Can Catholics eat chicken on Friday during Lent?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerNo, The Code of Canon Law specifically forbids meat on all Fridays of the year, Fridays outside of Lent in the United States, another penitential practice may be substituted. Meat for the purposes of abstinence is defined by the Vatican as the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl, obviously chicken, turkeys, ducks, and the like are fowl:

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. Also forbidden are 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 margarine and Gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

Another answer:Most people say No, but some say Yes.

Lent is based on Christ's 40-day fast in the desert, representing the 40 years that the Hebrews wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt and before entering Israel.

The Catholic Church's abstinence laws consider that meat comes only from LAND animals such as chicken, cattle and pigs - all of which live on land. Birds are also considered meat; on these grounds, chicken is prohibited.

Fish are a different category of animal - sea animals - and therefore are permitted to be eaten during Lent.

According to a Q&A from the website catholic.com, the answer is Yes:

Q: Can you offer any biblical justification for the Catholic Church's former teaching that it's sinful to eat meat on Fridays?

A: Yes, but, if you recognize the fact that Christ's Church is divinely authorized to teach, sanctify, and govern, there should be no need to "prove" it with biblical examples. If you don't recognize that, consider the following biblical facts.

Jesus guaranteed that when his Church teaches it teaches with his authority and that anyone rejecting his Church's teachings rejects him (Luke 10:16). This authority extends to Church discipline as well as doctrine. When the Church imposes a discipline, its members are bound to obey it, unless they are dispensed for a proportionate reason.

This exercise of authority is seen in Acts 15, where the Church, in its first major council, bound all Christians to the discipline of abstaining from meat that had been sacrificed to idols or that had come from strangled animals (19-29). When the Church promulgated its teaching about abstaining from meat (Acts 15:28-29), no Christian was free to disregard the discipline without committing sin. But since Paul explained that meat in itself is not unclean and the eating of meat is not inherently sinful (Rom. 14:1-23, 1 Cor. 8:1-13, 10:23-32), a Christian who violated the apostolic teaching in Acts 15 sinned not because the eating of meat was wrong but because he disobeyed a commandment of the Church. When the Catholic Church imposes a discipline such as not eating meat on Fridays, the same principle holds.

Consider this parallel example. A mother tells her son not to eat the cookies she just baked because it's close to dinner time and eating the cookies will spoil his appetite. The son ignores his mother's wishes and, when she's not looking, sneaks a few cookies. His sin is not the eating of cookies (a morally neutral act in itself), but of disobedience.

Finally, we should mention why Friday abstinence was imposed. The Church recognizes that, since meat is a chief part of most meals served in most places, and since meat is usually the most valued or expensive part of a meal, abstinence from meat on Fridays is a good way for Christians to unite themselves more closely to the sufferings of their Lord (Rom. 8:16-17, 1 Pet. 2:21) by denying themselves something they enjoy. Abstinence from meat is a sacrifice which unites them in penance and strengthens the solidarity of the Church through mild suffering. It's also a good form of mortification, which disciplines the soul and strengthens its resistance to concupiscence. Paul practiced and recommended mortification: "I drive my body and train it, for fear that after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:27).

Answer 2

Roman Catholic AnswerNo, if the Catholic is living in a nation that has an indult from the Vatican, then they might be able to eat chicken on a Friday OUTSIDE of Lent if they gave something else up, but everyone must give up meat on Fridays during Lent.