3 Reasons My Irish Catholic Friend Refuses to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

My friend calls herself a recovering Irish Catholic.  I call her an intuitive type. She’s usually very spot on when sensing the root of a problem - especially when the issue involves guilt and forced conformity.

It is not unusual for her to avoid such energy as if it’s a plague.  So, when many other people in the U.S. decided to spend yesterday - St. Patrick’s Day - drinking green beer and searching for four-leaf clovers, it was not a surprise when my friend refused to join in the festivities.

Her reasoning may make some of you think twice before embracing the holiday next year - unless you can’t resist green beer.

St. Patrick’s Day pays homage to the patron saint of Ireland, but my friend insists this tradition linked to faith is based on lies.  She contends she and her peeps were duped by a very important and powerful conglomeration called the Catholic Church.

My friend doesn’t care if people honor St. Patrick so they’ll have an excuse to eat corned beef and cabbage while sipping that green beer.  She also isn’t offended by people who want to celebrate life and rich traditions.  In fact, she embraces opportunities to honor our uniqueness while recognizing our oneness.

But here are three myths she wants to debunk so you can make an informed decision next year if you choose to belly up to the bar and order green beer on St. Patrick’s Day.

#1.  St. Patrick was a devoted priest and a bishop, but saint is taking it too far.

My buddy insists her Irish eyes will never again smile on the holiday.  Nor will she take part in the annual March 17 wearing of the green because church officials honor a man who wasn’t who most people believe he was.

“St. Patrick was never a saint,” my friend said.  “He was never canonized.  So, 400 years after he died, church officials just said he was. The truth we’re taught to believe will never cease to amaze me.”

#2. Ireland by force.  Ireland by choice.

One online account I discovered contends that Patrick by any other name was Maewyn Succat.  He was reportedly born in 385 AD in the United Kingdom.  His parents were Roman citizens.

“He wasn’t even Irish,” my disappointed friend said.  “He was Italian.”

Maewyn, reportedly was sold into slavery as a teenager.  That gig involved herding sheep in Ireland until he managed to escape.  His fleeing the country, led him back to England where Maewyn entered the priesthood and changed his name to Patrick.

Patrick was among the Catholic hierarchy in England.  After he became a bishop, he returned to Ireland.  He became the people’s saint about 400 years after he died. 

#3 No snakes - except perhaps human ones – in Ireland.

Legend credits St. Patrick for there being a snake-free Ireland.  He helped a lot of people, and he was loved.  People attribute him with driving snakes out of Ireland.  Scientists later scoffed at that one.  They said Ireland doesn’t have a snake-friendly climate.  The country is too cold.

However, as the Vintage Vixen, I believe that Ireland, like many countries, will always be susceptible to human reptiles.  Politics there are too volatile to avoid such phenomena. 

Ok, maybe the Catholics in charge never canonized Patrick as a saint.  But the Vintage Vixen does not believe he needs an official label.  In my eyes, a man who can endure some of his renowned adventures and still lead others with love is a saint.  He understood oppression and worked to end it.  That’s worth celebrating.

Just between you, me and America, I don’t believe my disappointed Irish Catholic friend is dissing St. Patrick and what he added to Irish culture.  She loves that part of her connection to her bloodline.  She also loves the concept of sharing the rich flavor of our differences as they add spice to the dish of life.

What my friend protests is the practice of religious leaders withholding information for control purposes. But she accepts what really is important about the day she no longer observes.  It isn’t about lies and deception.  It is about embracing love and honoring the human spirit. 

Still, my friend has a point.  People in our culture do have a tendency to accept what figureheads tell us.  We often accept it at face value without questioning what may or may not be truth.  I agree we each should do a little more thinking for ourselves rather than joining other believers just to become part of the herd.

Meanwhile, I’m a cynic who loves to write jokes to point out absurdity in society.  So, there was a part of me who went into St. Patrick’s Day believing the luck of the Irish may not be so lucky.

For example, I believe there’s a reason your luck didn’t improve if you celebrated St. Patrick’s Day searching for four-leaf clovers.  Because of inflation, you should have been searching for five-leaf clovers.

Personally, I love St. Patrick’s Day. I’m really fond of leprechaun lore.  They’re the reason people wear green.  Leprechauns allegedly like to pinch people just because they can.  However, people wearing green are invisible to the fairylike critters.  If they can’t see you, they can’t pinch you. 

The cynic in me believes that myth was created one year by someone who consumed too much green beer.

Whether Patrick’s story is worth celebrating is your choice.  There are many other people from Ireland who made sacrifices to make the world better.  Celebrate them. They include people such as an Irish teenager named Annie Moore. Annie was 15 years old when she captured the spirit of humanity as the first immigrant to walk through the doors of Ellis Island.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan reminds us of that in what I contend is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.