Sacrifice-Free CatholicismLeave well enough alone
Idea stolen from Digital Hairshirt (Digi and I don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things, but she's still one cool chickie!)
Oh, barf. Anything the American Bishops can do to make Catholicism more user friendly (and sacrifice-free)... they will. Many Holy Days are now moved to Sunday. Even Ascension Thursday is now on a Sunday??
Now many are granting a dispensation for meat this upcoming St. Patrick's Day. That way, us mackerel-snappers can have corned beef. Hold on... if I can have corned beef this upcoming Friday, does that still make me a mackerel-snapper?
Now this may be really presumptuous of me, but isn't abstaining from meat on Fridays suppose to be a sacrifice? Aren't we suppose to bear sacrifices happily? In fact, what ever happened to embracing our sacrifices? If "the bar" were any lower, it would be indistinguishable from a sewer pipe.
I have a new motto specifically for the USCCB; Cast Aside Your Cross And Follow Me
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
9:24 AM
11 Comments:
Well, there are some Irish Catholics that are just that: Irish first, then catholic. They need a dispensation to be Irish on that day, instead of moving the penance to a different day, why not move the corned beef and cabbage to another day? When the two should meet, I think a tradition of mortification should trump a tradition of gustatory significance. But that's just me..
Jimbob,
Much like the 55 "Catholic(?)" congressmen who think their salvation lies in the Democratic Party Platform, those same Irish you described need to realize that eating corned beef and cabbage isn't the 15th Station of the Cross.
To be honest I don't understand why we celebrate St. Patrick's day the way we do in the US. How does drinking green beer until you pass out and wake up in your own vomit honor the great saint? It doesn't.
The St. Patrick's Day Dispensation is an old, old custom in the USA, ever since the Irish becane the largest group of Catholics in this country...so I wouldn't peg it as a newfangled thing...
As far as celebrating St. Patrick's Day properly, you do it by drinking Guiness, Harp, Beamish, Murphy's, and other fine beers. I myself will be having a half-and-half on that fine day...
well, they moved the feast of St. Joseph this year. It's supposed to be March 19th, but it is now on the 20th because his feast is on a Sunday. I don't see why they can't do the same with St. Patrick's day... if the eating of corned beef is so important in honoring St. patrick.
I'm Irish and I hate corned beef. Go figure.
Dave,
I've been Catholic my entire life (46 yrs), and I've never of the dispensations on this level.
But in all fairness, you may be right... but coupled with every other "dispensation" granted by the American Bishops, I still wonder where any sacrifice is
Confessionator:
You should have Irish stew instead, or, in keeping with the letter of the Friday discipline, have some good salmon (which is hardly a penance)...
well I will gladly take corn beef & cabbage over the ghastly tackey leprechaun decorations & green glitter plastic hats...
I completely agree with you on your points about lowering the bar for lazy Catholics. You would not believe the level of difficulty it is around here to find a mass on an actual Holy Day of Obligation. I mean...wait til Sunday? What the heck is the point of being Catholic and having that identity if all we ever do is in mimick our protestant brethren?
I fully support what the USCCB did. I also support them returning Lent to 40 days of Fast and Abstinence, instead of this "2 day" Lent deal we get now.
Then, people can be like, "Wow...we can feast on St. Patrick's Day" which is a noble and proper feast day. I mean, at least then it's worth something.
In the past, I believe the dispensation only was made by bishops with big Irish populations (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco).
Regarding Lenten sacrifices, cave visitors may interested to know that in the Maronite Rite they don't start Lent on Ash Wednesday. Nope, they start two days earlier -- and distribute ashes -- on "Great Monday." Why? Because the Maronites have a huge devotion to the Blessed Virgin, so they want to celebrate the Feast of the Annuciation on March 25th as well as the Feast of St. Joseph (March 19th) [remember when EVERY Western church had a statue to good St. Joseph] and are determined to do the full 40 days of Lent.
For you poorly uncatechized cave visitors (through no fault of your own, I'm sure), the Maronite Rite is of the universal Church's Eastern rites, not to be confused with the Eastern ORTHODOX churches which are in schism from Rome.
What a joke? Do these moronic bishops, or any any other spaghetti-spined "Catholics", think that St. Patrick ever asked his bishop for a dispensation from his Lenten obligations?
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