Here’s the kind of nonsense that makes our Catholic Faith look and sound ridiculous.
The Internet is ablaze with reports such as this penned by Carol Zimmerman of Catholic News Service who writes, “When St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday, as it does about every seven years, the Lenten rule requiring Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays collides with the long-held tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage."
She writes further, “The timing has not gone unnoticed by many U.S. bishops. Before Lent even started, many of them issued dispensations for Catholics in their dioceses allowing them to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day."
I have taken the time to read many of the dispensation notices appearing on various diocesan websites this past week.
In Fort Worth, Texa, for example, Bishop Michael Olson stated, “In recognition of the special relationship many Catholics in the Diocese of Fort Worth have with Saint Patrick, a general dispensation is granted from the obligation of abstaining from meat on Friday, March 17, 2017, the Feast of Saint Patrick.”
Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, took the dispensation a step further. In a statement, he said Catholics should also "exercise due moderation and temperance in festivities and celebrations of the memorial of St. Patrick, in keeping with the solemnity and honor that is due to so great a saint and his tireless efforts to inspire holiness in the Christian faithful." Good luck, Your Excellency!
Cardinal Dolan got an early jump on this dietary conundrum by sending a letter in late January notifying them of the dispensation and asking them to let their parishioners know about it.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki noted that abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent is an "important dimension of the penitential nature of the season," but he said Catholics in the archdiocese that day would not be required to give up meat "given the many celebrations that occur on this day," which in the archdiocese also includes the ordination of two auxiliary bishops that afternoon.
Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis received a letter in late February from Susan Mulheron, Chancellor of Canonical Affairs, saying the dispensation for St. Patrick's Day had been issued by Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda after consulting archdiocesan leaders. She said the Archbishop considered past practice and present circumstances and decided the dispensation "would serve the common spiritual good." And here comes the real zinger: "As a general rule, a request for a dispensation from the obligation of abstinence on Fridays of Lent will not be considered unless some serious reason is present," she wrote, adding that St. Patrick's Day has "traditionally been an occasion for joy-filled celebrations in this archdiocese." Celebrating a Saint's feast day intimated bound to eating corned beef and drinking green beer qualifies as a serious reason? Really, Archbishop?
But wait, Archbishop Hebda's understanding of the seriousness of abstinence gets even more bizarre.
Archbishop Hebda had hinted he might grant the dispensation when he spoke at a Theology on Tap gathering February 8th in St. Paul. When someone in the crowd asked him about the possibility of eating meat on St. Patrick's Day, the Archbishop asked for a show of hands of those who wanted to eat corned beef to honor St. Patrick."When you get a dispensation – and I think it's coming – you should do penance on another occasion," he told the crowd. "So, it's like a get-out-of-jail-free card, but you have to pay sometime."
And we Catholics are supposed to take this all seriously?
But let's not overlook an even more outlandish ruling by Omaha Archbishop George J. Lucas who granted a dispensation from the meat observance but insists that those who eat meat on St. Patrick's Day must abstain the next day, March 18th!
What?
Here's the pity. The stories of Bishops granting the Saint Pat’s Day dispensation as well as those few not granting the dispensation (Lincoln, Nebraska as expected) would lead one to think that this is the most pressing moral issue facing the Church today.
And sadly, very sadly, for many it is!
More Bishops have issued declarations about Saint Pat’s Day and the dispensation from abstinence than have said anything about Amoris Leatitia, the crisis in Priestly vocations, or even the alarming decline in Catholic marriages in Church, the Baptism of Infants, or the waning attendance at Holy Mass,
Oh well, I guess the Bishops have to have some issue to keep them busy and looking relevant.
And so, every Lent, they painstakingly remind their faithful of the “prescribed” days of fast and abstinence, clothing such reminders with words like “serious” or “grave” obligations.
Yet, after what seems to have been an eternity of searching, I have found no statement from any hierarch which indicates what the sanction for violating these prescriptions would be.
Seriously, is there anyone who has heard a Bishop say or write that eating meat on Fridays in Lent, or on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday is a mortal sin? A venial sin? Any kind of sin? Does eating meat on these prescribed days render a Catholic irregular in his or her relationship with the Church? Are Catholics impeded in any way from the reception of the Sacraments?
Laws (prescriptions) must be clearly stated, leave no doubt as to their application, and indicate the sanction attached to the violation of observance.
Can anyone possibly envision a Bishop coming out and saying that eating corned beef on Saint Patrick’s Day without express dispensation would render that person in a state of sin? Any kind of sin, let alone mortal sin?
Can anyone image such a statement against the backdrop of a Pope who encourages those in what are clear manifestations of adultery being allowed to continue in that state yet still be capable of receiving Sacramental absolution and Holy Communion?
Ridiculous.
When will the Church realize that it cannot legislate piety! She can only recommend and encourage the faithful. Such practices as fast and abstinence cannot be regulated by the Church, but only by individual conscience. Suggesting otherwise makes the Church look and sound foolish.
Imagine this scene. It's Good Friday. All Creation has been moaning in a state of sin, languishing until this moment of Redemption. Jesus is dying on the cross. He is about to take His last breath before becoming the Eternal Sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. He raises His Sacred Head to Heaven and makes the salvific plea: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Except, of course, all those who will eat meat on the Fridays of Lent!”
How sacrilegious!
I suggest that among the many reforms which Pope Francis wishes to institute, the abrogation of all dietary prescriptions take place immediately and forever.
Lent is a time or personal reflection and a time to ask for the forgiveness of God for our sinfulness. All the episcopal bravado and dispensation nonsense obscures this fundamental need we all share.
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