St Patricks Day Moved

Fr Peter Jones, of the Liturgy Commission:

"St Patrick's Day is all about the religious aspect of the feast and mass on the day. It's not about whether it's a public holiday or not, it's not about whether sports events and parades take place,"

Sinead Grace, of Tourism Ireland:

"I wouldn't imagine too many people are aware of the religious aspect."

So next year, St Patrick's Day is being moved from it's traditional March 17th date to March 15th. This has to happen as March 17th is Monday of Holy Week, leading up to Easter. It is always the case that Saints days are moved when they conflict with other more important dates in the Church calendar. Normally, the event is moved to the first convenient date afterwards, but the Vatican has given special dispensation to move the celebrations forward two days to the 15th, which is a Saturday.

I presume this is to allow all the people who are unaware of the real point of St Patrick's Day to continue to abuse it as a reason for getting as drunk as possible.

Only Catholicism is the true Christian faith

Pope Benedict is coming in for a lot of criticism at the moment, after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of Cardinal William Levada, issued a document today that provides further explanation of the teachings of Vatican II on the nature of the Church.

In basic terms, the document reaffirms what the Catholic Church has always taught - that the only true Christian faith is the Catholic faith. It shouldn't come as a surprise, this is something the Catholic church has always taught. You can follow the roots of the Catholic Church all the way back to Jesus Christ. All Protestant Churches are found by men. I pray that one day all Christians will be together, united, following the one true faith. But for that to happen a lot of people are going to have to swallow their pride and accept the fullness of the truth.

You can read more here, here and here.