WILMINGTON DE — The Most William E. Koenig, Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, recently announced that he has granted Catholics in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a dispensation from the obligation to abstain from meat on Saint Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17, 2023. Catholics who take advantage of the dispensation, are encouraged to, “undertake a work of charity, an exercise of piety, or an act of comparable penance on some other occasion during the Third Week of Lent,” according to the dispensation decree.
This dispensation is given in recognition of the contributions of Irish immigrants to the life of the Diocese and their indebtedness to St. Patrick for the gift of their Catholic faith, the decree stated.
For Catholics, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence from meat. The norms concerning abstinence are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards. In addition, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence from meat for Catholics.
To read the dispensation decree in its entirety and for more information about Lent, visit www.cdow.org/Lent.
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