Regarding Abstinence on St. Patrick's Day

Statement from Bishop Robert McManus
This year the Liturgical Memorial of St. Patrick, March 17, falls on a Friday of the Second Week of Lent, a day of abstinence. In light of the number of inquiries about my granting a dispensation from the requirement to refrain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent, I am granting a diocesan-wide dispensation from the law of abstinence on Friday, March 17, 2017. I would ask the Catholic faithful who take advantage of this general dispensation to perform another act of penance on either the day before or after March 17, 2017.