Most people know that Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Fridays during the liturgical season of Lent. However, considerably fewer realize that Catholics are, generally, forbidden from eating meat on any Friday in the year.

The practice of refraining from eating meat, called abstinence, is a very old tradition in the Church. It developed out of a strict “black fast” during Lent, in which only one meal of bread and water was consumed in a day, and then only after sundown. Over the years, the practice gradually degraded into a meal before sundown, and, eventually, into roughly the same practice observed today.

The question that most ask is usually, “Why do Catholics eat fish onFridays?” The answer is that they do not have to. The Church only mandates that the faithful abstain from meat.

However, an informal tradition of eating fish has developed over the centuries. It most likely began when those populating the Mediterranean often found meat a luxury and fish unappealingly common.

Despite this tradition, the abstinence is not fulfilled only by fish: eating vegetables is also completely acceptable. The actual practice of abstinence is regulated by several Canons in the Code of Canon Law, which is the main legislation of the Church.

Canon 1251 allows for the consumption of meat on solemnities, which are important holy days in the Church calendar, that fall on Fridays, and mandates that the faithful abstain from meat on all Fridays which are not solemnities, unless the local conference of bishops decides otherwise.

Canon 1253 allows the local conference of bishops, which in the United States is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to recommend forms of penance other than abstinence which the faithful may observer, citing specifically “works of charity”. However, Catholics are always allowed to abstain from meat or fast on penitential Fridays.

There are two days of abstinence which are additionally days of fast, namely Good Friday and Ash Wednesday. On these days, Catholics are allowed one full meal, and two smaller meals which together may not be larger than the full meal. However, in none of these meals are Catholics allowed to eat meat.

Abstinence, and certainly not eating fish, is not the only way to observe Friday penance. Many Catholics fast completely, often observing the black fast of old.

The Church teaches that fasting and abstinence, when carried out correctly, can work to bring the faithful closer to God. However, they must be mindful to observer both the spirit and the letter of the law. It is often quixotic in modern times to consume fish for penance, since we consider seafood to be a luxury. Unless one has a serious aversion to seafood, he might consider a more appropriate way of performing Friday penance than fish.

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