CATECHISM

Q. What is the second Commandment of the Church?
A. The second Commandment of the Church is, ‘To keep the days of fasting and abstinence
appointed by the Church’.

Q. What are fasting days?
A. Fasting days are days on which we are allowed to take only one full meal. The obligation of
fasting is restricted to those who have completed their 18th year until they have begun their 60th.
We may be dispensed or freed from the obligations of fasting through sickness, great poverty,
very hard work.

Q. Which are the fasting days?
A. The fasting days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Q. What are days of abstinence?
A. Days of abstinence are days on which we are forbidden to take flesh-meat and anything made
from meat.
Abstinence. To refrain or keep from a thing; here is meant flesh-meat. All over seven
years of age must abstain.

Q. Which are the days of abstinence?
A. The days of abstinence are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and all the Fridays in Lent. III The
age at which abstinence becomes binding is 14.

Q. Why does the Church command us to fast and abstain?
A. The Church commands us to fast and abstain so that we may mortify the flesh and satisfy God
for our sins.
Mortify the flesh. To punish our bodies and weaken temptation, and thus make us more
fit for prayer and meditation.

Q. How often should we go to Confession?
A. If we have been guilty of serious sin we should go to Confession as soon as possible but never
less than once a year.

Q. How soon are children bound to go to Confession?
A. Children are bound to go to Confession as soon as they have come to the use of reason, and are
capable of serious sin.
Capable of mortal sin. Able to do it, and to know that it is a mortal sin.

Q. When are children generally supposed to come to the use of reason?
A. Children are generally supposed to come to the use of reason about the age of seven years.
 III Episcopal Conferences may regulate the requirements in various countries.