It’s Not a Meat Friday but It Is Black Friday and Advent Is on Sale Here at CAY!

by | Nov 26, 2021 | Blog, Uncategorized | 0 comments

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!

Note: Jack made it in time for Thanksgiving but not for this hike. 🙂

I wanted to share a couple quick things:

  1. Today is not a Meat Friday for Catholics.
  2. Advent products in the shop are 40% off!

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 putting Advent products in the shop on sale for 40% off while supplies last!

The sale is good 11/26 through 11/30. We pretty much NEVER have sales. So don’t miss this one! Click on the link on each photo to go to the listing.

Here’s what’s on sale for up to 40% off:

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.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Hi! I’m Kendra.

For twenty years now, I’ve been using food, prayer, and conversation based around the liturgical calendar to share the lives of the saints and the beautiful truths and traditions of our Catholic faith. My own ten children, our friends and neighbors, and people just like you have been on this journey with me.

If you’d like to learn more about what Catholics believe and why, and to be inspired by saints from every era all over the world, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of how to teach your kids about the faith in a way that’s true, engaging, and lasts a lifetime, we can help!

Contact me at helpdesk@catholicallyear.com

This blog contains affiliate links and sponsored posts, for which I receive a commission. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.