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Dan
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
I am a 26 year old, living in Medford, Massachusetts.
I was raised in a mildly religious home,
but have actively tried to be a better Catholic
over the last three or four years.
I have had the good fortune of being invited
out to dinner with friends tomorrow evening
to participate in Boston's Restaurant
Week. Looking at the menu for tomorrow
evening's special discounted offerings, I
see that each entree option includes meat.
Intending to continue sacrificing meat each Friday,
I called the restaurant and asked if it would
be possible to omit the bacon from the salmon
dish. The restaurant said they could exclude
the chunks of bacon from the meal but that
the lentils would still be cooked using bacon
products.
I don't know if just excluding those chunks:
- satisfies my Lenten obligation or
- if I should either:
- request a different side or
- graciously decline the invitation to dinner?
I expressed my concerns with my friend. She
asked her priest because she also noticed
all the options have meat of some kind in
them. He replied that it is the feast of St.
Patrick so the abstinence from meat obligation
doesn't apply tomorrow.
If you could provide any insight, it would
put my mind at ease. If I do not hear back
from you before dinner, I will likely request
a special side for my meal or decline the
invitation to be on the safe side. Nevertheless,
the response from my friend about the
Feast of St. Patrick being an exception
for this Friday is a topic that interests
me beyond this one meal.
I have never heard about this before.
Thank you for your help!
Dan
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If I abstain, is a little meat OK and is
the Feast of St. Patrick an exception for Lenten Fridays? }
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Mary
Ann replied:
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Hi, Dan —
The new abstinence practice is not
quite so microscopic as the last.
Abstain from meat and meat products,
but one doesn't need to worry about
the tiny things one cannot control,
such as bacon flavor, bone broth,
possible chicken broth, etc.
And, yes, it is traditional to be
dispensed from abstinence on St.
Patrick's, but that was Wednesday
this year!
Mary Ann
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Eric
replied:
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Hi, Dan —
You live near a couple of us so perhaps
you might like to get together sometime.
The Archdiocese also has a number
of young adult groups you should
try to hook up with.
Anyway, about your question.
It is OK to eat something cooked
in bacon fat (or other meat fat)
so long as it contains no flesh.
If there is meat in the lentil dish
that's a problem but if it's just
drippings, bouillon, or fat, it's
OK.
With respect to St. Patrick's Day,
it is true that when St. Patrick's
Day falls on a Friday, the archbishop
routinely dispenses from the obligation
to abstain from meat. This does not
apply this year, as far as I know,
seeing that St. Patrick's Day does
not fall on a Friday. I see
no announcement on the archdiocesan
web site mentioning the dispensation.
You are free to call them at (617)
254-0100 to confirm this one way or the
other.
My recommendation, if push comes
to shove, is to say you'd like a
vegetarian meal. I suspect they'll
respect that fairly readily. If they
can't, and there really isn't enough
to eat, you could try
to obtain a dispensation from your
pastor, or just renege.
Eric
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Eric
followed-up:
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Dan —
According to canon lawyer Ed Peters,
you're off the hook because this
Friday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph:
No
dispensation for this Friday
(St. Joseph) is needed
I thought of this yesterday but, having
revisited this numerous times, I sincerely
thought that it had to be a day of
obligation to apply (which it isn't),
but if a respected canon lawyer says
so,
I'll accept it.
So eat what you want.
Eric
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