I&#x27;m a Catholic who doesn&#x27;t eat meat on Fridays.  The reason I do it is that it&#x27;s a weekly commemoration of the crucifixion.   There are other benefits, too, (in fact the concept seems to be gaining popularity in the secular world as &quot;meatless Mondays&quot;) but for me it is a principally a weekly reminder of my faith.<p>But I agree that we Catholics don&#x27;t have anything on the Jews when it comes to dietary laws.  In fact, that was the whole point of the Council of Jerusalem!<p>And as far as the &quot;fish is okay&quot; rule goes, that&#x27;s really just because our modern word for &quot;meat&quot; doesn&#x27;t correspond exactly with the word for &quot;meat&quot; in the ancient church.  Fish was seen as distinct from meat from the very beginning.  And unfortunately our modern word for &quot;fish&quot; doesn&#x27;t correspond exactly with the ancient meaning as well.  In the ancient church &quot;fish&quot; referred to any animal that lived primarily in water, which includes some reptiles like frogs and semi-aquatic mammals like the capybara.