More like Guidelines than Rules

So during Lent (that's the forty days before Easter, you heathens) good Catholics such as myself the rest of my family are to abstain from eating meat on Fridays. This year, however, St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday. What is a good Catholic, in need of the traditional corn beef, to do? Well you get a dispensation from your Bishop. A dispensation is the magic wand that Bishops are issued with their pointy hats that make sins go away. You just have to make up the day of no meat at a later date. A good solution. St. Patrick gets honored and no one goes to hell.