Is it OK for Catholics to eat meat on Friday's St. Patrick's Day? What to know

Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press
·1 min read
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This year, the calendar puts St. Patrick's Day on a Friday. It's the day when people celebrating indulge in corned beef and cabbage dinners, beef stew and shepherd's pie, all staples on many menus both at restaurants and at home.

But it's the third week of the Lenten season. And in metro Detroit and around the world many area Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent.

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Guiness-braised Corned Beef and Cabbage
Guiness-braised Corned Beef and Cabbage

What are Catholics to do?

There is no archdiocesan-wide dispensation for abstaining from meat on St. Patrick's Day, said Michelle St. Pierre, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Detroit. In years past, Catholics were given the OK to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day when it landed on a Lenten Friday. But in 2017, the last time St. Patrick's Day fell on a Friday, the archdiocese left allowing dispensation up to individual parish priests.

"All priests ministering in the AOD can provide dispensations and individuals can speak with their parish priest about the dispensation," said Michelle St. Pierre, AOD spokeswoman.

Priests can remove the obligation of refraining from meat on Friday and "commute" or swap it out for another obligation, she said.

Restaurants are ready

When St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday during Lent, Dunleavy's Food & Spirits in Allen Park changes up the menu a bit.

"We offer our cod fish fry to those who don't want to eat meat, " Marty Dunleavy, general manager said. On its St. Patrick's Day menu, Dunleavy's offers corned beef dinners, Reuben sandwiches, and its Ramona sandwich, which is a corned beef Reuben with cole slaw instead of sauerkraut.

Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Is it OK for Catholics to eat meat on Friday's St. Patrick's Day?