Madam, – I had to check the date (ie, not April 1st) when I read Lorna Siggins’s article on the Catholic Church’s reintroduction of Friday as a day of abstinence (Home News, May 17th).
Prior to 1966, fish was indeed penitential for the majority, being either unavailable or, by the time it reached the consumer, rotten. In these days of refrigeration, where’s the penance in eating langoustine, sea-bass or sushi? The only penitential aspect of these delicacies is the price.
Perhaps the Catholic Church should modernise its forms of mortification – for example, abstaining from the use of mobile phones of a Friday would test the mettle of many a believer. – Yours, etc,