It’s a miracle for meat lovers!
Catholics are getting special permission to chow down on corned beef and other meat that would normally be banned on Fridays during Lent — for St. Patrick’s Day.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Diocese of Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio granted the dispensation to their flocks, and Irish eyes were smiling.
“I’ll be kissing everyone, not only because I’m Irish, but I can add lamb to my stew!” Sara Shaughnessy, a 34-year-old web designer from Brooklyn, told The Post.
“An Irish lady can’t live on soda bread — especially when she drinks,” she said, while sipping a beer at Carragher’s Pub & Restaurant in Midtown.
Frank Shaughnessy, 39, Sara’s cousin, added, “Nice of God to allow me to eat some sausages.”
The New York and Brooklyn dioceses — which encompass all five boroughs — join others, including those on Long Island, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, in giving the dispensation.
From Ash Wednesday until Easter, canon law normally requires that Catholics abstain from meat each week as a symbol of remembrance of the day Jesus was crucified.
But for the first time since 2006, St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday — and church leaders are letting parishioners slide.
“This year . . . I have decided to dispense our people from abstaining from meat,” Dolan wrote in a letter to parish pastors and administrators. “Please notify your parishioners.”
Some Catholics around the country were asked to abstain from meat on Saturday if they indulge on St. Patrick’s Day — but Dolan is not asking for the same trade-off.
DiMarzio has asked his flock to find another way to offer sacrifice.
“I strongly encourage all who make use of this dispensation to engage in another sacrificial or charitable act that day,” he wrote in his decree.
The decision to suspend the centuries-old Lenten tradition left Big Apple beef eaters feeling exalted.
“Luck of the Irish!” said Tom Lynch, 31. “God is watching over me and he is happy I’ve behaved.”
Michael Romero, the manager of Carragher’s Pub, said the dispensation ultimately saved him from taking a big loss on meat.
“If I were to put a percentage on the day, meat dishes would account for 70 percent of our revenue,” he said.