GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — This year, Catholics will be able to eat meat on one particular Friday during Lent.
For Catholics, Lent, the six week period leading up to Easter, is a time for prayer, fasting and giving. During this time, Catholics are not to consume meat on Fridays.
But there will be a different set of rules this year on March 17.
That’s because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, which may include a traditional corned beef dinner.
Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay is giving Catholics permission to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day as it honors, “one of the most successful Christian missionaries in history converting Ireland to Christianity.”
However, if you choose to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day, Bishop Ricken advises to perform a charitable or sacrificial act to make up for it.
The same compromise was made in 2017 when St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Friday.
