Cardinal Dolan gives Catholics a Lenten loophole for St. Patrick’s Day: corned beef
Heather Hunter
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Catholics are in luck.
Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has decreed that he will allow a special dispensation to Catholics who wish to enjoy the Irish tradition of eating corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day.
This year, the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day falls on Friday, March 17, and during the season of Lent, it is a time of abstinence from eating meat in the Catholic tradition.
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“As a rule, the church makes laws and expects us to abide by them,” Monsignor Joseph P. LaMorte, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York, said in a statement. “But sometimes there are circumstances that make it possible to obtain a dispensation from obeying a law.”
He added, “The faithful are urged to choose another day of penance during the week as part of the Lenten observances or to creatively make a gift to one of our food pantries or soup kitchens to ensure the poor will eat.”
A New York City Irish bar owner, who goes through 300 pounds of corned beef on the Irish holiday, celebrated the news from the New York Archbishop Dolan.
“It’s good to see the Catholic Church bending a little bit. It makes people’s decision-making easier on the big day,” Bloom’s Tavern owner Noel Donovan said.
While New Yorkers can enjoy their corned beef and cabbage, the dispensation is not available for everyone, everywhere.
In Chicago, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago won’t grant special permission to eat corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day this year, despite having granted an exception in 2017.
However, Chicagoans can head out to the Chicago metropolitan area and visit Will and DuPage counties, where the Diocese of Joliet is offering special dispensation on St. Patrick’s Day.
“Catholics in the Joliet diocese, in good conscience, may substitute the general rule of abstinence from meat with another form of penance or a significant act of charity that benefits the poor that day,” a Joliet diocesan spokesperson explained.
In Philadelphia, Archbishop Nelson Perez has also exempted Roman Catholics from the obligation to abstain from eating meat on the Irish holiday.
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In the nation’s capital, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, similarly announced in February that Catholics in D.C. can still enjoy their favorite meat-eating tradition on St. Patrick’s Day.
“It is well known that Saint Patrick’s Day is a day of convivial celebration for many American Catholics,” the Washington, D.C., archbishop said. “I, therefore, decree that on Friday, March 17, 2023, all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Washington, no matter where they may be, and all other Catholics actually present in the Archdiocese on that day, are, by my authority, dispensed from the obligation.”