There will be no parades in Ireland on Mar. 17 for the second year in a row.

The government has warned that people who try to organise parties to celebrate the day will face fines and criminal prosecution.

However, with St Patrick's Day parades being cancelled, revellers will be able to enjoy an online festival.

The online festival will run from Mar. 12 to Mar. 17. It will include socially distanced marching bands, pageantry and ceremony.

This will allow audiences to "participate virtually and enjoy safely from their homes until we can come together again."

Ireland has reported 225,000 cases and 4,500 deaths from the coronavirus, from a population of 4.8 million. It is one of the 10 European countries where the British variant of the virus is now dominant.

The easing of restrictions in December encouraged many exhausted by the Covid lockdown to celebrate Christmas together.

However, in the following weeks, Ireland experienced a rapid spike in Covid-19 cases.

January tallied more deaths and new Covid cases than in all of 2020.

After that setback, the government instituted a pandemic lockdown that has largely turned back the coronavirus wave.

Level 5 restrictions include

• a ban on all household visits,
• the closing of nonessential retail stores,
• a 5-kilometre limit on trave,
• only six people can attend a wedding,
• just 10 people are allowed at a funeral,
• churches must remain closed except for private prayer, and
• sports events both indoors and outdoors are forbidden.

The unpopular restrictions are expected to continue at least through Easter.

The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference joined the domestic chorus of government critics.

"We strongly believe that people's freedom to worship publicly should be restored as soon as the current Level 5 restrictions begin to be eased," the bishops said in a statement released after their spring conference on Mar. 9.

"It is particularly painful for Christians to be deprived, for the second year running, of the public expression of our faith during the most sacred time of Holy Week and Easter. This is especially true given that it has been clearly demonstrated that church buildings are among the safest places for people to gather."

The bishops also complained that ongoing restrictions at funeral Masses—currently limited to 10 participants—"are causing untold grief to many families."

Sources

• America Magazine
• Irish Times

Authorities had initially insisted that the festivities — which mark St. Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland in 432 — would go ahead, but bowed to pressure from doctors March 9 and announced the cancellation. Read more

They use it as an excuse to engage in less than virtuous behaviour while ignoring key facts about Saint Patrick and his life.

Here are some quick facts about Saint Patrick that get missed in the celebration of this day: Continue reading

"You can't believe the hate mail I got over that. ‘You're sending us to hell. Who do you think you are to be able to tell us we can eat meat.'"

"I mean, it's over something as simple as that and it draws out hatred, real hatred," Zubik said.

"There's an intolerance that is ugly all across the board, politically, ecclesiastically, and that's why I say the first thing we've got to be able to do is know what it means to listen." Read more

While there will be many pints of the black stuff consumed in New Zealand's numerous Irish bars on March 17,stuff.co.nz have picked the best spots to enjoy the craic agus ceoil (fun and music). Continue reading

But who was Patrick? Did he really drive the snakes out of Ireland or use the shamrock to explain the Trinity? Why should this fifth-century priest be remembered on this day?

Q: Was St. Patrick a real guy, and would he approve of green beer?

A: Yes, Patrick was a real person, but not much is known of his life. He was born in the late 300s when the Roman Empire extended to England, so he was not "really" Irish — like the vast majority of people who celebrate his day.

In his "Confessio," one of only two surviving documents attributed to him, Patrick wrote that while his father was a Christian deacon, he was not devout. At age 16, Patrick was captured by Irish marauders, carried across the Irish Sea and enslaved.

Patrick spent six years alone in the wilderness tending his master's sheep, praying constantly. "It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was," he wrote. He began to have visions and hear voices that told him: "Look, your ship is ready."

So Patrick left his first flock and walked 200 miles to the coast. It's a pretty safe bet he would have loved a beer, green or otherwise, as he stepped into a boat bound for England.

Q: If Patrick was really British, how did he become so closely associated with the Irish?

A: Back in England, Patrick had a dream in which he heard the voice of the Irish he left behind say, "We beg you to come and walk among us once more."

Patrick took this as a sign and set out for a monastery in Gaul — that's France today — where he began his religious education. He became a priest, a deacon and finally a bishop and returned to Ireland by his mid-40s.

He created convents, monasteries and bishoprics all over Ireland, confronted tyrannical kings and converted hundreds of thousands of people.

He was so popular that when he died on March 17 the late 400's - scholars aren't sure exactly when - his followers waged a war for custody of his body. Continue reading

Sources

• Huffington Post
• Image: Holy Family Parish, Brooklyn

"Aukland(sic) holds the distinction of holding the first St Patrick's Day party, since midnight on March 17 reaches New Zealand's largest city before anywhere else."

"It is also the farthest celebration away from Ireland, almost exactly the opposite end of the world at a massive 11,290 miles away from Dublin."

"Naturally, Auckland's 1,076-foot Sky Tower is lit with the Irish Tricolor for the day."

Compared to some of the other places on the list, Auckland's celebration seems, to a New Zealander at least, to be pretty unexceptional.

The Parade, which has become an annual event in Queen Street, was probably the first in the world, this year at least, because the Hugh Green Group Parade took place on Sunday the 15th. Watch Video.

It was competing for attention with the cricket, The Eagles, Pasifika Festival, the Volvo Ocean Race, and an approaching hurricane.

The annual Emerald Ball was held on Friday 13th.

The ball was billed as "an opportunity to savour the delights of Irish hospitality and culture."

"A guaranteed fun night out with traditional music and dancing, delicious food and Irish craic, a night that will be remembered long after the event."

According to the promoters the Ball is a "premier event attended by many high-profile dignitaries and personalities from both the Irish and New Zealand communities."

The ticket price was $2250+ GST for a table of 10.

That included a 3 course Irish inspired meal with accompanying wine, Guinness, and Baileys.

Source

• St Patrick's Festival Auckland
• Irish Central
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Eventfinder.co.nz

His feast day is commemorated with supermarket meat sales, green rivers, green beer, and (my favourite) parades.

But who was the real St Patrick?

Most people know that the missionary Patrick (Patricius or Pádraig) helped to bring Christianity to Ireland in the 5^th Century. Some may remember how his first visit to the island was as a slave.

Sadly, only a few may remember Patrick's opposition to structural injustice and his prophetic defense of victims of violence and human trafficking.

As with so many of our saints, Patrick's radical application of the Gospel has been domesticated and stripped of its challenging message.

Rather than witnessing to the prophetic and loving call of the God's mission, Patrick has been turned into a caricature to decorate commercial marketing schemes and Hallmark cards. Continue reading.

Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) and is Vice-President of the ICMICA-Pax Romana.

Source: Daily Theology

Image: Author's own

Bands from Britain, the United States and Russia joined thousands of Irish volunteers on Saturday's two-hour procession down Dublin's major boulevard, O'Connell Street, across the River Liffey, past Trinity College and concluding outside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

In his St. Patrick's Day message, Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady offered prayers to the estimated 50,000 citizens who have emigrated in the past year to escape Ireland's weak economy.