MIRACULOUS MIRACLES^™

Every Friday is a day of penance — the form is what changed, not the day

All Fridays of the year remain days of penance in the universal law. What changed in 1966 was that bishops' conferences were permitted to let other forms of penance be substituted for abstinence from meat outside Lent — which most of the English-speaking world did, and which a great many Catholics heard as the abolition of the obligation itself.

Two days of fasting, six Fridays of abstinence — and it used to be very much more

In the current law, Catholics fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain from meat on those days and on all the Fridays of Lent. Within living memory the Lenten fast bound every weekday of Lent, and before that it was stricter still.

One hour before Communion — and it was from midnight within living memory

Before receiving Holy Communion a Catholic abstains from all food and drink except water and medicine for one hour. That hour was, until 1953, a fast from the previous midnight — which is the single clearest example on this site of a discipline moving.

Ten in the universal law, six or two or none where you live

Canon law lists ten holy days of obligation besides Sundays, and in the same breath allows bishops' conferences, with Rome's approval, to suppress them or move them to a Sunday. Which is why a Catholic crossing a border can find an obligation appear or vanish.

Latin is still the Church's own language — and the vernacular is not a concession

The Second Vatican Council directed that the use of Latin be preserved in the Latin rites, and in the same document opened the door to the vernacular. What followed went considerably further than the text on the page — a gap that has shaped every argument about the liturgy since.

In the hand or on the tongue, kneeling or standing, one species or two

Every question about the manner of receiving Communion — hand or tongue, kneeling or standing, the chalice or not — is disciplinary, has been answered differently in different centuries, and is currently answered differently in different countries.

About seven — and it was twelve or fourteen until 1910

Children are admitted to Holy Communion when they reach the age of discretion, ordinarily about seven, and know Christ from ordinary bread. Before the decree of 1910, most Catholic children waited until twelve or older, and many until they were nearly adult.

A discipline of the Latin Church — and the Church has always said so

In the Latin Church, priests are ordinarily bound to celibacy. This is a law, not a doctrine: married priests exist in full communion with Rome in the Eastern Catholic churches and, since 2009, among former Anglican clergy in the personal ordinariates.

Forbidden in 1886, permitted in 1963 — and the reason for both is the same

The Church earnestly recommends burial of the body, and permits cremation unless it is chosen for reasons contrary to Christian teaching. Ashes must be kept in a sacred place — not scattered, divided, or kept at home.

Four centuries of ecclesiastical law, abolished outright in 1966

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum listed books Catholics were forbidden to read without permission. It was formally abolished in 1966 and no longer has the force of ecclesiastical law — the plainest case in the whole section of a discipline being ended rather than adjusted.

The doctrine stands; the abuse was condemned by the same council that defined it

That the Church can remit temporal punishment from the treasury of merit is doctrine. Everything about how indulgences are granted, counted, and applied is discipline — and it has been reformed drastically, including the abolition of the medieval reckoning in days and years.