Today Roman Catholic authorities maintain that the faithful must fast only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. They must also abstain from eating meat on these days, as well as on all Fridays during Lent. During the rest of the year, however, they are no longer required to forgo eating meat...
In many religions, feasts are supposed to be preceded by fasts: Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians are asked to fast on Good Friday before the celebration of Easter; Jews are to fast for 25 hours for Yom Kippur before ending the holy day with a large, festive meal. And the converse...
Syria Saturday. Pope Francis has asked all Catholics and all Christians and other people of good will to dedicate Saturday (Sept 7, 2013) as a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria. The Holy Father did not give specific instructions for how to pray and fast on Syria Saturday, but...
There is a good reason why the Church prescribes fasts on the vigils of great feasts, says Venerable Bellarmine,"so that Christians might be more fit for celebrating the divine solemnities."For this reason, fasting is also mandated before the reception of Holy Communion. Not only has fasting...
On Good Friday, 1962, Groen sold his fish sandwich alongside an alternative of Kroc’s own devising: the Hula Burger, which substituted a slice of pineapple for the beef. The Catholics of Montfort Heights chose fish over pineapple by an enormous margin. And so the Filet-O-Fish was born,...