Relaxed Catholics Getting More Options for Lent

Jim Phelan remembers when he could expect to go hungry during Lent.

But things have changed for such Catholics as Phelan, who this year will perform public service rather than give up sweets or meals during the period leading up to Easter.

In part, that is because the Roman Catholic Church has relaxed the rules. Instead of daily abstinence during Lent, there are only two fast days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

And people have changed along with the church. Whereas Catholics used to give up sweets or alcohol or bad language for the period, they are as likely to show their repentance, self-control and humility by taking on added tasks--more prayer or public service, for example.

Lent, which began Feb. 17 and lasts until Easter on April 4, was traditionally a time for Christians to fast as a way to commemorate Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness before his crucifixion.

“Just like [Muslims have] Ramadan, Catholics have Lent,” said Msgr. Patrick O’Brien, the priest at San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura.

And those of a certain age remember the days of real fasts.

“In the old days, it was tough--we’re talking one meal a day, no meat,” said Phelan, an Ojai resident. Now in his 50s, Phelan remembers when he was a typical always-hungry teenager. His devout family cut back on food for Lent--maybe not a true fast, he said, but true enough for him.

“And since I was in high school, we guys were always looking for ways around it. Like how we could get away with eating extra tuna hot dogs on Friday nights during Lent.

“People don’t pay as much attention to it today,” said Phelan, who considers himself a devout Catholic. “I’m actually not giving up anything for Lent.

“Instead of giving something up, I’ll do something extra, a positive thing. . . . I’ll probably volunteer extra hours at the local homeless shelter before Lent is over.”

Phelan added that his wife, Penny, does deny herself treats or extra helpings during Lent. He added that he does not deny eating the tidbits she gives up.

On the priestly level, O’Brien agrees that Lenten practices have eased up over the centuries, and certainly in recent decades. Positive acts, in addition to or in place of self-denial, are common now.

“In the older dispensations, there were no weddings or even celebrations of any kind,” O’Brien said. “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are still days of fast--one full meal and two smaller meals. Not like it was once, when it was every day.

“Now, we’re not so strict. The greater emphasis is on personal preparation. Do special good deeds. The most common thing that people do is give up sweets or alcohol and try not to use bad language.”

O’Brien said that he, personally, is not bound by Lenten rules because he is over age 59.

“Lent is actually for those age 14 to 59. I’m over the age of fasting, but I still try to abstain from meat in Lent. I’m cutting back on food, too--the amounts of food.

“Lots of people don’t drink during Lent or they do special good deeds and go to Mass every day,” O’Brien said. “It’s a disciplining of oneself and a deepening of one’s prayer life and relationship with God.”

Father Liam Kidney of Padre Serra church in Camarillo sees a return to the old days in his parishioners’ attitudes about Lent.

“Parents are tending to teach their kids to do what they used to do,” he said. “They’re giving up candy, soda, television.”

On Fridays, he said, his parishioners are encouraged to do something as a community.

At St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks, the church secretary, who identified herself only as Diane, said, “Most people I know give up chocolates or sweets for Lent . . . but I’m diabetic, so . . . “

She is still working on what she will do to observe.

“Lent is 40 days. . . . I’ll come up with something,” she said.

Diane took a tally in the St. Paschal Baylon office and reported that most of her friends say, “I’ll lose weight . . . get more exercise . . . go to Mass daily . . . read scriptures more . . . pray more . . .

“So it’s not just giving things up.”

Father Michael Carcerano, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Simi Valley, said it’s also taking something on, like observing the stations of the cross every Friday during Lent or devoting deeper thought to prayers.

“The traditional Lenten practices come from the Gospel of St. Matthew, where it speaks of prayer, fasting and almsgiving,” he said. “Those correspond to the three major dimensions of our lives: our relation with God; fasting--or our relation with ourselves, healing our own spirit; and almsgiving, or charity toward our neighbor.

“It’s important that our parishioners not be afraid to struggle with this,” he said.