Lent’s loopholes

This week, the Church begins the season of Lent, ostensibly a time of somber reflection and restraint, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone forcing their pets to fast. Or, for that matter, their kids. The proscribed Lenten fast is for ages 18 to 59; Rome has not yet heard that 60 is the new 40. You call it Lent; I call it Ramadan Light.