“My name is Conlon – very Irish. More significantly I am Catholic, and Lent is an important season of prayer, penance and charity. If some fellow Catholics within the Diocese of Joliet feel that eating meat on St. Patrick’s Day – which this year falls on a Friday – is important enough to break the rule of abstinence, they are permitted to make a conscientious decision to do so. In that case, they should substitute some other form of penance. For myself, I see no connection between honoring the patron saint and apostle of Ireland and eating corned beef.”
