Bulletin Q&A article, published 3-26-23:
Why is fish acceptable on days we abstain from eating meat?
The Church requires that we abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays during Lent. The word used in the Latin text is carnis which translates as of the flesh. It is understood that we are to abstain from the meat of warm-blooded land animals and birds. It’s a tradition that reportedly goes back to Pope Gregory I in the late 6th century. Back then, the Church also required abstinence from all foods associated with animals including milk, butter, cheese, and eggs.
But the question is why are we allowed to eat cold-blooded animals, most commonly fish? The best answer I have been able to determine is that the cultures of the time considered meat to be reserved for celebratory feasts. Friday, the day that Jesus died on the cross, should not be a day of celebration, and so abstinence from meat was prescribed. Fish was not considered to be celebratory and so it was allowed.
Today, meat has become common place and so the original intention of abstaining from meat has lost some of its meaning for us. Eating steak is a celebration; eating hamburger helper is not. On the other hand, enjoying fine seafood, such as lobster, shrimp, or crab legs, can be very celebratory, and yet the Church allows these delicacies. Even if we enjoy our seafood, the decision to not eat meat makes us pause and reflect on the fact that these days are different and special in a solemn way. But we still need to be careful that we don’t fall into a trap and lose the sacrificial and penitential aspects of abstinence by gorging ourselves at fancy fish fries every Friday during Lent.
While the Church’s distinction has always been between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals, there have been some bishops who have made their own distinction and have allowed eating animals associated with the water when necessity dictated. I found one report that in the 17th century, French Canadian trappers were allowed to eat the meat of beavers because vegetables, grains, and fish were difficult to obtain in the harsh winters. And, of course, in our own diocese there has been a long tradition of permission to eat muskrats on Friday in the downriver communities. Here is a link to a story about this tradition and it even includes a recipe for preparation: (https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/the-history-of-detroit-catholics-muskrat-eating-tradition-and-yes-its-still-a-thing)
I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind everyone about the expectation to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. Eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent is no longer considered sinful, but the Bishops tell us that if we choose to eat meat we should instead make another sacrifice. From the US Bishops 1966 Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence: “Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ. Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law.”