sakrilege

I'm ex-catholic so I know about the catholic services with Ash Wednesday and no meat Fridays. Are there other sects that observe similar activities?

Ensign Steve

Jews have Yom Kippur. It is one day of fasting and atonement.

Quoth Jon Stewart:

Compare that to your Lent. Even in sin you're paying retail! It's not even a whole day. It ends at sundown. 2:00 it starts to get cloudy, I think I'll have a sandwich.

Shake

When I was Xian, I was Lutheran, and we had the Ash Weds. service, but we could eat meat anytime we damn well felt like it. That church had special Lenten services on Weds. nights during Lent. And a lot of folks did these coin things, where you put a dime in every day during Lent. I remember we had our Weds. Confirmation classes early, so that we could go to the Lenten services after class (again on Wednesdays). But that's about it.

I remember in college, when I was really falling away from religion, I made it a point to get a cheeseburger or a steak for my Friday lunches and dinners at the dining hall. I was just waiting for someone to say, "Hey, it's Friday. You can't eat that!" Another knock against Catholics for me.

sakrilege

I don't remember the coin thing, what was the money for?

I make a point of eating meat on Fridays in Lent and I'm not a big meat eater in general. I remember one year recently when St Pat's day fell on a Friday in Lent, some coworkers were saying that the pope had decided it was okay to eat meat on that Friday. All I could do was laugh.

Shake

The coins? Oh, I think they went to some charity or other. It was more of a way for you to remember what time of year it was. By adding one each day, you had to think about the reason for it.

thebeave

So, exactly what is the penalty if you are Catholic and you eat meat on a Friday? Do you not go to heaven? Or does God see this and put a little checkmark next to your name, and maybe if you get 20 checkmarks over your lifetime, he won't let you in (I can just see Catholics standing at the locked gates of heaven going, "Damn, if only I hadn't eaten that hot dog at the movies last Friday! Now I'm gonna burn in hell!]. What if you order a vegetarian pizza on Friday, and the pimply faced, butt-scratching pizza cook in the back accidently dropped a tiny grain of pepperoni on your pizza, and you eat it? Is that OK, because you didn't know about it, or does God see it and get his panties in a bunch and then doesn't let you in to heaven? Someone help me out here...

Ensign Steve

I am not catholic, but I from what I understand, you confess your sin to a preist, and he gives you your penance (however many rosaries per hot dog, for example). However many hot dogs you eat and don't say rosaries for, that's how much time you have to spend in purgatory before you get into heaven.

Seriously, though, do you guys know WHY catholics can't eat meat on Friday? Well in some century (I want to say the 6th or the 16th or somewhere in between), the Italian people were doing really well for themselves and had all kinds of yummy fat cows to eat, so they were enjoying beef every day of the week. Well the Italian fisherman were going broke, because people didn't have to "settle" for fish. So they beseeched the Pope to help them, and he declared by Papal decree, that it was henceforth sinful to eat meat on Fridays. I wish I was the Pope!

Please forgive me if that is urban myth or something, but "that's what I heard."

Jen

openeyes

Jen's story about the fish on Friday thing is along the lines of things I've heard also. Does anyway know if that is an accurate story?

I remember occasionally we'd go out for shrimp or something on Friday during Lent. Big Sacrifice!

One good thing about Lent is that you can get fish sandwiches at McDonalds for 99 cents or something after 4 pm on Fridays. Since my kids like MD chicken nuggets (yuck!), I find myself eating there sometimes. Their fish sandwiches are ok if they're hot and you down them with a diet cola.

(Ex-Catholic BTW also)

Godless Dave

... at every McDonald's except the one off the highway I happen to stop at. Never fails. I only ordered the fish because I thought it was 99 cents!

openeyes

BTW, has Lent begun? I usually don't participate in any sort of Mardi gras celebration, or get the ash cross on the forehead anymore, so I'm not even sure.

Don't want to go to McDonalds with too little cash thinking my sandwich is only 99 cents.....