BANGOR – Catholics in Maine can relish their corned beef this St. Patrick’s Day free of fear that they’ll be doing penance come Sunday for eating meat on a Friday during Lent.

Bishop Richard J. Malone informed parish priests earlier this year that he was granting a special dispensation from the no-meat rule so that every Catholic, no matter ethnic origin, could be Irish on Friday. Catholics in Maine, Malone said, could abstain from meat on Wednesday, March 15, instead.

“I did it so that folks would be able to observe St. Patrick’s Day as a festive day rather than a day of penance,” the bishop said Sunday during a visit to St. John Catholic Church in Bangor. “People can celebrate as long as it’s moral and legal, but I hope they would use the day for prayer as well.”

Lent is the 40-day period of prayer and penance to prepare for Easter. Catholics ages 14 and older are required to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent. Abstaining from meat is considered by Catholics to be an act of penance and a reminder of the sacrifices of Jesus.

Once in a while, cultural tradition and the demands of faith collide for Irish Catholics when the feast of Ireland’s patron saint falls on a Friday during Lent as it did in 1995 and 2000.

The dispensation has become routine in major metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York and Chicago where parades and community festivals have been held for decades. Malone’s predecessor, Bishop Joseph J. Gerry, issued similar dispensations.

Peter Geaghan, the owner of Bangor’s unofficial Irish pub that has borne his family’s name for 30 St. Patrick’s Days, welcomed the news of Malone’s decision.

“God bless him,” Geaghan said Saturday, as he wiped his hands on his apron.

Over the weekend he started cooking the first batch of the more than 120 pounds of corned beef he expects to serve Friday with cabbage and potatoes. He said he also expects patrons to eat another 40 to 50 pounds of sliced corned beef on sandwiches.

“It will be one long, full day because it falls on the weekend,” he predicted. “We normally serve about 500 people on an average Friday. I expect we’ll double that.”

Green beer also is expected to flow.

Last year, when the holiday fell on a Thursday, Geaghan’s Pub, located in the Best Inn on Main Street, served 380 pints of the colored brew. That’s about 20 percent of the nearly 1,800 servings of all the beer poured at his establishment during last year’s St. Pat’s celebration.

Chris Geaghan, owner of the Whig & Courier in downtown Bangor, was a bit more philosophical about the bishop’s dispensation than his brother was.

“It’s very ecumenical of him,” he said.

St. Patrick’s Day is a “very intimate” affair at the small pub in West Market Square, Chris Geaghan said Saturday. He predicted that people would be standing “elbow to elbow” Friday night and business would be steady until he shuts down at 2 a.m. Saturday.

St. Patrick’s Day will be just another working day for the spiritual head of Maine’s more than 230,000 Catholics. Malone said Sunday that on Friday he would celebrate Mass in honor of St. Patrick, who is a secondary patron saint of the diocese along with John the Baptist.

“St. Patrick was one of the very first effective evangelists,” the bishop said, referring to the fact that the saint converted all of the inhabitants of Ireland to Christianity in less than 40 years. “I see him as an inspiration as we do our work of evangelizing.”

Heads of Catholic dioceses around the country, however, did not let their flocks off as lightly as Malone did.

Cardinal Adam Maida suggested that in exchange for being able to consume corned beef, Detroit-area Catholics should perform personal acts of penance, such as “prayer, fasting and alms giving.” Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, head of the diocese in Lincoln, Neb., went a step further and outlined a specific penance – reciting five decades of the rosary. That’s five “Our Fathers” and 50 “Hail Marys.”

None of the nation’s Catholic prelates, including Malone, appears to have issued a directive on the consumption of beer – amber, brown or green – on St. Patrick’s Day.

Fast facts on St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland

. Born in 387 at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, Scotland.

. Died on March 17, 461, at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.

. Parents were Romans living in Britain in charge of the colonies.

. Taken to Ireland at age 14 as a slave to herd sheep.

. Escaped at age 20 after having a dream in which God appeared.

. Returned to Ireland in 433 as a priest.

. Converted all of Ireland in 40 years.

. Used the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

. Drove the snakes from Ireland, according to legend.

Source: Catholic Online