TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Don’t let Catholic guilt stop you from eating some corned beef and cabbage on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Both the Diocese of St. Petersburg and the Diocese of Venice have granted a dispensation for local Catholics, allowing them to eat meat on this particular Lenten Friday.
“Bishop Frank J. Dewane is granting a one-day dispensation of abstaining from meat on that Friday alone,” the Diocese of Venice said on Facebook.
“Given that pastors and other members of the faithful regularly plan celebrations in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which typically involved the consumption of meat, I hereby grant a general dispensation from the Lenten observation of abstinence from meat on Friday, March 17, 2023 for all members of the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of St. Petersburg,” Bishop Gregory Parkes said in a statement.
The Diocese of St. Petersburg includes Catholics in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Those in the diocese were asked to undertake other forms of abstinence of sacrifice such as charitable works or exercises of piety.
The Diocese of Venice recommended that Catholics choose another day in the same week to abstain from meat and to perform some other penance or work of charity.