ATLANTA—The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence, which obligates one to abstain from all meats and meat products. It applies to Catholics who have reached the age of 14. 

This year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on Friday, March 17. As this particular feast is celebrated in significant ways throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., has granted to the faithful a dispensation from the obligation of abstinence on March 17.