At the Diocese of Juneau on Friday afternoon, one deacon ate rice and beans for a late lunch while Business Manager and deacon Michael Monagle talked about the vegetarian soup he usually has for dinner on Fridays during Lent.
In accordance with Catholic tradition, Fridays during Lent are for fasting, as Catholics refrain from eating meat as a show of discipline and penance.
“People are generally encouraged to do with a little less during Lent,” Monagle said, “just to kind of focus on their needs more than their wants.”
This coming Friday, however, is a little different.
St. Patrick’s Day falls on Friday, and dioceses throughout the country are allowing their parishioners to eat meat in respect to the cultural tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage on the Irish holiday. Father Pat Travers of Ketchikan, who is acting as Juneau’s Diocesan Administrator after the departure of Bishop Edward Burns, announced this past Friday that Catholics in Juneau will be allowed to eat meat for the holiday, known in the Catholic church as the Memorial of Saint Patrick.
Travers is far from alone in issuing this, as Anchorage and numerous other dioceses around the country have done the same as a courtesy.
“It’s not as if we have groups of Irish-Americans ask for this,” Travers said. “We just know that because a large percentage of Catholics here in our diocese, as in most dioceses in the U.S., are Irish-Americans, that they would appreciate having this.”
Monagle, a lifelong Juneau resident whose Irish ancestors came to Alaska during the Gold Rush, said there are many local Catholics who are looking forward to indulging in corned beef or other traditional Irish meat dishes on Friday. He mentioned that he enjoys corned beef and cabbage, but his wife isn’t so fond of it, so it’s a rare treat for him.
Still, the importance of the Lenten season will likely override the St. Patrick’s Day festivities for Monagle and his family.
“For me personally, it’s really not going to make much difference,” Monagle said. “I’ll probably still observe the abstinence on that day.”
The action — known as a dispensation — isn’t unheard of, as St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday every few years. The most recent time it happened was in 2006, when Travers remembers many dioceses issuing the same response. Two prominent ones — Lincoln, Nebraska, and Denver, Colorado — are upholding the fast, putting the abstinence ahead of the holiday just like Monagle.
The Memorial of Saint Patrick is a very important occasion in Ireland, Travers said, but a fairly minor one in the United States. Not much will change during Friday’s mass.
“What you would have is probably, in most places, the priest wearing the purple vestments for Lent,” Travers explained, “and most of the prayers and the readings for the mass would be for that particular day of Lent, but the first prayer would be in honor of St. Patrick.”
This past Friday afternoon, a large book containing many of those Lenten readings stood open at the front of empty pews at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The page displayed verses to be read on the first Sunday of Lent, Matthew 4:1-11, and told the story of Christ fasting for 40 days and 40 nights.
The spirit of those verses is still alive in the Catholic community, but the culture of the Irish-American community in Juneau and beyond is also important to the church. Monagle isn’t sure exactly how many people in town are of Irish descent, but being able to eat meat Friday allows everyone to join in on the tradition, Irish or not.
“I don’t know what the percentage would be,” Monagle said of how many Irish-Americans are in town. “On St. Patty’s Day, everybody’s Irish.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com
