Fasting and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church

For Roman Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food to one full meal a day. This may or may not be accompanied by abstinence from meat when eating. The Roman Catholic Church believes that all people are obliged by God to perform some penance for their sins, and that these acts of penance are both personal and corporate. The Catholic Church requires Catholics to perform some specific acts of penance, which includes fasting and abstaining at times each year, especially during Lent. The practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays led to the Friday fish fry in popular culture. Contemporary Roman legislation is rooted in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Paenitemini.

Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are obliged to follow the discipline of their own particular church.

Definitions
To fast means to eat only one full meal during the day. Current Roman Catholic law allows up to two small meals or snacks, known as "collations", to be taken as well. Together, these two smaller meals cannot be greater than a full meal. Church requirements on fasting only relate to solid food, not to drink, so any amount of water or other beverages may be consumed.

Abstinence from meat requires avoiding flesh meat and poultry for the entire day. Regulations have varied in regard to meat from whales, turtles, frogs, and meat-derived products such as lard and broth.

Traditional days of fasting and abstinence
The practice of penance during Lent, the time before Easter, has roots in the early Church. In addition to Lent there were additional penitential times customarily accompanied by fasting or abstinence. These included Advent, the Ember Days, Fridays throughout the year, and the day before some important feast days (called a vigil).

During Lent a full 40 days of fast used to be observed beginning Ash Wednesday and continuing until noon on Holy Saturday, excluding Sundays. Fasting was usually accompanied by complete abstinence from meat, although this was not always the case. In the early 20th century, Church law prescribed fasting throughout Lent, with abstinence only on Friday and Saturday. Some countries received dispensations: Rome in 1918 allowed the bishops of Ireland to transfer the Saturday obligation to Wednesday; in the United States, abstinence was not required on Saturday. The other weekdays were simply days of "fasting without abstinence." A similar practice (common in the United States) was called "partial abstinence", which allowed meat only once during the day at the main meal. There is nothing in current law which corresponds to "partial abstinence."

Advent was considered a lesser time of penance. Fridays and Saturdays in Advent were days of abstinence, and until early in the 20th century, the Fridays of Advent were also days of fasting.

The vigils observed included the Saturday before Pentecost, October 31 (the vigil of All Saints), December 24 (Christmas Eve), December 7 (the vigil of the Immaculate Conception) and August 14 (the vigil of the Assumption). These vigils all required fasting; some also required abstinence. If any of these fell on a Sunday, the vigil, but not the obligation of fasting, was moved to the Saturday before. (Some other liturgical days were also known as vigils but neither fasting nor abstinence was required, particularly the vigils of feasts of the Apostles and the Vigil of the Epiphany.)

Ember days occurred four times a year. The Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of the ember week were days of fast and abstinence, though the Wednesday and Saturday were often only days of partial abstinence. In addition, Roman Catholics were required to abstain from meat (but not fast) on all other Fridays, unless the Friday coincided with a holy day of obligation.

The regulations on abstinence obliged Roman Catholics starting as young as age seven, but there were many exceptions to the above regulations. Large classes of people were considered exempt from fasting and abstinence, not only the sick and those with physically demanding jobs, but also people travelling, and students. The regulations were adapted to each nation, and so in most dioceses in the United States abstinence from meat was not required on the Friday after Thanksgiving, to accommodate any meat leftover from that US national holiday.

Pope Pius XII made changes to the regulations, the most significant of which were simplifications of the rules for "collations" or snacks. Previously, on a day of fast a person was permitted one or two "collations" limited by weight to a few ounces. This was a fixed amount, even though it might be enough to fully satisfy some people. This was changed to the rule that together the collations could not exceed a normal full meal. Also the fast and abstinence on Holy Saturday was extended to midnight. Pope John XXIII provided the option to observe the fast and abstinence for Christmas Eve on either December 23 or 24.

Modern days of fast and abstinence
Contemporary legislation is rooted in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Paenitemini. He recommended that fasting be appropriate to the local economic situation, and that all Catholics voluntarily fast and abstain. He also allowed that fasting and abstinence might be substituted with prayer and works of charity.

Current practice of fast and abstinence is regulated by Canons 1250-1253. They specify that all Fridays throughout the year, and the time of Lent are penitential times throughout the entire Church. All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence on all Fridays unless they are solemnities. All adults are bound by law to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday until the beginning of their sixtieth year.

Under Canon 1253, the local norms for fasting and abstinence are determined by each episcopal conference. The current regulations concerning Lenten fasting and abstinence for Roman Catholics in the United States generally are as follows:


 * Abstinence from all meat is to be observed by all Roman Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent.
 * Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Roman Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59.

For Roman Catholics whose health or ability to work would be negatively affected by fasting and/or abstinence, the regulations above don't apply. If a Friday in Lent coincides with a solemnity (such as March 19 or March 25), the abstinence is not required. The bishop of a diocese can modify these rules for Roman Catholics in his diocese; for example, it is not uncommon for a bishop of a diocese in the United States to give dispensations from the normal Lenten regulations if St. Patrick's Day (March 17) falls on a Friday during Lent.

Since the Fridays outside Lent are specified as penitential days by universal church law, but abstinence is not specified by the US bishops, it is left to the individual Roman Catholic to chose the form this penance takes. Pastoral teachings have urged voluntary fasting during Lent and voluntary abstinence on the other Fridays of the year. From time to time the leadership of the church has considered restoring obligatory abstinence on all Fridays, not just those of Lent. However, the policy in the United States has not been changed.

Parishes in the United States often sponsor a fish fry during Lent as a community building exercise. In predominantly Roman Catholic areas, restaurants may adjust their menus during Lent by adding seafood items to the menu in an attempt to appeal to Roman Catholics.

Eucharistic Fast
In addition to the fasts mentioned above, Roman Catholics must also observe the Eucharistic Fast, which involves taking nothing but water and medicines into the body for some time before receiving the Eucharist during the Mass. The ancient practice was to fast from midnight until Mass that day, but as Masses after noon and in the evening became common, this was soon modified to fasting for three hours. Current law requires one hour of Eucharistic Fast.