Now that the world’s 1 billion-plus Roman Catholics have entered the season of Lent, it’s time for a quiz.

During this holy period of penitence and reflection, America’s 62 million Catholics are required to:

• Go to confession.

• Abstain from meat and eat only one full meal on Fridays.

• Pray and meditate on the suffering and death of Jesus.

• Do more to help the needy.

• Make a personal sacrifice, such as giving up sweets, soap operas or ESPN.

• All of the above or some combination of them, depending on one’s conscience.

• None of the above.

Yes, this is a trick question — and the key is the phrase required to.

Modern Catholic leaders have steered away from edicts about details in the spiritual lives of the faithful. Catholics are gently encouraged to practice many spiritual disciplines during Lent, including all of the above and more. They are required to do few things, however, and millions ignore those regulations, too.

"What is the reality? The reality is that most Catholics do not think much about the meaning of Lent," said the Rev. William H. Stetson, director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington. "Most Catholics have little or no idea what they’re supposed to be doing during this season, although they all want to go get ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday."

A pre-Easter fast began in the early church. This evolved into a penitential season of 40 days, a number rich in symbolism — including Jesus’ time of prayer and fasting in the wilderness.

For centuries, Catholics observed a strict fast allowing one meal a day, with no meat or fish. Over time, the rules were eased, and two other small meals could be eaten each day.

Today, Catholics are asked to observe the strict fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. They are urged to avoid meat on Fridays in Lent.

Stetson said Catholics are supposed to take Holy Communion at least once a year, a tradition that millions of people grew up hearing described as their "Easter duty." The assumption was that Catholics first must go to confession during Lent.

Few priests and bishops would assume that to be true in America today. In the mid-1980s, a University of Notre Dame study found that 26 percent of active Catholics never go to confession and another 35 percent might go once a year.

This points to a problem larger than any confusion about the myriad church rules and traditions that govern Lent in America and the rest of the Catholic world, Stetson said.

The biggest problem, he said, is that so many Catholics no longer think of themselves as sinners.

"There are all kinds of actions that the church teaches are seriously sinful that the typical modern Catholic no longer believes are seriously sinful," said Stetson, who is 75. "Therefore, these typical Catholics walk up to the altar week after week to receive Communion without a single thought entering their minds about repentance or confession or anything like that.

"So you have to take that into account when you talk about Lent. In a penitential season you are supposed to feel real sorrow for your sins, which can be hard to do if you really do not think that you’re sinning." Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

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