St. Patricks Day and it's Friday in Lent and

[jasm]

Our Bishop granted a dispensation for St. Patrick’s Day, and I believe it is then up to the individual as to weather or not to eat corned beef. My personal feeling is what would be the big deal of celebrating the day before or the day after? This Lent we had a great opportunity for penance by foregoing the corned beef on Friday. I do understand pride in ones heritage and wanting to observe St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. However, I think we should esteem our heavenly heritage more than our earthly heritage. I have a non catholic acquaintance who gloated at the “fact” that Catholics seem to bend the rules when it suits them. It does seem this way and makes defending the faith, in a situation like this, challenging.

 

[jediliz]

My Bishop may have given a dispensation (gotta love Bruskewitz ) but I don’t like Corned Beef and Cabbage anyway. Plus, its not a true Irish meal. I ate a veggie pizza for dinner and for lunch I had grilled cheese w/ tomato soup.

We fast and abstain on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but we also abstain from meat on all fridays of Lent.

I think the one hour before Mass is reasonable for fasting. When I go to Mass on Sunday Mornings, I usually don’t eat breakfast before I go.

I do believe that pregnant women are given a dispensation if they are pregnant during Lent. They are not obligated to fast or abstain.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Our St Patrick’s Dinner went well but we did not have corned beef and cabage. As I said elsewhere, we had a more eastern european meal in honor of my ancestry as it was my birthday.

The prior also granted us dispensations from our personal abstinences as without it I could not have eaten my birthday cake.

There is also an interesting note, within the rule of carmel one is dispensed from not eating meat on Fridays if one is traveling.

I believe this is a hold over from less modern times but it is there.

 

[BillyT92679]

m134e5:

St. Patrick’s Day and the customs associated with it are very important to many people with Irish heritage. The Irish people in this country had a very difficult time keeping their faith, and those who have managed to do so would like to be able to keep their tradition on the feast day of the Saint who brought the Faith to their country. Now that most Americans don’t value their European heritage as much (our country is older now), these customs mean less and less to more and more people. My bishop (who is definitely orthodox) said it was ok to have corned beef and cabbage if you were doing it to celebrate this day- it was not a general lifting of the abstinence law for everybody, to be taken advantage of in any way they choose. Waiting a day or doing it a day early may be no big deal for those whose Irish heritage is not prominent or very meaningful to them, but it means a great deal to many people.

I understand what you are saying, and I miss the old school days of Catholicism where being a Catholic was akin to being a Jew, it was not just what you believed, it was your entire being.

However, I can’t help but to think of the Scripture about in Christ there is no East or West. There is no Jew or Greek, no Cretan, and no Pole, Italian, or Irish. Heritage is fine, but it is always secondary to the Faith itself.

 

[jman507]

BillyT92679:

I understand what you are saying, and I miss the old school days of Catholicism where being a Catholic was akin to being a Jew, it was not just what you believed, it was your entire being.

However, I can’t help but to think of the Scripture about in Christ there is no East or West. There is no Jew or Greek, no Cretan, and no Pole, Italian, or Irish. Heritage is fine, but it is always secondary to the Faith itself.

Your perents are secondary to your Father God in heaven, but that does not mean it is wrong to celebrate days that are special to them such as birthdays and anniversaries. To celebrate something from a certain culture or heritage does not do so at the exclusion of other cultures and heritages, any more than celebrating the day of the anniversary of your parents wedding means that in the general scheme of things your parents wedding was more important than all the others. Actually far from it, it is probably a celebration of all weddings, it can be a statement in-itself that a wedding ought to be celebrated.

I don’t see anyone saying that Patrick is better than Juan Diago, but if an Irish man meets a Mexican he can say, meet Patrick he helped encourage my forefather to the faith, the Mexican can say oh how very nice, why don’t you meet Juan Diago he helped encourage the faith in my forefather. How nice is it to have saints, some may have more impact on fostering us, but they are equal as children of God.

 

[Celia]

jasm:

when you fast, don’t pretend to look sad like the hypocrites. When they fast, they look dirty on purpose so they will shine before others. They’ve already received their reward! Instead, when you fast, wash your face and comb your hair. This way, you’ll shine quietly before God, not before others. Your Father who sees* how quietly you fast* will reward you.

And Cindy, did you think people weren’t going to be offended? You come on the forum and basically told people that were just following their bishop’s advice that you’ll pray for them because of it. They weren’t doing anything wrong. If the church grants a dispensation, it is what it is.

My diocese also urged people to choose another day to abstain rather than that Friday, so it’s not even like they were getting rid of the penance totally.(…and I was under the impression that St. Patrick’s Day is a feast day, which means no fasting, just like how a Sunday is observed. I’m not positive about that, but it would make sense.)

 

[tee_eff_em]

(…and I was under the impression that St. Patrick’s Day is a feast day, which means no fasting, just like how a Sunday is observed. I’m not positive about that, but it would make sense.)

St Patrick is a “feast day” in the common sense of the word, *viz that he is canonized in the General Roman Calendar. However, on the General Roman Calendar, the rank of his celebration is an optional memorial, or as it is called during Lent, a commemoration, which is the lowest of ranks (it is, as the name implies, not even obligatory to celebrate). It is only on solemnities, such as today’s (translated) Solemnity of St Joseph, Husband of Mary, that we cannot be obliged to fast.

(* Local calendars, from the level of national all the way down to a parish under his patronage, may increase the solemnity of a celebration. )

:irish2: tee

 

[iserve]

I substituted another tribute to God, went to Mass and then sat down to a lovely Irish meal with my family. Not a thought was given over to guilt as we sat in honor of a man whose gift to the Irish people was so great, so strong and faith-filled that the Irish people held fast to it through five hundred years of persecution! This incredible feat is worthy of the great feast that it is to those who treasure this, and it is certainly worth celebrating such a thing rather than to give up a certain category of food. God understands the spirit in which this is done, and it is not for others to make light of. God has blessed and continues to bless Ireland and her people for their witness to our faith.

 

[BillyT92679]

jman507:

Your perents are secondary to your Father God in heaven, but that does not mean it is wrong to celebrate days that are special to them such as birthdays and anniversaries. To celebrate something from a certain culture or heritage does not do so at the exclusion of other cultures and heritages, any more than celebrating the day of the anniversary of your parents wedding means that in the general scheme of things your parents wedding was more important than all the others. Actually far from it, it is probably a celebration of all weddings, it can be a statement in-itself that a wedding ought to be celebrated.

I don’t see anyone saying that Patrick is better than Juan Diago, but if an Irish man meets a Mexican he can say, meet Patrick he helped encourage my forefather to the faith, the Mexican can say oh how very nice, why don’t you meet Juan Diago he helped encourage the faith in my forefather. How nice is it to have saints, some may have more impact on fostering us, but they are equal as children of God.

But, that’s not my point. It’s FRIDAY in LENT. I don’t care if it’s St. Stanislaus Day or Blessed Kateri Tekakawitha Day or whatever, celebrating one’s heritage to me is secondary in all forms or fashions when it comes to the fact that we don’t have to abstain that often anyway. We hardly have anything to really complain about, why not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the 16th or 18th personally?

People can do whatever since they are dispensed so its not a sin by any stretch. I just think, in this specific case, it’s definitely a matter of Catholic first/whatever ethnic background you are, second. It’s certainly not sinful, but to me, it’s tacky.