Catholics can celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Irish stew and corned beef hash today without breaking the Lenten tradition of not eating meat on Fridays.
Bishop Carl Mengeling, of the Diocese of Lansing, announced that Catholics could eat meat on St. Patrick's Day despite the rule.
"In light of the time-honored celebration of St. Patrick on his feast day by various parishes and groups within the Diocese of Lansing, I am pleased to dispense the faithful who participate in their celebrations from the observance of Friday, March 17, 2006 as a day of abstinence from meat," Mengeling wrote in a letter to area churches.
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ gave up his life the Friday before Easter, which they recognize as Good Friday. Abstaining from meat on Lenten Fridays symbolizes Jesus' sacrifice.
If St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday during Lent, the bishop in each diocese will decide whether Catholics can eat meat on this day. The last time St. Patrick's Day fell on a Friday, the former Bishop of Lansing also consented.
About half the bishops in the United States dispense Catholics for St. Patrick's Day. This decision is usually based upon the population of Irish Catholics in the community.
Mengeling urges those who eat meat today to substitute another day of the week to abstain from it.
Choosing to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day is ultimately an individual decision. Some Catholics will not eat meat, regardless of the bishop's decree.
Tony Aditjandra, a mechanical engineering graduate student, sees no reason to break the Lenten tradition because he is not Irish.
"I won't eat meat on Friday because that's what I've been doing since I was a kid," Aditjandra said. "Eating meat on St. Patrick's Day is very special for some people. They are trying to observe their traditions and culture because, especially in America, that tradition is disappearing. It's not like they're making a steak. They're eating traditional St. Patrick's Day food."
Even though dietetics junior Erin Howard is both Irish and Catholic, she will not be eating a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage today.
"It's part of a sacrifice you make for Lent," Howard said. "Just because it's a holiday doesn't mean you give up the sacrifice for Lent."
But English sophomore Tim Bingham will be indulging in the meat-eating feast.
"I'm not trying to be blasphemous by eating meat," Bingham said. "I like meat and I like St. Patrick's Day. I haven't heard of any cases where someone ate meat and was condemned by their Catholic peers. Eating meat — it's food."
Father Mark Inglot of St. John Student Parish, 327 M.A.C. Ave., also might surrender to Irish stew and corned beef.
"If I go somewhere that celebrates St. Patrick's Day, I will eat meat because the bishop let me," Inglot said. "He did it for the Irish people, out of respect to an old tradition."
