USA TODAY
Don the green and boil the cabbage: St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are starting early this year — at least for some Irish-Americans who don’t want to run afoul of the Roman Catholic Church.
Festivities kick off this weekend — more than a week before March 17 — with Philadelphia, Milwaukee and New Haven, Conn., among cities holding parades. That’s because St. Patrick’s Day falls during Holy Week for the first time since 1940.
And to preserve the week’s solemn focus, church officials have moved St. Patrick’s feast day up to March 14. Some event organizers have moved up their celebrations as well.
“To us first and foremost, it’s a religious holiday, and we would never hold our festivities without the Mass,” says John Forbes, general chairman of Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The parade will follow religious services honoring Ireland’s patron saint on March 14.
Some cities are sticking with traditions of celebrating either on the 17th or the Sunday before, which is Palm Sunday, despite pleas from bishops who wish they’d switch dates. The tension underscores a struggle to reclaim a unique holiday that blends revelry, religion and cultural pride.
“It’s not at all surprising that the conservatives would recoil from parades” during Holy Week, says Thomas Hachey of the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. “The festivities have degenerated in some instances. … They’re not so much honoring a saint as they are a reflection of embarrassing displays of drunkenness and increasing amounts of commercialism.”
In Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Frederick Campbell has had no luck persuading the Shamrock Club to let Holy Week be a time without floats, jigs or grand parties. Months of negotiation haven’t led to compromise, even when the club offered Campbell a role as parade grand marshal.
“The 17th of March is a huge day for any Irish community,” says Mark Dempsey, president of the Shamrock Club of Columbus. Irish-Americans “rely on that day (to communicate) a huge tradition of public service and charitable giving that Irish organizations do throughout the year.”
In St. Louis, Archbishop Raymond Burke released a statement suggesting that Catholics should celebrate St. Patrick’s Day “at an appropriate time outside of Holy Week” and “observe the holiest days of the year with the appropriate recollection of mind and restraint in activity.”
But that message may have been too subtle. For 27 years, the largely Irish neighborhood of Dogtown has had its parade on March 17.
“We don’t feel it’s disrespectful” to march during Holy Week, says Jim Sheerin, a member of the Dogtown parade committee. “Since the archbishop didn’t say ‘Change it,’ we feel fine about doing it.”
Not all bishops have picked this battle as a worthy one to wage. Those in Boston and New York, for instance, opted not to fault their flocks for holding festivities during Holy Week. Others got a lucky break, such as in Chicago, where traditional events such as dyeing the Chicago River green and a downtown parade always happen on the Saturday before the 17th.
Whatever bruises may linger from this year’s unusual calendar, they’ll have plenty of time to heal. St. Patrick’s Day won’t fall during Holy Week again until 2160.
Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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posted March 6, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I’m with the NY and Boston church bishops. They have enough sense to let the celebrations happen during the week they should. This may be a first…I’m agreeing with the decision of a RCC bishop! (probably the last) Personally I’m Irish( & English,Welsh, Scotish, German) and ST. Patrick’s Day is just plain fun and a great time to celebrate a great country.
posted March 6, 2008 at 11:07 pm
We are so confused about “St. Patrick’s” Day that sorting it all out may seem hopeless. To begin, if I recall, JP2 declared Patrick was not only not a saint, he may not have even been an actual, histrical person. Second, we seem to throuoghly blend Scotland (Whose St Andrew’s feast is Nov 30) and Ireland in one ironic Celtic stew. The presence of bagpipers in kilts in St Patty’s festivities betrays our confusion. The Irish treat like the religious holiday it was intended, but the American, desperate for one last fling before the end of winter, use it as an excuse for all sort of licentious behavior. The Irish do not eat Corned Beef and Cabbage or sing Danny Boy on this day in particular. So whether the day is celebrated on March 17 or 12 or any other moment of convenience makes no lasting difference.
