This year, the Solemnity of St. Patrick, our patron, falls on a Friday, and His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan has dispensed all Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of New York from abstaining from meat on March 17, 2023.

Generally, when an archbishop on such an occasion lifts the obligation of abstinence, he stipulates that those of proper age and circumstance should choose some other penitential practice instead by making an equivalent sacrifice on the day itself or abstaining from meat on a weekday during the third week of Lent. Or, creatively, there is the option for a person to offer a decade of the rosary for some particular intention. As we rejoice with a festive meal, it would be appropriate to make a gift to one of our food pantries or soup kitchens to be sure that the poor will eat.

It is good to remember that abstinence on Fridays is not just a Lenten practice. Back in the 1960s, the requirement of not eating meat was a common practice, but was lifted, except during Lent, when the penitential practice of abstaining specifically from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent remains to this day.