As a concerned Catholic I wonder about the following: Since when are fast and abstinenece used in the Catholic Church? In the old days was it practiced as it is today? What other practices do you recommend? What other Christian Churches keep Lent more or less in the same way we Catholics do? Cirilo

-- Cirilo Javier (sabueso2@usa.net), February 25, 2001

Answers

-- (_@_._), February 25, 2001.

Jmj

Pardon me, Cirilo, for replying very briefly, mainly in the form of links to reliable sites:

A Catholic newspaper article on fasting.
An old article by a Benedictine abbot on penitential practices, including those other than fasting and abstinence.
An old encyclopedia article on fasting, including its history in the Church.
A Catholic newspaper article on Ash Wednesday.

On the Internet [sorry ... forgot to note the site], I came across this statement: "In the Anglican [Communion], The Book of Common Prayer prescribes that Lent be observed with fasting. In Lutheran and many other Protestant [denominations], Lent is observed with various services and practices."
By doing a little digging, I determined that those "many other Protestants" include some Methodist denominations, some Presbyterian denominations, some Pentecostal denominations, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination, the "United Church of Christ," the "Church of the Brethren," even some Baptist and "Churches of Christ" denominations. [There are probably many others, but I decided to stop!]

Please see also another new thread on this forum.

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), February 25, 2001.

JFG: you have been most helpful. Read the material you pointed out. Fascinating. Thank you and may the Lord bless you. Cirilo

-- Cirilo Javier (sabueso2@usa.net), February 26, 2001.