Protocol No.: 011-2023
Re: FEAST OF ST. PATRICK
Seeing that the prescripts of canons 1251 and 1253 of the Code of Canon Law, in keeping with the immemorial practice of the Church, require the faithful who have completed their fourteenth year to abstain from eating meat on every Friday of the year in the manner determined more precisely by the conference of bishops;
Bearing in mind that the norms on fasting and abstinence promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for the dioceses of the United States require all the faithful to abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent, even while the same norms permit the faithful to substitute some other act of penance in place of abstinence from meat on Fridays outside of Lent;
Noting, however, that the memorial of Saint Patrick falls on a Friday of Lent this year; and
Exhorting the faithful to exercise due moderation and temperance in festivities and celebrations of the memorial of St. Patrick, in keeping with the solemnity and honor that is due to so great a saint and his tireless efforts to inspire holiness in the Christian faithful;
Wishing nevertheless to foster a joyful and reverent devotion to that great saint and, moreover, to honor the patrimony of the Irish people to whom he first preached the good news of salvation;
Now I, the undersigned Bishop of Madison, having conferred with my venerable brother bishops of the dioceses of the Province of Milwaukee, hereby
DISPENSE
The faithful who reside in the Diocese of Madison. as well as anyone actually present in the Diocese of Madison, from the observance of the law of abstinence on Friday. March 17, 2023;
And I urge them to perform some salutary work of penance or charity that day so that they might unite themselves more perfectly with the suffering and death of our Lord.
Given this fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, 2023.
+Donald J. Hying
Bishop of Madison
Timothy J. Cavanaugh
Chancellor