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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| St. Patrick's Day Cancelled |
| 2008-02-01 |
| Roman Catholic clergy in Columbus are asking Irish worshippers to refrain from celebrating St. Patrick's Day on March 17 this year. Columbus Bishop Frederick Campbell has asked local pastors to celebrate the patron saint a week early instead. For the first time in 67 years, the holiday falls during the week before Easter, called Holy Week and considered the most sacred week on the Christian calendar. "Wherever Holy Week happens to fall, any other feast days during that week are set aside," said Deacon Tom Berg Jr., vice chancellor of the Columbus Diocese. The city's Shamrock Club said the downtown parade and Irish Family Reunion at Veterans Memorial will go on as planned. But the local division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a national Irish Catholic group, will not participate. The Shamrock Club declined to cancel the event because the date is mandated by its bylaws. President Mark Dempsey, a Catholic, said many other cities have not canceled their parades. "I understand this being Holy Week, but I don't know anyone else who shuts down during Holy Week," Dempsey said. No Mass will be celebrated prior to the parade, Berg said. The controversy has created a rift among Irish Catholics, said Monsignor John K. Cody, who serves as chaplain of both groups. Cody advised the Shamrock Club to move the parade, saying St. Patrick wouldn't "want to see people whooping it up in his honor during the most sacred week of the year." Roman Catholic officials in Ireland, the country where the holiday originated, decided in July to shift its 2008 feast day for the national saint to March 15 -- the first time the date has been changed since 1940. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #9 When St. Paddys fell on a weekday the Irish pub I used to work at was usually really busy the closest weekend before or after & moderately busy on the actual 17th. I have a lot of mick in my background and have always wondered why they can't schedule SPD the second Sat in March or whichever Sat wouldn't interfere w/easter etc. BTW - the poll on that website has 66% of the respondents saying they will party on the 17th despite the church rule. 15% will follow the church rule and the other 19% don't celebrate SPD. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-02-01 22:11 |
| #8 You nailed it - the bishops and priests must warn the congregants about the errors. What us Catholics do with the advice is up to us, and on our consciences. As for me, New Years, Cinco and St Paddys are the 3 days where I get home early and do not go out again, in general. If my better half and I go out, its for the night with a hotel in walking distance (New Years). |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-02-01 20:32 |
| #7 It's the bishop's job to remind his congregants what the rules are. It's the right of the parade organizers to do or not do as they choose, in this country at least. And I'm with mom (good rant!) and Frank -- I'll stay away from the drinkers and the drunks who think adding dye to beer makes it better. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-02-01 19:24 |
| #6 it's anothe night I won't go out late due to the drunks (Cinco De Mayo is another), but as long as they obey the laws with designated drivers or taxis, I don't give a rat's ass what they do. They are no more celebrating St. Patrick than St. Guiness. How many are Catholic? Let them answer to God, and worry about more important things, OldSpook? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-02-01 18:51 |
| #5 I propose a toast to mom's Rant! ~:) |
| Posted by: RD 2008-02-01 18:45 |
| #4 The way people mark the holiday here would make the saint vomit. Politics over who gets to march in the parade, and binge drinking. Back in my college days, a friend took me to Finn McCool's bar in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day. Turns out the party was an IRA fundraiser, and the band was singing such profound lyrics as "If you hate the queen of England, clap your hands." I looked at my friend, my friend looked at me, and we agreed to get out of there. Some drunken colleen didn't think I was enthusiastic enough in cheering along with the music. I looked at her blankly and answered her with a handy phrase in German. Made my exit. Poor St. Patrick. He gently led thousands to abandon some sickening practices and find hope in the Lord. First the storytellers mingled some of Patrick's history with grim cautionary tales of his calling down judgment, stories of old druids renamed. Then in our day, it's a day to get schnackered. End rant. |
| Posted by: mom 2008-02-01 18:40 |
| #3 The "No Party" folks are correct. Per the Catechism, Holy Week overarches and subsumes all other memorials, feasts and solemneties for that week. Especially the Palm Sunday, Triduum (Holy Thurs, Good Fri, Holy Sat) and Easter Sunday. All other things become optional observances (lowest on the totem pole, and generally only mentioned in the Mass prayers of that day, no other special deeds done). Sorry St Paddy, but them's the rules. If you want to celebrate an excuse to get drunk and be a fake Irishman, then call it something else that day. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-02-01 18:22 |
| #2 Like hell! Bloody Eyetyes... |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-02-01 16:10 |
| #1 "I understand this being Holy Week, but I don't know anyone else who shuts down during Bullshit. Headline whore. etc etc which gets me banned. St. Columba would not agree. This is no longer a 'pc' movement but total agreeabel dismembership of all which is Christian and Western. Ever wonder the tune which Nero played, it sounds like this... The controversy has created a rift among Irish Catholics, said Monsignor John K. Cody, who serves as chaplain of both groups. Cody advised the Shamrock Club to move the parade, saying St. Patrick wouldn't "want to see people whooping it up in his honor during the most sacred week of the year." I doubt it did. Most likely that putz was laughed out the door, but he made the news. My guess is that he (St. Patrick) didn't anticipate or expect people to change their lives on his work; that is he was a humble chap. Stand up folks! This, what we call out here, is BULLSHIT! The culture blitz must be stopped, if anything St. Thomas Aquinas would agree. Jesus may have been many things but he never rolled over to the 'correctness' of the times (in the temple). BTW I am surely not Catholic. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-02-01 12:55 |