Do you think catholics will make the additional sacrifice.Not really. Though they should.
Unfortunately, this is how the meatless Fridays US Indult began, following Second Vatican Council. Permission was broadly granted to allow catholics to eat meat on Fridays - provided - they made some other form of personal sacrifice.
Wait--so we're technically not supposed to eat meat on Fridays, period?
Wait--so we're technically not supposed to eat meat on Fridays, period? That was my reaction 3 years ago when another freeper pointed out the following code from Canon Law.
The CODE of CANON LAW - Original Latin Text copyright 1983 Liberia Editrice
Vaticana, Vatican City – Book IV The Sanctifying Office of the Church
Chapter II
DAYS OF PENANCE
Can. 1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed.
On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe.
Can. 1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are
each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed.
In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
(Emphasis has been added.) Canon Law Society of America: Text & Commentary
Meatless Fridays
Though quite young at the time, I still recall the news media coverage of this announcement. All emphasis was placed on the fact that catholics could now eat meat on Fridays. What they failed to communicate was the need to abstain from something else on those occasions when they chose to eat meat on a Friday. And ... the bishops issued no corrections to the media.
Of course, this is a personal penance, voluntarily chosen, that comes from the heart. This is the crux of the matter. Now that you know the reality of this penance, the choice is yours to either adhere to the Canon as written or follow the indult offered by the bishops.