The Code of Canon Law, Chapter II, entitled Days of Penance is quoted below in its entirety without hyperlinks [1]:
CHAPTER II.
Days of Penance
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations [to God] more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or some other food according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops is to be observed on [?] [2] ,of abstinence [3] binds those who have completed their fourteenth year of age. The law of fasting, however, binds all those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors of souls and parents are to take care that minors not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are also educated in a genuine sense of penance.
Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.
How many Catholics follow Canons 1249, 1250 and 1251? Maybe a tiny percentage? Canon 1249 sets forth the ways of penance. Canon 1250 tells when penance is to be observed. Canon 1251, despite that it confuses this blogger (at the point it was accessed online), specifies the age range. Canon 1253 essentially negates the strict application of Canons 1250 and 1251, being that they can be rewritten at any time by the conference of bishops in accordance to the group's collective whims.
A watered-down version of fasting now being practiced is minor in this blogger's opinion.
What this blogger considers important are the missing pieces that are not being talked about by many priests, leading souls toward perdition. The satisfaction that Satan derives from their omissions must be immeasurable.
These missing pieces form a long list. Priests avoid talking about specific temptations during these 40 days of Lent that coincides with the 40 days that Christ spend in the desert when He was tempted by Satan. The fact that the list of temptations is seemingly endless is not an excuse to ignore them entirely. Perhaps priests do not wish to alienate Catholics further with reminders of their sins when priests themselves commit them, exposing their hypocrisies.
By talking about the need for prayer, fasting and works of mercy, a priest can avoid exposing their own hypocrisies. This is like a cover-up. Cover-ups of many kinds are not foreign to the Catholic Church which has elevated such practices to a high art. This seems to parallel to what happened during the betrayal of Christ.
Judas Iscariot was part of the Church Christ was building. Not only did Judas not confess the truth, he remained silent while he sinned. When he executed his plan, "Jesus said to him, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" [4] This is art in its highest form.
Nowadays, many priests dance around the sins of man by not addressing them directly and by not asking man to deny himself (Canon 1249). This dance is not quite as smooth as Judas' kiss but comes close. Their collective silence has put at risk the eternal souls of sinners, a kind of silence that Judas was familiar with, which betrays Truth.
On Judgment Day, assuming that God asks a priest why he had not talked to his parishioners about their sins, he could point his finger back at the sinful parishioners by claiming that they were afforded the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation [5] but many had not taken advantage of it, at least not regularly.
How God would respond is beyond one's imagination, but this blogger will be impudent and guess at a few: was it not part of your job to address their sins so that their sinful ways can be constantly on their consciences and to encourage them to overcome their sinful ways? Priest answers: that is what happens during confession.
How much time did you spend in the confessional to wait for and listen to confessions? The priest answers: not that much. Again he blames the sinner: anyone who wanted to confess was afforded the opportunity to make an appointment to do so.
God might reply by asking: with caller ID and security cameras around, do you honestly think that a sinner would want to identify himself or herself as the penitent, especially when confessing fully his or her most shameful and secretive sins? How many sinful secrets had you kept to yourself? What follows is probably going to be silence, an indefensible silence.
A priest is faced with a dilemma, to preach what he does not practice, or to preach for the good of sinners despite his hypocrisies? Perhaps honesty is an answer. Confession can go both ways. The priest can admit that he, too, sins and how difficult it is for him to never sin again especially when the sin is habitual. What priest today will admit his sins publicly? Would not such public admissions jeopardize his career?
Sins can be addictive. Some of them are classified as mortal as opposed to venial by the Catholic Church, depending on their gravity. [6]
Lust is defined in Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoted without hyperlinks, as the "disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes." [7] It goes on to address masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape and homosexuality. Adultery is also mentioned. [8]
It also mentions food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine and drugs [9] but does not say anything about the effect of alcohol interfering with one's cognitive functions to think about God and to pray to God with a clear mind.
The question is why not? Is it because many priests do like their alcoholic beverages, and because the Catholic Church does not want to confront the fact that when a priest sometimes consume too much alcohol, his ability to pray with full dedication of mind and soul may be impaired?
Manifestations of alcohol addiction, in contrast to those of sex addiction, are not mortal sins provided that they do not "endanger their own and others' safety on the road, at sea, or in the air." [10] Of course, the Catholic Church must allow some leeway for priests to not feel too guilty about some of their vices. This could be one of the perks of priesthood. A priest most likely can keep his job if he says Mass while somewhat inebriated, but probably not an air-traffic controller while directing air traffic.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also addresses idolatry, including "power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc." [11] One can assume "etc." includes addiction to material things, like those dictated by fashion, and addiction to non-material things, such as professional and amateur sports leagues [12], people that have fame and/or infamy, gossips and politics (which is probably included in "the state" quoted above).
The many vices that take one's attention away from God are either not or very rarely talked about during Lent, whether or not they rise to the level of mortal sins according to Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vice of any kind is not a popular topic. Many priests think it is more important for them to be relevant and accepted, to fill their pews and keep donations coming in than to be bold and truthful.
God's Truth can be painful. Nobody wants to be overwhelmed by the Truth and feel the pains of guilt. Not revealing, revealing partially or falsifying God's Truth are some of the ways Satan uses to deceive.
Anytime when the Catholic Church has problems, many people like to repeat these words of Christ to bring them comfort, quoted without references: "'And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.'" [13] When they use these words, one ought to wonder what "church" they have in mind exactly, the one that Christ wanted built or the one that man has conceived for himself in theory but does not put into practice?
Lent is not so much a time to be educated in and reminded of prayer, fasting and works of mercy but more a time to examine closely and feel vicariously the wounds of Christ, not just the four nail wounds, the one spear wound and piercings from the crown of thorns, but also wounds from Judas' betrayal, Peter's verbal denials, other disciples' silent denials by running away and hiding, scourging, falling, being stoned, spat on, scorned, humiliated and abused. Not every wound was physical and mortal but all were painful. Every time one sins, a wound of Christ is renewed. Rarely, if ever, does a priest say this to his congregation.
[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P4O.HTM, accessed March 10, 2019.
[2] Is something missing here?
[3] Is something missing here as well?
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/22, 48.
[5] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c2a4.htm
[6] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm, Part "IV. THE GRAVITY OF SIN: MORTAL AND VENIAL SIN".
[7] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P85.HTM, section 2351.
[8] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm, section 2380, et seq.
[9] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm, sections 2290-1.
[10] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm, secion 2290.
[11] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a1.htm, sections 2112-3.
[12] For the estimated number of followers of various sports globally, see https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html. These numbers ought to be looked at in light of the world's population at 7.7 billion, see http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
[13] http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew16:18
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