Ah, well, I hoist a pint O’ Green Brew and fake a brogue like the rest O ye false sons of Blarney!
posted March 7, 2008 at 3:36 pm
jestrfyl:
I had heard that JP2 had decided that St. Patrick wasn’t a saint anymore, but didn’t know the reason. That doesn’t seem to have stopped the festivities. I did know that the Irish don’t eat corned beef and cabbage, or sing Danny Boy….(which was written by an English lawyer in the early 1900′s, who had never been to Ireland…according to a blurb on the radio the other day).
posted March 7, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I plan on celebrating Saint Pattrick’s Day with Mass at noon and the parade AFTERWARD. Nothing will stop this Grandmother of irish grandchildren complete with an irish gruardian angles from our church bookstore. Anyway top of the parade to ya…..
posted March 7, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Enough of the false rumors!
jesterfyl and pagansister:
St. Patrick is declared to be a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Not sure where you two heard that urban legend, but it is not true. St. Patrick existed in the early days of the church when canonization was done at the diocesan level. Thus he was never formally canonized by a pope, which is how it is done now, but nevertheless, has been declared to be in heaven as a saint by the Church.
Hope that helps.
posted March 7, 2008 at 7:38 pm
mystery poster:
Thanks for clearing that up. I had heard the rumor a long time ago about his sainthood being removed, but happy he is still one. What would the Irish do without him?
Have a HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY, Mystery Poster!
posted March 8, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I don’t find him to be a Saint or a person whose life I want to celebrate. In the name of his religion he wiped out an entire culture way of worship, he destroyed thousands of Sacred trees and perhaps wiped out the cures for many cancers found in the Mistletoe which grew in those trees.
I celebrate my Irish heritage, but he is not part of it. The only good thing about St. Patrick’s day is that it is his day of death not birth.
posted March 9, 2008 at 1:57 pm
for heaven’s sakes, get over yourselves. Jesus wants us to be happy and joyful, not sitting in a corner sobbing all week.
The whole point of the solemnity is yes, to remind us we are mortal but also joyfully thank Jesus for the sacrifice he made for my(our) sins
posted March 9, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Ruairi:
St. Patrick did indeed screw up Ireland’s original worship life as did many, many other “Saints” in other countries, all in the name of religion. However the day does gives an excuse (if one needs an excuse)to celebrate all that is good about being Irish. Unfortunately for a lot of religions, they had to force it on those they conquered.(Like the “Christians” did to the Native Americans)
Patrick has become an integeral part of Ireland, as only a few know what he did to become a “saint”. Since Ireland is predominately RCC, having their own saint is important to them.
posted March 10, 2008 at 12:13 am
OK, I am looking to recruit bands for my patron saints holiday. That would be St Mathurin, the patron of fools & jesters, All Saints Day. Strike up the kazoos, someone sober up the pipers and I’ll tune the banjo.
posted March 10, 2008 at 1:15 pm
St. Patrick has so much legend attached to him since the year 432, imagine “432″! it’s hard to know what is true, and who cares? the world is still enjoying celebrating with the Irish people. He did what he came to do and at least left us enjoying his legends. How many people can say that? I remember reading that he had a great winning personality, he must have had something to be still in the news! I’ll wear green on the 17th, don’t like changing customs to suit calendar dates.
posted March 10, 2008 at 4:01 pm
jestrfyl:
Count me in for your St Mathurin’s Day band. May I play the triangle?
posted March 10, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Actually, some of the blogs seem to resound a tone of sarcasm about St. Patrick’s Day. For me, always, it was a day of fun and Irish traditional foods. It was more than a legend….but the interest and the celebrations have been carried down for hundreds of years. I feel this adds some credible respect for many who celebrate this day of remembrance (or feast) of someone who taught about God to those who had no faith or who never heard Patrick’s incredible story to them. They had interest and belief, that has lasted for many, many years.
He taught a difficult belief by picking up a clover, a simple grass growing at his feet to define and explain a difficult belief of his church. Who cares? those of us, who believe. Wear green and cut out a paper shamrock to show you learned that Patrick was real…He was part of many of our families and family traditions. Maybe we all have something to learn from him. ph