Christian saint and man of God – Saint Patrick – had been venerated so much by the Irish that the date of his death became the national holiday St. Patrick's Day in 1908. Now March 17, while keeping the name of the patron saint, has become a completely secularised holiday with no actual ties to the Christian heritage it was born from.
Celebrations carry on all over the world on this day, usually characterised by the colour green, drunkenness and 'Kiss Me, I'm Irish' t-shirts.
Now there is something else that goes hand in hand with St. Patrick's Day: gyrating homosexuals on parade floats. Boston's Saint Patrick's Day / Evacuation Day Parade has decided for the second year in a row to let two homosexual activist groups OUTVETs and Boston Pride to take place in the parade march.
The Catholic outcry
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts have called to remove the name of Saint Patrick from the event, as it no longer has any meaningful connection to the Catholic religion of the Apostle of Ireland.
The Executive Director C. J. Doyle was quoted saying:
"Permitting homosexual groups to march deforms the traditional character of the parade, empties it of any remaining religious significance, and reduces it to a secularised cultural celebration. It has also driven Catholic groups away, including Immaculate Heart of Mary School, whose float of Saint Patrick blessing the children was, for two decades, the iconic image of the parade."
He went on to explain that "OUTVETS and Boston Pride have zero interest in honouring the Catholic Faith which Saint Patrick brought to Ireland. For them, Catholicism is an adversary to be opposed. They are exploiting the name of a Catholic saint to promote public acceptance of their sexual identity."
And they are absolutely right, except in the part about St. Patrick being exclusively Catholic that is.
The new birth as the desire of St. Patrick
St. Patrick wanted to save the people of Ireland from their sins and went out to evangelise the land of pagans and idols. St. Patrick said: "I am a great debtor to God, who has bestowed His grace so largely upon me, that multitudes were born again to God through me. The Irish who worshiped only idols and unclean things have lately become people of the Lord and are called sons of God."
The focus on getting people "born again" has never been a chief concern of the Catholic church.
Regardless, thanks to St. Patrick, Ireland became a strong nation and not one dependant on paranoid superstition and occultism.
That's what we Irish are supposed to celebrate. Instead many take to honouring the day of the man's death with idolatry and carousing - the very things that he came to turn people from!
And now he is honoured by parades showcasing revelling and gyrating debauchery.
Would St. Patrick be turning in his grave to see this? He might just be seeing this and shaking his head at the disgusting state of this heathen world.
Fighting each other and losing the war
The worst part is, Christians have just let the world hijack its holy saints like St. Patrick and St. Valentine. At least a Catholic group is willing to stand up to it, but it's too little too late. We lost the battle when St. Patrick's Day began to be celebrated in a pub instead of a church.
The church has spent too much time fighting civil wars instead of cultural wars. Ireland's example shows this is true, as skirmishes between Protestant and Catholics have gone on unabated for decades.
What does denomination matter in the end when the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland has been plundered for secular gain? Yes, the Catholics may erroneously claim St. Patrick as their own but what is really worth the fight?
Sometimes I agree to disagree with the Catholics of my heritage, but we need to stand united where we agree. We need to be vocal together and turn the tide of the culture by our voices in unison.
St. Patrick deserves better.
Bridget Brenton has recently been awakened to the urgent need to witness of the truth, as time is short. She wears many hats: those of a counsellor, mum, apologist, conspiracy theorist and uber geek.
Bridget Brenton's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/bridget-brenton.html