Whereas, the disciplinary practice of abstaining from meat on the Fridays in Lent is an important dimension of the penitential nature of the season and applies to all Catholics who have reached the age of fourteen (canons 1251 and 1252);

Whereas, this year the Feast of St. Patrick, March 17, falls on a Friday in Lent;

Now therefore, in accord with canon 87 §1 of the Code of Canon Law, given the many celebrations that occur on this day in commemoration of St. Patrick and Irish Heritage, I hereby grant to all Catholics of the Diocese of Phoenix, as well as all present here that day, a dispensation from abstinence from meat. All who make use of this dispensation are to engage in another sacrificial or charitable act that day.

Given at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, Phoenix, Arizona, on this 1st Day of February in the year of Our Lord 2023.

+John P. Dolan
Bishop of Phoenix
February 1, 2023