Collegian

Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Matt Mohrbach, Contributor) The church hopes that the bar will be empty and the taps will be dry on St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day, a day when the pubs are overflowing, everything is green, and the sound of bagpipes are in the air, does not exist in the eyes of the church this year.

According to Robert Tayek, director of media and public relations for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland," In the eyes of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland there is not a St. Patrick's Day feast day this year."

"The importance of Holy Week is such that it outranks any other feast or solemnity that may occur on this date," Tayek said.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mark Dempsey, president of the Shamrock Club in Columbus, said, "Actually, you're born Irish first, and then you're baptized Catholic."

The Shamrock Club is still having their parade March 17, despite protests from the local bishop.

When asked about the celebration of the Cleveland St. Patrick's Day Parade, Tayek said, "That is a civic celebration; we really do not have an influence on that event"

"The bishop has asked Catholics to keep a sense of respect for Holy Week and their Lenten observances by maintaining the spirit of Lent," Tayek said.

This year is the first time since 1940 that St. Patrick's Day, the religious feast day and anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, falls on the first Monday of Holy Week. It will not happen again till 2160.

The civic celebration of the 2008 St. Patrick's Day Parade will be held on Monday, March 17 starting at 1:04 p.m. at East 18th and Superior Ave in Downtown Cleveland.

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