This will make you a better person not just during Lent, but year-round.
Catholics are loyal to their parish and their diocese and should follow the advice and teachings of their bishop.
But they're not - no pun intended, given the fish on Friday - entirely off the hook. If you do choose to eat meat, you're asked to perform another sacrificial act, such as refraining from eating meat on another day, or doing some service to others, or making a donation to the poor.
Those acts could be abstaining from meat on some other day of the week or volunteering or making a donation to help the needy.
Many years ago it probably was much stricter, but looking in recent years it has been common for the bishop to give dispensation.
