Friday's of Lent

As a Catholic, I often get asked by my non-Catholic friends, "why do Catholics not eat meat on Friday and why is fish not considered a meat?" I'm going to try to answer these, and I know that at least one Catholic Deacon occasionally reads this blog, so he will surely correct me if I'm wrong. Remember, I'm still pretty new at this Catholic thing...closing in on 6 years.

The not eating meat and fasting during lent are the easier questions to answer. Lent is a season of penance. We are making sacrifices and making changes in our life to grow in our relationship with God. We should do this year around, but Lent is special and leads to an increased focus. By giving up meat on Fridays and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are making a conscious effort to deny comforts to ourselves. To get through this denial, we rely on God to help us, thus strengthening the relationship.

Now, as for why fish aren't considered meat, I'm lost on that one. So, I did some searching, and here's a few ideas from http://forums.catholic.com/:

Idea #1: "I believe the distinction is in cold-bloodedness in addition to something about being aquatic. Frog legs, for example, are not considered "meat." These distinctions are not essentially biological. It wasn't until the 16th Century that the Jews decided that poultry was "meat." The rationale is that the closer an animal is to "human" the more festal it is to eat it --. So fish are down the line a bit. Shellfish are even further down the line. The Eastern Orthodox have a progression of Sundays leading up to Lent in which things are eliminated from the diet: Meat goes first, then fish, then shellfish, then cheese . . ."

Idea #2: "The ancient idea that FISH is not MEAT comes from the fact that when a freshly caught fish is sliced - it does not bleed blood.A warmblooded animal will bleed if sliced."

I think fish might bleed when cut, but I haven't caught one since I was 12, so I threw that in. That's the best I can do on why fish isn't considered a meat. If anyone knows, please let me know, because this question vexes me.