Lenten Friday Dispensation

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Hello Church Scholars,

My grandmother just passed away and the funeral is this Friday. My father has a very unorthodox priest who told us that he'd give us a dispensation to allow for us to have meat at the meal after the funeral, but I thought that only bishops had that authority. Who can do this?

God bless,

Micah

[Apotheoun]

In reference to the rules for fast and abstinence Pope Paul VI issued the following norm: "While the faculties of individual bishops of dispensing, according to the decree [u]Christus Dominus[/u], number 8b, remain unchanged, [i]pastors also for just cause and in accordance with the prescriptions of the Ordinary may grant to individual faithful as well as individual families dispensation or commutation of abstinence and fast into other pious practices[/i]." [Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution [u]Paenitemini[/u], chap. 3, no. 7] Thus, the parish priest in accordance with the prescriptions of his local Ordinary may, for a good reason, give a dispensation from the rules of fast and abstinence, but in its place he must assign another act of penance or some other pious practice.

God bless,
Todd