Anno Domini 2026 March 14

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Saturday, 14 March, in the year of our Lord 2026. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Sunday (tomorrow): 8:30 & 10:00 AM, Mass, Laetare or Mothering Sunday, also known as the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
• Monday: 10:00 AM, Mass, Lenten Feria.
• Tuesday: 5:30 PM, Mass, S. Patrick, Bishop & Confessor,
  Immediately followed by Evensong.
• Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, S. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor.
• Thursday: 6:30 PM, Mass, S. Joseph, Spouse of the BVM, followed by Soup & Study.
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, S. Cuthbert, Bishop & Confessor, with the Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately followed by Stations of the Cross & Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
• Saturday: 10:00 AM, Holy Communion, S. Benedict, Abbot.
• Sunday: 8:30 AM, Deacon's Liturgy, Passion Sunday.
  10:00 AM, Mass, Passion Sunday.
  Parrish Brunch to follow 10:00 Mass at Smoke Barbecue.

On Tuesday, we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick, Bishop and Confessor. Inasmuch as his Feast has fallen during Great Lent, and there has arisen a custom whereby corned beef and cabbage is eaten on this day, people often ask if the abstinence strictures can be released. The mechanism whereby this rule could be relaxed is called a Dispensation.

Dispensations are licenses granted by ecclesiastical authority to do some act otherwise canonically illegal, or for the remittance of a penalty for the breaking of such a rule. The practice of granting dispensations began very early. By the Fifth century, the Bishops of Rome were employing the dispensing power, and a similar power was also used by other Bishops, councils, and even (in minor matters) parrish Priests. By the later Middle Ages the dispensation had become more or less a perogative of the Pope, and this position, with the elimination of minor abuses was maintained by the Council of Trent (1545-63). The situation maintains at the Roman Church, though Bishops are regularly granted certain powers, including those conferred by the Pope every five years (facultates quinquennales).

All writers on the subject are agreed that there must be an adequate reason for the use of the dispensing power. Thus, Saint Basil urges that the needs of the time and the advantages of the Church are the two main requisites for a just dispensation, and this has been the consistent teaching of later canonists. In England the dispensing power of the pope was eliminated in 1534 by the legislation of Henry VIII, but it was bestowed in a restricted form on the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has been rarely used and was further limited in 1838 by the Pluralities act.

Against the idea of eliminating 'minor abuses', noted above per the Roman Church, we have kept the distinctions. Abstinence (refraining from red meat) and fasting are decidedly minor abuses. Indeed, they should be properly termed sacramentals ~ items and practices that inform and strengthen our faith, but do not approach the power and propriety of the 'Seven themselves. There is also the old joke about the Priest sitting at-table with some parishioners on a Friday in Lent, when steaks are laid before them, rather than the expected fish. Everyone makes no move but to look at him, at which point he raises his hand in the form of blessing, and making the sign, pronounces "thou art Snapper."

In all seriousness, I've always tried to avoid dispensations, in any form, at any level, as like our English Brethren, I suspect that to enter-into the practice is to tread on shaky theological ground. On the other hand, this hardly seems a salvific matter. Thus, for the soothing of the consciences of the faithful at S. Matthew's, though we'll not declare beef to be fish, we will dispense the practice of abstinence for the Feast of Saint Patrick (only abstinence, not fasting ~ no gluttony, please). Go-forth, and enjoy His bounty. We remain

in His praise,

The Rt. Rev'd T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish