Catholics’ Meatless Fridays May Return

Aiming to improve Catholic unity and penitence, the nation’s bishops are considering a return to meatless Fridays, a practice that hasn’t been mandatory since the 1960s except during Lent.

Members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Committee, where the proposal originated, say reinstating meatless Fridays would give Catholics a way to publicly display their penitence on Fridays, the day the Bible says Jesus suffered and died on the cross.

“Maybe we need to return to that, but more broadly, we’re studying the very nature of Friday as a penitential day and how do we better call ourselves to observe it,” said Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, chairman of the committee.

The proposal also is intended to be a way for Catholics to express themselves against abortion, euthanasia, war violence, drugs and other “attacks on human life and human dignity,” he said.

The 300-member bishops conference ends its national meeting here Thursday.