The radical politics of Lent - Fr Joe Borg

Probably Lent is misunderstood more than any other liturgical season. This misunderstanding has a long history. Mention Lent and most people would point to fasting and abstinence from meat almost as if these are synonyms of the word ‘Lent’. This reductionist approach (a worse one further down) easily explains the popular devaluation of the meaning of Lent.

What are two days of fasting in a culture chockfull of diet regimes which are stricter than anything the Church requests from Catholics on just two days a year?

Are chickens fish?

Truth be told, abstinence from meat has a chequered history. The answer to the apparently simple question “what is meat?” was as varied as it was controversial. Nichola Fletcher (2004) in his book Charlemagne’s Tablecloth. A Piquant History of Feasting, reminds readers that Aquinas believed that chickens could be eaten on days of abstinence because they were of aquatic origin. Barnacle geese and some other water fowl were also acceptable because they had scaly webbed feet.

Some monasteries used to breed rabbits as it was accepted that foetuses of rabbits could be eaten on days of abstinence. Vaclav Smil (2019), in his book Should We Eat Meat?:...