I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are on a family vacation in a cabin at Lake Arrowhead, CA and it’s been so fun. Also very cold and windy, but you can’t beat a hot drink and a cozy fire after a chilly adventure!

I wanted to share a couple quick things:

1. Today is not a Meat Friday for Catholics.
2. Essentials are 10% off in the shop and every order $50 or over receives a free academic calendar!

Today is not a Meat Friday for Catholics

I love a Meat Friday as much as the next guy. Maybe more! But they have to be legit. Every year the so-called “Turkey Indult” makes its way around social media. Posts claim that in the 1950s Pope Pius XII instituted a dispensation from the required Friday abstinence from meat as a gift to American Catholics in perpetuity. But . . . they don’t cite any sources. And popes put stuff in writing. It’s kind of a thing.

So it never passed the sniff test for me. And now, there’s a whole painstakingly researched post (two actually) at New Liturgical Movement that prove (as much as it’s possible to prove something in the negative) that what people are referring to is a one time dispensation issued by Pope John XXIII in 1958 as part of a flurry of last-minute civic holiday dispensations he granted in the early days of his papacy.

It wasn’t ever a long-term thing.

Anyway, you can read the whole thing here and the follow-up here. It’s interesting!

Local bishops can still grant a dispensation, but as far as I can tell, ours hasn’t. Of course, since the new fasting and abstinence rules instituted by the US bishops in the 1966 Pastoral Statement On Penance And Abstinence, we are permitted to make an alternate sacrifice on non-Lenten Fridays. But I, personally, think sticking with abstinence from meat is the way to go. (I talked more about it in this old post.) Anyway, we’ll be having our usual turkey bone broth, vegetables, and noodle soup today, and saving the turkey meat leftovers for tomorrow.

What if I already had turkey today?

If you thought the “Turkey Indult” was real, or this is the first you’ve heard of Friday abstinence from meat outside of Lent . . . that’s not your fault!

There aren’t any hard and fast guidelines for what to do when we make a mistake, but for sure we can’t sin by accident or when we’ve been misinformed by what we had reason to believe was a trustworthy source.

If it were me, I just wouldn’t eat any more meat for the day, or I’d offer an alternate sacrifice, like no treats, or if that wasn’t possible no screens. Or, I’d just ask God for forgiveness and make a point to remember it next year!

But it IS Black Friday in the CAY Shop!

Advent begins on Sunday, and we are doing 10% of essentials collection (no code needed!) and a free academic calendar in all orders of $50 or more!

some of what’s on sale:

Please note: Shipping is available to US addresses only. We will ship as quickly as possible, but cannot guarantee that items will arrive before Advent begins. Sale prices do not apply to previously placed orders. No refunds or exchanges are available. But please let me know at helpdesk @ catholicallyear.com if there is a problem with your order so we can help.