A big part of a St. Patrick’s Day celebration usually includes raising a pint or two while enjoying a hearty plate of ham or corned beef and cabbage.
But this year, the holiday falls on a Friday during Lent. And for devout members of the Catholic Church aged 14 and older, that could mean skipping the traditional Irish meal since Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence from meat.
But go ahead and enjoy that ham or corned beef without any guilt. You’ve got permission from the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. Really.
This year, the Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, The Most Rev. William E. Koenig, has granted Catholics in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a dispensation from the obligation to abstain from meat on Friday, March 17.
The dispensation has been given in recognition of the contributions of Irish immigrants to the life of the Diocese and their indebtedness to St. Patrick for the gift of their Catholic faith, according to the Diocese’s dispensation decree.
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However, parishioners aren’t entirely off the hook. The Diocese says that Catholics who do eat meat on March 17 this year are encouraged to “undertake a work of charity, an exercise of piety, or an act of comparable penance on some other occasion during the Third Week of Lent.”
To read the dispensation decree in its entirety and for more information about Lent, visit cdow.org/Lent.
The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, established in 1868, comprises 56 parishes, 18 missions and 27 schools serving Delaware and the nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
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If you still want to eat fish on Friday, March 17, there are eight churches in Delaware hosting Lenten fish fries.
In addition to its Friday fish fry on March 17, St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church in Lewes also will be serving Irish soda bread and colcannon.
Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and follow her on Twitter @pattytalorico Sign-up for herDelaware Eats newsletter.
