US: Millions of American Catholics will enjoy a traditional St Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef tomorrow with a clear conscience after bishops temporarily lifted the Lenten ban on eating meat on Fridays.
More than a third of the US's 200 dioceses have granted a dispensation but many bishops have asked Catholics to make a similar sacrifice some other day instead.
Corned beef brisket has been an Irish delicacy in the US since the 19th century, when immigrants imported meat from Ireland and preserved it in salt. It is usually slathered in mustard, served with cabbage and, on St Patrick's Day, washed down with Irish green beer.
Catholics aged between 14 and 59 are obliged to abstain from meat each Friday in Lent and ignoring the prohibition without special permission from a bishop is a sin, although not a mortal one.
New York diocese has always granted a dispensation when St Patrick's Day falls on a Friday and at least 70 other dioceses have followed suit this year.
Even Gerald Kicanas, the vegan bishop of Tucson, Arizona, is allowing his congregation to indulge themselves. "I will only eat the cabbage, but we're allowing people to eat the corned beef as well," he told the Arizona Daily Star.
The archbishop of Milwaukee has also granted a dispensation but his spokeswoman warned Catholics from stricter dioceses not to crowd into Milwaukee for their corned beef. "It's a dispensation. It's meant to be observed in an appropriate way," she said.
The diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has taken a tougher line, obliging the local branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians to bring their corned beef and cabbage dinner forward to the evening.
Some Irish-Americans have complained about the ruling but diocesan spokesman Joseph Aponick was unapologetic.
"There are very few days of the year when Catholics are asked to abstain from meat," he said.
Back in Tucson, Fr Liam Leahy explained to his parishioners how the Irish celebrate the feast day at home. "St Patrick's Day is a day I know that's associated with green beer and drinking but actually in Ireland it's a holy day," he said.