Catholics must fast and abstain from meat this Valentine’s Day, archdiocese confirms

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The Archdiocese of Chicago said Catholics must follow the Ash Wednesday observance
Catholics are obliged to practice fasting and abstinence on St Valentine’s Day this year as Ash Wednesday also falls on the same day, an archdiocese has confirmed.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said it had received enquiries on whether Catholics could have a dispensation from their Ash Wednesday obligations so they could mark the “largely secular celebration of Valentine’s Day”.
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http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/20...eat-this-valentines-day-archdiocese-confirms/
 
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It hadn’t even occurred to me that this would be a question. Ash Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.
 
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
Why would anyone think that it would be different? Valentine’s day is not a solemnity. :roll_eyes:
 
That seems obvious. The real question is what is a husband’s obligation to some romantic gesture on this day? Is that transferred to another day? While not following what the Church requires is dangerous to our souls it is no small danger to not please our wife! 😃
 
I think what’s really weird (and it is, since these people asking the Archdiocese are Catholic) is that the people making this inquiry weren’t asking to be dispensed because of St. Valentine’s feast day, be were asking to be dispensed of their fasting obligation for a, now, largely secular holiday. So not only do these people not want to commemorate the feast of both St. Valentines we remember on this day, but they also hope to be dispensed from observing Ash Wednesday. To me, it just really shows a disconnect with our Catholic heritage.

And what I find really interesting, is that we get these questions all the time for St. Patrick’s Day (and now St. Valentine’s Day), but never for St. Joseph’s Day. Isn’t it ironic that his feast is a solemnity throughout the entire Latin Rite, meaning dispensation is automatically given when his feast falls on a Friday, yet know one seems to ask for clarification for Fridays that fall on March 19th? And it’s not because we’re celebrating a quasi-secular holiday like “St. Paddy’s Day” or “Valentine’s Day”; it’s because we’re remembering a great saint, and since we’re celebrating his witness, we feast, as it were, rather than fast. But the reasons for feasting on the other two holidays are markedly different. It’s sad how much we’ve forgotten our Catholic identity in the West…
 
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The “largely secular” observance is totally secular, unless you are a member of a St. Valentine’s parish or go to an Extraordinary Form Mass, since St. Valentine is not on the “new” calendar.

Dan
 
I don’t blame people for being genuinely confused. St. Patrick’s day in Boston nonsense that happened on a Lentin friday a few years ago.
 
Sy_Noe said:
What happened? I know corned beef has been allowed on a Friday of Lent in many dioceses.

http://time.com/4705034/st-patricks-day-corned-beef-lent/
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A few things wrong with this:
  1. it was seemingly last minute which really took the “make another sacrifice” message out of the picture for many.
  2. it wasn’t clear “what” was being lifted. For instance, corned beef is an American tradition and quite a few die-hard Irish consider it offensive since it was the worst cut of meat sold as a “punishment” to the Irish. So what about families who ate bacon and cabbage or steak and cabbage. Did they have to have corned beef?
  3. Quite a few of the bishops who gave dispensations were archbishops. Then some of the bishops in their archdiocese also gave dispensations. So was the Archbishop speaking only for his dioceses or for the entire Ecclesiastical Provance under his command? (as was the case with Boston…)
 
Our bishop last year allowed us to eat corned beef on Friday during Lent for
St. Patrick’s Day.
 
A metropolitan doesn’t have the authority to bind the entire province in that manner. The other bishops would have had to have agreeed if it was province wide.
 
twf said:
A metropolitan doesn’t have the authority to bind the entire province in that manner. The other bishops would have had to have agreeed if it was province wide.
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I didn’t say those weren’t the rules. I just said it was confusing, especially since there are many times when, say, the Archbishop of Boston is the spokesperson for all of New England. So when he spoke and half of his province confirmed and the other did not it was confusing.

Again, my gripe is not with the lifting of the fasting and abstinence itself, but with the way it was handled. Quite frankly it seemed to be more of a popularity contest and publicity stunt than respecting an actual feast day.
 
Depends on your population, I think. We definitely get that request for St. Joseph Day.
 
St. Joseph’s day is a solemnity, so you don’t need a dispensation from abstinence when it falls on a Friday. It’s automatically dispensed with. Same with the Annunciation.
 
exnihilo said:
The real question is what is a husband’s obligation to some romantic gesture on this day?
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There is no obligation. Days such as this are made up so card companies can sell cards, and other businesses make money.
This has nothing to do with romance.
 
thistle said:
There is no obligation. Days such as this are made up so card companies can sell cards, and other businesses make money.

This has nothing to do with romance.
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I agree about the source of the modern holiday. But it does have something to do with romance if a person thinks it does. At least it does for that person.
 
I never understand that. Big deal, it’s St. Patrick’s day. Suck it up and eat the corned beef a different day. No need for dispensations.

(This is not aimed at you personally, 7_Sorrows. 😉)
 
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