Dioceses make meat exception for St. Patrick’s

Irish-loving Catholics face a St. Patrick’s Day dilemma next week: Do they follow the holiday’s tradition of eating corned beef, or honor the church’s tradition of meatless Fridays during Lent?

Fortunately, cardinals and bishops are solving the problem in some parts of the country.

Dozens of Catholic dioceses have announced that they will grant indults – exceptions to the Catholic Church’s common law – to allow members to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day.

At least 29 of the 195 U.S. dioceses have granted exceptions so far, including Seattle and Portland, according to an informal tally by Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo on his blog, Whispers in the Loggia. (The Catholic Diocese of Spokane mentions no specific exception in the Lenten Regulations on its Web site.)

In exchange for eating corned beef, the Archdiocese of Detroit suggests Catholics perform personal acts of penance, such as “prayer, fasting and almsgiving.” Other dioceses encourage abstaining from meat on another day during the week.

Corned beef began as a traditional Easter Sunday meal in rural Ireland. The beef was preserved through the winter in a brine solution of salt and sugar so it could be eaten after the Lenten fast.