March 09, 2006

St. Patrick's Day Parade, without Lenten Friday rules

The New York St. Patrick's Day Parade will be held March 17 this year, but it only ranks as the 4th best St. Patrick's Day Parade in the United States, according to Travel Channel.

(Boston, Chicago and New Orleans all rank higher.)

But any of the Irish Catholics celebrating in the New York area have been given a one-day pass from the no-meat restriction called for on that Lenten Friday, Newsday reports.

"St. Patrick is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York," archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling told Newsday. "As such, we celebrate March 17 as a feast day and all Catholics in the archdiocese get a dispensation from the Lenten requirements for that day."

But there is a catch for anyone taking part in the traditional corned beef and cabbage. For those who choose to take advantage of the dispensation, they are asked to perform another act of penance in lieu of abstaining from meat," Sean Dolan, a spokesman for Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, told the paper.

The parade will begin at 11 a.m. at 44th Street, heading north on 5th Avenue to 86th Street, where it will turn right heading toward 3rd Avenue.

Related: St. Patrick’s Cathedral
St. Patrick’s Cathedral mass schedule
Murph Guide’s St. Patrick’s 2006 drinking guide
Fitzpatrick Hotels - "Irish hospitality with an American accent"

March 9, 2006 08:27 AM in Drinkology, Foodology, Midtown, Sightsology, Upper East Side

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