The New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is world famous. Every year on Saint Patrick’s Day, Catholic league President Bill Donohue leads a contingent of CL members down Fifth Avenue bearing the Catholic League’s banner. It is far more than a statement of honor for the Shepherd of Ireland. The Catholic League’s presence in that parade is a declaration of the struggle for religious rights and civ1l liberties. It was a hard won struggle, not only for Irish Catholics but for all Catholics throughout America.
It was a victory that is often placed in jeopardy, as it is now. The rights to practice the tenets of faith and maintain Catholic ideals are constantly eroding in our increasingly secular culture. The Catholic League is always on that front line. As I wrote in my March 17, 2010 post on These Stone Walls:
“If you’re not a Catholic League member, I highly recommend becoming one. A monthly subscription to Catalyst certainly woke me up to the reality of anti-Catholic prejudice in our culture, and to a growing effort to remove a Catholic voice and Catholic influence and values from the public square.”
I didn’t think those words were actually prophetic, but if you’ve been reading newspapers in the last few months, or hanging out at Catholic blogs, then you know first hand how very much Catholic values are under assault – and not, if you know history, for the first or last time.
In many ways, I see my own struggle for justice as linked to that of all Catholics. I am often asked whether I would be in prison today if I were not a Catholic priest. Readers often point out to me that the standard of justice applied to accused priests is far different than that applied to everyone else.
And as I once wrote in “The Mirror of Justice Cracked,” justice for priests has eroded not just for the Church, but in the Church as well. As I have seen so many other priests exiled under the millstone of scandal – accusations so old that the priests accused are left defenseless – I have to repeat a thought from my Ash Wednesday post, “A City on a Hill“: “A part of our sacrifice as a Church must not be to sacrifice justice for priests falsely accused.”
In the March, 2010 issue of the Catholic League’s monthly journal, Catalyst, These Stone Walls and I shared the spotlight w1th plans for that year’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. That issue of Catalyst had an editorial entitled “These Stone Walls” in which the Catholic League recommended TSW to its readers and members. I was very moved, as were many of TSW’s readers.
I don’t think it is by design – at least not human design – but I am also sharing the March 2012 Catalyst with Saint Patrick. The current issue has a superb article by Father Michael Orsi, Ed.D., an author and professor of law at Ave Maria University, entitled “Bogus Charges Against Priests Abound.” The article is primarily an extended review of David F. Pierre’s book: Catholic Priests Falsely Accused. Both the book and the Father Orsi article contain an analysis of the case against me. Father Orsi introduced this segment thusly:
“A sure way to ameliorate the injustices perpetrated against priests and to rehabilitate the reputation of the Church would be to re-examine the cases of those priests found guilty due to false or dubious claims filed against them. The widely reported case of Fr. Gordon MacRae, of the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, would be a good place to start.” (Fr. Michael Orsi, Catalyst, March 2012).
Some people would be honored to be included in such an article, and I am, but at the end of the day “humbled” wins out. I find it humbling because the struggle I am in is not my own. It is rather a small, small part in the immense fabric of grace woven by God, and as I wrote in “The Gravity of Grace” last week, grace calls us to build trust in God’s plan not just for us as individual souls, but as a Church in the modern world.
The story of St. Patrick of Ireland is a perfect example of the gravity of grace. We tend to reduce Saint Patrick to the whimsical Shepherd of Ireland who inspires our parades (and maybe a snort or two of Jameson’s) this week, but the life of the real Saint Patrick is one of terrible tragedy responded to with the courage born of sanctifying grace.
Stepping for a moment into the life and lore of Saint Patrick of Ireland will help us see more clearly these labyrinthine ways of grace. Whether you’re Irish or not – and whether you’re Catholic or not – the story of Saint Patrick is one of profound struggle against the forces of human evil, tragedy, and salvation against the tides of human history.
So please join us this week for an encore presentation of my favorite Saint Patrick’s Day post. It’s worth the effort even if only for the beautiful Irish graphics from TSW’s Managing Editor, Suzanne. And for another brief review of one of my favorite books, Pillars of the Earth.
Click here to read: “The Catholic League, Saint Patrick, and the Labyrinthine Ways”
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This is my 3rd time trying to type this. Computers don’t like me. St. Patrick is very special to me, not just because I am Irish or the only daughter and baby of the family, born on the BIG day. Surrrrrrrrre. This year’s birthday will always be remembered as the day that my son Patrick came down with Shingles. Didn’t someone say the “Luck of the Irish?”
Father, you are running amok with your vocabulary. When I see the word, “Labyrinthine,” or any form of it, I think of the inner ear. Look it up. Just a bit of Irish humor. Anyway, I looked up “Pillars of Truth,” I found it for as little as one cent on Amazon. The shipping could be $15 dollars as I didn’t look that up. But they have all price ranges. Now, I must run amok to join The Catholic League and buy Pillars of Truth. By the way, I LOVE feisty people. They are the true Irish. Of course I would never be called feisty…..worse. Now Laugh!
Sheila Mary McCabe Ryan
Family came over from County Monaghan, City is Carrickmacross where the famous Irish Lace is made.
This is Mary Ryan, I am Sheila’s daughter. My Mom loved you and talked of you often. The Catholic world was blessed to have someone who cared so much for others in it. Best wishes for you.
Mary
The story of St. Patrick is very well written and, as always, uplifting and hopeful. I would like to ask you and the readers of These Stone Walls to offer prayers for Patriarch Shenouda III who passed from this life on Saint Patrick’s Feast Day. Patriarch Shenouda was leader of the Coptic Christians of Egypt for four decades.
Hi Father!
Praying every day that you will be freed and your good name cleared.
Love reading the post on St. Patrick.
You have been in captivity these long years.
It will be interesting to see where He will send you next for
your Sainthood! God bless you all! Jeannie
Hello Father. Humility is such a tricky thing. A humorous comment I learned in 2nd or 3rd grade, from Sister Paulita (who was not notably given to much humor), was: “The funny thing about humility is that the moment you know you have it…you’ve lost it.” Cardinal Newman was VERY reluctant to be called a saint, holding himself far from the measure of one, no doubt sensitive at that point to even the smallest venial sin within himself and aware how even that venial sin, against the pure white blanket of Christ’s virtue, is a scarlet stain. Nonetheless, he was a saint to be admired and prayed to for his intercession.
Thanks, Father. Such a comment drags us right into the Heart of our Lord. How very much He loves us!
We decided to join The Catholic League last summer after reading about them on TSW. I’ve always appreciated Bill Donohue when I saw him in the media standing up for the Faith, but until we joined The Catholic League I had no idea how much this organization fights for our rights as Catholics. We sure need them now more than ever! If ever somebody seemed perfect for a particular job it’s the feisty Bill Donohue! God bless him!
~St. Patrick, pray for us!