Catholics in Toledo Diocese Given St. Patrick's Day Dispensation
Today's Toledo Blade is reporting that
because St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday during Lent, there is “a diocesan-wide dispensation from the obligation to abstain from meat on that day… those people who wish to include the eating of meat in their celebration of the Apostle of Ireland may transfer the obligation to Thursday, March 16.”My Comments:
(emphasis added)
I like the fact that Bishop Blair, rather than doing away with the Friday Lenten obligation altogether for St. Patrick's Day, instead transferred the Friday obligation to the Thursday before.
I'm still fairly new at this, so I'm wondering if other dioceses are transferring the Friday Lenten obligation to another day in order to accommodate St. Patrick's Day celebrations, or do other bishops merely dispense with that Friday's obligation altogether?
UPDATE (27 February):
Kevin Miller at Heart, Mind & Strength writes:
RE: MEAT ON FRIDAY 3/17 [Kevin Miller](emphasis added)
A reader sends word that the bishop of Lansing is among those who're giving a dispensation. He has also recommended that Catholics who won't abstain on that day do so on another day that week.
So, here's a "recommendation" that St. Patrick's Day revelers abstain on another day. So far, Bishop Blair is the only bishop who I've heard has made abstaining obligatory on another day of the week. Anyone else?
posted by Pro Ecclesia 2:39 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Keep us updated on this Jay if you hear anything about other dioceses.
Here are items on Cincinnati and Buffalo:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060224/1038965.asp
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS01/602220349/-1/all
Thanks for the links.
So, it looks like Buffalo is just dispensing with the obligation altogether. Boo.
Cincy, on the other hand, is encouraging "some other act of penance instead". Better than nothing. By the way, does excessive vomiting to the point of dry heaves after drinking too much count as an "act of penance"?
I still think the better decision was Bishop Blair's keeping the Friday obligation but moving it to Thursday.
I am not certain if our Bishop in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area has declared the same Dispensation or not. St. Pat's day is today, and a craving for Corn Beef & Cabbage at the local American Legion tonight is getting stronger. My wife is giving me a hard time about eating meat today if I choose to do so (even if I am willing to give up meat tomorrow). She also claims that I should be partaking in Lenten activities on Sundays, even though they are not part of the 40 days of Lent. Does the difference stem from her attending Catholic Secondary School and me a Public School with CCD classes supplementing it?
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