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Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader, Renita Fennick Column: This Exception Takes Away From Lent RENITA FENNICK OPINION

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Renita Fennick, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Mar. 15--aybe it's because there isn't a drop of Irish blood running through my veins. Maybe it's because I don't like cabbage or corned beef.

But, I just don't get the big dilemma facing Catholics who plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on Friday. Those who party hard every March 17 are wondering how they can enjoy their traditional feast while observing another meatless Friday during Lent.

It seems simple enough to me. Enjoy the green bagels on Friday -- even the green beer -- and save the ham, cabbage and corned beef for Saturday.

It comes down to what is more important -- an ethnic tradition or a church policy.

Luckily for many Catholics, bishops and cardinals are making it easy. They're eliminating the guilt by lifting the no-meat-on-Friday ban just this once.

I'm not really sure how this applies to people like me, Catholics who aren't Irish and prefer pierogies or pizza to corned beef. Can I eat a cheesesteak this Friday? How about chicken?

A statement by Cardinal Adam Maida of the Archdiocese of Detroit has me even more confused. He "grants his blessing and permission" to those who want to keep tradition but who do not want to part with church policy. In exchange for eating corned beef, Maida asks that those Catholics perform personal acts of penance, such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

I wonder how drinking green beer in an Irish pub fits into that scenario.

Gestures can carry lots of meaning

I don't mean to be a St. Paddy's Day party pooper and I have no problems with all of the festivities that are associated with this late-winter holiday. We surely could use a little merriment around this time of year.

But, the fact that the church is making an exception for one group on one day seems to just take something away from the whole Lenten season.

I'm not saying that being a good Catholic -- or even a good Christian or human being for that matter -- has anything to do with giving up chocolate or soda for 40 days and 40 nights or giving up meat on Friday. But, if you're going to make a rule or establish a policy, you ought to stick by it.

The Lenten season has already changed so much since I was a child. People took the weeks leading up to Easter more seriously -- and especially the last few days before Easter.

No matter how young we were, we were encouraged to "give up" candy or something we loved. Most of us never made it to Easter without munching on a peanut butter cup but we tried. Because we went to public school, we hiked up the hill every Friday afternoon to attend Stations of the Cross. (OK, it wasn't quite a mile but it was in all kinds of weather.)

People refrained from any big celebration during Lent. If you were planning a wedding or bridal shower, you held off until after Easter.

Good Friday, especially between noon and 3 p.m., was the most solemn time of the year. We were usually in the middle of cleaning the house for Easter but when the clock struck noon, all activity stopped -- the vacuum cleaner, the radio, the television.

Those who argue in favor of the modernization of the church -- and of all religions -- might say that most of these practices are rooted in a policy made by a church official and not doctrine or divine law. They might say that abstaining from meat for six Fridays or trying to live a more solemn life for a few weeks out of the year is just a gesture. Maybe so. But sometimes a gesture can carry quite a bit of meaning.

Renita Fennick may be reached at 829-7246 or rfennick@leader.net [mailto:rfennick@leader.net]

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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