Why do Catholics abstain from meat?

Answer 1

As a rather antiquated and outdated "self-mortification". It goes back to the days when meat was the only part of the meal that mattered to a lot of people. Today, as many or more people would rather have seafood anyway.

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Catholic AnswerCatholic abstain from meat as the fourth precept of the Church commands them to. It ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart (Cf. Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1249-1251; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium can. 882)

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

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Abstinence is the moral virtue that inclines a person to the moderate use of food or drink as dictated by right reason or by faith for his own moral and spiritual welfare. The Church lays down certain minimum guidelines including abstaining from meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday. This is to both discipline our body's appetites and to offer something to the Lord, it is done on Fridays out of respect for the Crucifixion.

Answer 2

we can eat certain meat on fridays such as fish but during lent we refrain from eating other meat because this is the time leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus

Answer 3

Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays in Lent as a penance and as a remembrance of the sufferings of Christ. There is no belief involved.

Answer 4

they don't eat meat on fridays during lent because its something they give up as a tradition