Good Friday Dilemma

Friday, April 6, 2012: I texted my daughter who is away in college: Today is Good Friday, no meat, okay.

She texts back: What about chicken?

On that note,

Happy Easter and Passover

Here are the responses I received after I posted this on Facebook:

Thanks for the laugh… We sometimes wonder if that money we are paying for education is going to good use, LOL!  My daughter gets straight A’s and sometimes she’ll say the silliest things!

lol, we have been having a discussion about that.......if you can eat eggs on Good Friday then why not chicken?

Technically, the eggs you eat are unfertilized and have no chance of every becoming a chicken … therefore, not meat. Just a by-product of a chicken (like milk from a cow). J

Just thought I'd let you know that chicken is considered poultry and not meat. So she can have Chicken.

Guys, for real? (Me)

LOL!!! Someone here gave up meat for lent saying how hard it is because she loves chicken.  Then, someone else asked, “you can’t eat chicken either??!!”So, don’t be so hard on your daughter!!

Fish is still meat, and that seems to be OK, so it’s not an unreasonable question.

And apparently muskrat is fish (at least in Michigan):  Muskrat love: Friday Lent delight for some OKed as fish alternative  http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=23328

Perhaps it tastes like chicken?

Makes you wonder what teens classify as vegetables, right? Thanks for the smile – Happy Easter Monday. 

My daughter attends Catholic school, and came home with this interesting tidbit at the start of Lent, so I thought I would share. She is 12 so as of 6th grade they students are "encouraged" to start following the guidelines.

Abstinence  The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Moral theologians have traditionally considered this also to forbid soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal-derived products such as gelatin, butter, cheese and eggs, which do not have any meat taste.

That is the Catholic Church’s definition of meat, not the dictionary definition.  I’ve found several dictionary definitions and they either define meat as the “The flesh of animals used as food” (Fish are part of the animal kingdom) or “The edible flesh of animals, especially that of mammals as opposed to that of fish or poultry”.   So either fish should be included OR poultry should be excluded.

Apparently back in the day when “The law of abstinence” came about, there was a very strong fishermen’s  lobby!

It’s okay – I make lamb….