider the forty-year old policy regarding abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. Bear with me - this only sounds like a Catholic version of “inside baseball.” Catholics of a certain age (i.e. my age and older) remember Catholic life before Vatican II. It was rich in the use of signs and symbols which were distinctly Catholic (although, I must admit, our Anglican/Episcopalian brethren shared many of the same customs). Any Catholic who experienced the “Baltimore Catechism” will recognize the distinction between “internal” and “external” signs of faith. Abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent, for example, is an “external” sign of faith.

What Cardinal Dolan encouraged the Nation’s Bishops to consider was a return to the pre-Vatican II custom of abstaining from meat on every Friday, not just the ones occurring during the 40 days of Lent. His argument was simple and pastoral: “We need to recapture the significance of Friday as a day of penance in union with Jesus on the cross.” This exhortation of the value of penance may sound odd to Californians who have grown up in the Golden State accepting as an article of secular faith that the “good life” is within easy reach; but it is very much in harmony with the challenges facing all people of faith on the West Coast. A variety of media outlets, for example, have described the “rise of the nones,” those who check “none” on surveys of religious affiliation. If the “nones” were a church, they would be the fastest growing sect in America. The LA Times, for example, recently reported that: “About 75% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 now consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." In other words, organized religion does not matter to them. This raises the obvious question: Should it matter? And, secondarily, what does this disturbing trend have to do with abstaining from meat on Fridays? The answer to the first question is to be found in the number one priority of Pope Benedict’s pontificate: the “New Evangelization.” One media definition of the concept works for me:

“The new evangelization aims to reach out to alienated Catholics who in many cases have become effectively secularized.”

It goes without saying that the survey data on declining American participation in organized religion highlights the importance of the Pope’s initiative to re-engage alienated Catholics. So, what does this have to do with eating (or not eating) meat on Fridays? Cardinal Dolan’s initiative to re-visit the limitation of Friday abstinence to the forty days of Lent is couched in substantive sociological research regarding the markers of success for organized religion. Cardinal Dolan puts it this way: “any faith community to remain coherent and vibrant has to have certain external signs;” which identify the religious organization as distinct and different from other religious organizations. Cardinal Dolan goes on to note that scholars of religion report that exterior marks of membership help make a religion cohesive and attractive.

“Cradle” Catholics understand this sociological imperative. Many of us grew up in a world where the Rosary was prayed daily, children were given the names of saints, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was preceded by a religious procession and the smell of incense was a familiar one. These external marks, along with a year-round abstinence from meat on Fridays “marked” Catholics as belonging to a distinct group of people. As our world has become more ecumenical and, obviously, more diverse; it is becoming increasingly more difficult to know where the boundary between organized religion and secularism is to be drawn. External signs of faith not only define that boundary but also reinforce the value of membership. Andrew Greeley in his book, The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council, underscores the role abstinence from meat played in defining our Catholic identity:

“Fish on Friday had been a symbol that most visibly distinguished American Catholics from other Americans.”

These markers reinforce our conviction that to be Catholic (or a member of an organized religion) is to believe that one has been graced by God with a faith that offers comfort in this life and happiness in the next.

It may seem odd, therefore, to call for greater discipline by abstaining from meat once a week in order to reinforce the comfort in this life that our faith offers; indeed, I take issue with the penitential practices of Lent here ("Odd" Ash Wednesday). Nevertheless, if our faith is to mean anything, we must be reminded of the power of its promise to secure happiness with God in the next life. Perhaps a little less meat will not only improve the health of our body, but our soul as well.