San Angelo

Bishop Sis: No Corned Beef & Cabbage for Catholics on St. Patrick's Day

By Matt Trammell, Mar 17, 2023
 

SAN ANGELO, TX – Roman Catholics in the Diocese of San Angelo must continue to observe lent despite St. Patrick's Day, confirms Bishop Michael Sis, the head of the local Diocese.

The following is the full message from Bishop Sis:

Since St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday of Lent, some are wondering whether I will be offering a diocesan dispensation from the obligation of abstinence from meat on Friday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day. In West Texas, there is not a broadly practiced local cultural tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage. There are many beautiful and joyful ways to honor St. Patrick on his feast day without consuming meat. Therefore, I will not be granting an overall diocesan dispensation from the obligation to abstain from meat on St. Patrick's Day. Local pastors already have the ongoing faculty to dispense individuals on a case-by-case basis. Through the intercession of St. Patrick, the apostle and patron of Ireland, may God bring a new wave of evangelization to the Irish people.

Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily

View Past Issues

The LIVE! Daily is the "newspaper to your email" for San Angelo. Each content-packed edition has weather, the popular Top of the Email opinion and rumor mill column, news around the state of Texas, news around west Texas, the latest news stories from San Angelo LIVE!, events, and the most recent obituaries. The bottom of the email contains the most recent rants and comments. The LIVE! daily is emailed 5 days per week. On Sundays, subscribers receive the West Texas Real Estate LIVE! email.

Required

Most Recent Videos

Comments

Absolutely no cleric or anyone else is going to dictate what I choose to eat and when I choose to eat it. Religious overreach personified.

Permalink

Agreed.

To others here, please note that by my asking this question I am not trying to cast aspersions on Roman Catholic orthodoxy.  Having said that and being raised Southern Baptist, I have always found the old "No meat on Fridays" thing to be a bit odd.  My suspicion is that it is a matter of tradition as opposed to an attempt at strict coherence to doctrine.  Meat on Fridays is cool with me.

Taking this further, when John The Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan it was full immersion.  Since Roman Catholocism leans heavily on tradition, some of which is beautiful, and supposedly on doctrine based on the Bible, why then does it not baptize with full immersion as I experienced quite some time ago?

I confess to not being an expert regarding religious matters.  I simply see what appears to be a disconnect here and welcome an explanation.

I'm not trying to start a fight.

Permalink

Post a comment to this article here:

Login to CommentRegister to Comment