I just love these "religion bloggers" or writers who feel free to tell the Catholic Church what to do. These are generally the same ones who think it's none of their business if a woman wants to have an abortion.

They will not be happy until the whole world is worshipping in the Secular Church of Liberal Socialism and Environmentalism.

That's their real "religion." 

Give me a break.

Bloggers like Manya Brachear are all about reminding the church of its core values when the means justify the ends--veganism.  But the church should ignore its core values of killing and abortion.  Or the Ten Commandments.  Nah, ignore those values.

Also FTA:  The only exception is fish, prompting an annual run on seafood markets and a slew of fish fries in place of church potlucks....But the dangers of eating tuna and swordfish, which scientists say is loaded with mercury, might be more flagellation than bishops had in mind.

Since when did the Knights of Columbus serve tuna or swordfish at the fish fries?  What kind of fish fries is Manya attending?  

A secular blogger has given the church another edict! What do we even need ministers for when we have the liberal media who are such good experts on the Bible?

Don't forget how the seculars disagree with the church's teachings on contraception. Planned parenthood would be out of business if people followed the Catholic Church's teaching on sex. With those people it's like "what teachings do with disagree with the church this week?"...same old same old bash the Catholic Church teachings. Wake me when one of this people gets the gumption to take a stab at the variety of things to attack as far as Islam. Oh wait Ackmehd will get mad and kill them, well better not do that.

Talking about fish fries and going vegan is a "eh" in my book as far as when the media addresses their disagreement with the church. I personally have never liked fish and eat PB&J and cheese pizza during lent.

Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns

The tradition of self-abnegation is an honored practice is most religions. Islam does it for a month (Ramadan). Buddhists practice all sorts of self-denials. Catholics have been promoting (and occasionally practicing) self-abnegation since Jesus went into the desert. It's a reminder of the same message we get with the ashes - "remember man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return." If nothing else, it teaches us that God gave us life as a gift, not because we deserved it or had earned it (after all, we are mere ashes). Life is a gift, one we ought not take for granted.

• In the readings for Ash Wednesday, Jesus urges us to conduct these self-denials in secret, not for public display. The traditions of Lent were never meant for "consciousness raising" of others. This is a purely private, and personal reflection. 
• Even more preposterous is the idea that the church has a moral obligation to promote low-mercury products.

The article quotes that the meatless Friday tradition started around the 16th century. I had mentioned in another post that the English word "meat" originally meant all food, not just animal flesh. That shift was right around the same time, so it may be generally true.  But don't mistake it to mean that the church had never required acts of self-denial and fasting. The church has been promoting self-abnegation since the beginning.

I did the vegetarian thing for a year but the care and feeding of the high horse became such a burden that I had to give it up.

What total B/S. The Eastern Orthodox Church, from which the Roman Catholic church split in the 11th century, has maintained fasting from all meat, dairy products and fish for the forty days of Lent and all Wednesdays and Fridays of the year since the time of the Apostles. There is nothing economic about fasting and it is truly profound and sacred.

 Modern Catholic teaching is to abstain from red meat, not that one is commanded to eat fish.

I posted a commented on the original blog, but it hasn't shown up yet. So I'll post it here, though some others have already covered the same ground.

With all due respect, the proffered "history" of Friday abstinence from
meat among Catholics is simply false and it's rather easy to demonstrate
so. The Catholic Encyclopedia article on abstinence (Google Catholic
Encyclopedia Abstinence) notes the following: "From the dawn of
Christianity, Friday has been signalized as an abstinence day, in order
to do homage to the memory of Christ suffering and dying on that day of
the week. The 'Teaching of the Apostles' (viii), Clement of Alexandria
(Strom., VI, 75), and Tertullian (De jejun., xiv) make explicit mention
of this practice. Pope Nicholas I (858-867) declares that abstinence
from flesh meat is enjoined on Fridays. There is every reason to
conjecture that Innocent III (1198-1216) had the existence of this law
in mind when he said that this obligation is suppressed as often as
Christmas Day falls on Friday (De observ. jejunii, ult. cap. Ap.
Layman, Theologia Moralis, I, iv, tract. viii, ii). Moreover, the way
in which the custom of abstaining on Saturday originated in the Roman
Church is a striking evidence of the early institution of Friday as an
abstinence day." The first three references are from the second and
third centuries.