The Snakes Come to America!

Have you seen the media coverage about the big bad Catholic Church telling civil government when they should hold their St. Patrick's Day celebrations this year? It so happens that St. Patrick's Day will fall on Monday of Holy Week, and, as always, Holy Week takes precedence over general memorial days, including St. Patrick's Day. So the bishops have asked municipalities to move St. Patrick's Day before Holy Week. Most have complied, but what blew me away was a poll attached to the story on AOL where they asked if reader's agreed with the Church in asking to move the festivities. A whopping 80% said that the Church should not have the right to ask municipalities to move the St. Patrick's Day Festivities! Do most of these readers not know what a saint is and how saints became saints? It wasn't because they drove snakes into the sea, but because they followed Christ in living their lives in heroic virtue.

As a Catholic of Irish descent, I love the Irish saints: Patrick, Bridget, Kevin, etc. As an American of Irish descent, I hold in great esteem those Irish-Americans whose causes for canonization have been opened: Fulton Sheen, Solanus Casey, and Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. I was once blessed with hearing Archbisop Fulton Sheen speak when I was a teenager. I wonder what that "great communicator" would say to a YouTube audience of AOL readers who responded to that poll. Would he have convinced them of St. Patrick's true mission and that it should be their mission, too? Would he have used an electronic blackboard, a blog, a website, to get the message of the Gospel to his fellow Americans?

I think, in preparation for St. Patrick's Day, I'll do a little lesson on Archbishop Sheen and how he used the media to spread the Gospel. I think we'll make some Colcannon, too. This recipe is in "Fun with the Orphans," and if you don't have it or haven't ever made colcannon, you might be in for a tasty traditional Irish treat.

Colcannon

(serves 8-10)

8 potatoes peeled and diced

1/2 head cabbage, shredded

butter, salt, pepper, onion powder

Boil potatoes until soft. Mash. Add butter, salt, pepper and onion powder to taste. (my kids don't like onion bits in their food!). Steam cabbage until tender. Add to mashed potatoes. You can always add bits of ham, too.

Enjoy!