COMMENTARY
Cafeterias in the 1,800 public schools in New York City are observing Meatless Mondays with meatless lunches. So are the schools in Baltimore and Oakland. The movement for Meatless Mondays is spreading to varied places across America. Globally, Meatless Monday is practiced in 40 countries.
Why are they going meatless? And why haven’t we ever heard of it? And what does this have to do with Catholics?
First, why meatless? They know that people who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. They also are less obese. Meatless Mondays give kids a chance to experience different foods they might otherwise never taste.
But there’s more. Far more. The meatless movement around the world is an effort to control climate change. Cows pass 60 kilograms of greenhouse gas into the air for every kilogram of meat they offer for human food. That’s twice the emissions of the next most polluting animal. The methane they pass into the air is 34 times more potent than CO2.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization states that emissions from all livestock — cattle, buffaloes, goat, sheep, pigs and poultry — equate to 14% of all anthropogenic emissions. This includes the gas the cattle and other animals pass, and their manure, and the emissions while processing and transporting their meat, milk and eggs.
Why haven’t we heard of Meatless Mondays? In the U.S., a handful of corporations control nearly all of our food production, processing and distribution. Those corporations contribute heavily to campaigns of government officials and advertise widely in the media. Recipients think twice before publicizing anything that would reduce production and hurt the profits of these supporters.
In spite of this, those concerned about climate change will make sure that Meatless Mondays for school lunches spread to every state. And people will become enthusiastic supporters and participants.
What does this have to do with Catholics? For centuries preceding 1966, Catholics observed meatless Friday every Friday of their lives. In that year, Pope Paul VI, through the Apostolic Constitution “Paenitemini,” allowed prayer and works of charity to substitute for fasting and abstinence. The norms for this were to be set by episcopal conferences. That same year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops produced the Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, which was modified slightly in 1983. It made Ash Wednesday and Good Friday obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. It also reduced the obligatory days of abstinence from meat to just the Fridays during Lent.
I ask, then, if those concerned about climate change are going to popularize Meatless Mondays, and if Catholics are going to participate, aren’t we passing up a great opportunity for evangelizing? This is an opportunity for Catholic bishops to buy into climate change as the pope has done, and to lead a part of the effort to reduce emissions. We need them to bring Catholic Americans to recognize climate change’s need to curb dependence on livestock, and the health advantages of doing so. Rather than reinstating abstinence laws, we need them to invite the faithful to practice meatless Fridays and observe abstinence from meat in loving remembrance of the death of Jesus.
One day Americans may have two meatless days a week, one calling them to learn of Jesus, the Son of God, who gave his life for humankind on a Friday.
Kioni Dudley is a parishioner of St. Jude Parish in Kapolei. He was a Holy Cross Brother teaching in Catholic high schools for 15 years. He has a master’s degree in theology and taught theology at Chaminade University for several years. He can be reached at 672-8888 or drkionidudley@hawaii.rr.com.
