Indult Scorecard, Round Two

Just in case you forgot that St. Patrick's Day was a Catholic holiday -- or, better still, a triumph of inculturation par excellence -- this is a shot of New York's parade at its culmination point: the reviewing stand in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

With two weeks remaining until the Feast of the Apostle of Ireland, the reports keep rolling in as to whether US Catholics may partake of the sacred corned beef in their dioceses on a Lenten Friday, or whether they'll have to cross ecclesiastical lines to do so:

• In the Windy City -- where they dye the Chicago River green, literally -- Cardinal Francis George has granted the indult, asking those who make use of it "to substitute another form of penance for the Lenten Friday abstinence."
• In Milwaukee -- and you knew he would -- Archbishop Timothy Dolan (one of the few happy-go-lucky American prelates) has green-lighted corned beef on Paddy's, "with the requirement of some other act of penitence during the second week of Lent."
  
• In Brooklyn, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has granted the indult, with no mandatory strings attached.
• Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington has conceded the dispensation, "as long as [the faithful] choose another day during the week of March 13-18 to abstain."
• Bishop Sylvester Ryan of Monterey in California has granted the dispensation, "with the requirement that the person perform some other act of either charity or self denial."
• In the diocese of Metuchen, Bishop Paul Bootkoski has "commuted" the abstinence requirement to another day in Lent, left to the discretion of the faithful who take the indult.
• Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. has not granted an indult in Denver
• Archbishop Alex Brunett has given his blessing to meaty Paddy's celebrations in Seattle
  
• And, yes, Archbishop Burke of St. Louis has granted the Indult (Corned Beef-Flavored Crow eaten here).
  

Keep those reports a-comin'.

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