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by Erika Anderson
ATLANTA—As a child living in Ireland, Matt Naughton would get
up early on St. Patrick’s Day and walk outside in his bare feet to pick
shamrocks that he would place in the lapel of the suit he wore to attend Mass
with his family.
St. Patrick’s Day is a special day in Ireland. It is a day
set aside for family and for celebration. Though Naughton moved to the United
States in 1960, he, like many natives of Ireland, continues to keep that spirit
alive with the St. Patrick’s Day Mass held each year at Sacred Heart
Church.
On March 17, the green worn by participants contrasted sharply
with the deep red carpet of Sacred Heart. It was a sunny day that followed days
of rain, when Catholics, old and young, gathered to celebrate their heritage,
faith and the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
St. Patrick, who lived from 389 to 461, worked to convert Ireland
to Christianity and to establish the church there.
Each year since its founding in 1858, the Hibernian Benevolent
Society has sponsored the St. Patrick’s Day Mass. Naughton, the outgoing
president of the Society, said that the Mass helps people feel connected to
their Irish roots as well as their Catholic faith.
“St. Patrick’s Day is a very social time,” he said.
“But when we get together, it doesn’t have to be in a bar, it can be
in a place like this. We’re not the rowdy, green beer drinking
Irish.”
Prior to the Mass, friends greeted each other. Irish brogues
echoed throughout as the strains of harpist Debra Peterson’s Irish hymns
filled the church. Cantor Sam Hagan and organist Alan Brown provided music for
the Mass.
The opening procession for the Mass began with the flags of
Ireland and the United States held high by two men as they walked down the
aisle. They were followed by the main celebrant, Archbishop John F. Donoghue,
and 10 other priests of the archdiocese who concelebrated the Mass.
Father Hugh Marren, pastor of the Church of St. Benedict, Duluth,
who is from Hibernia, the Latin word for Ireland, gave the homily where he
called St. Patrick’s holiness “second to none.”
“(His holiness) places him among the greatest in history who
have gone to preach the Gospel,” he said. “Few people have become to
a nation what Patrick became to Ireland.”
Father Marren spoke of the never-ending need of our society to
have more.
“Nobody has enough, even though each of us has far more than
Patrick and his contemporaries ever dreamed of,” he said. “There is
an echo in our head, ‘if only I had more—more hard drive on my
computer, more speed. If only I could have more appreciation at work, if only I
could win the lotto.’”
“They seem to always want more,” he continued. “It
makes you wonder when is enough ever going to be enough. Where does the desire
end?”
Father Marren said that he was musing on that idea and at first
found no answer, but then, he said, he came to a “simple but astonishing
conclusion.”
“As a pastor of a church, when you ask for money, people will
know exactly how much is enough,” he said.
Father Marren chuckled along with the congregation and then his
tone became more serious.
“There lies the significant difference between our patron
Patrick and us, his followers,” he said. “How much is enough for God
and church? For Patrick, it was all too little to do for God.”
Father Marren continued to encourage the congregation to emulate
Patrick and spoke of the decline of spirituality in Ireland.
“Ireland (today) is not known for its faith, for its
holiness. It’s known now for its booming economy. It’s known as the
‘Tiger of Europe,’” he said. “I’m reluctant to go out
and dance about that yet. No longer do its sons and daughters go out and preach
the Gospel; no longer do its sons and daughters have love for the
Eucharist.”
Father Marren ended his homily by wondering aloud if the increase
in Ireland’s materialism and decrease in its spirituality should be
likened to the worship of the golden calf.
At the end of the Mass, Msgr. Louis Naughton, judicial vicar of
the Metropolitan Tribunal, read a message from Ireland’s president, Mary
McAleese.
Following the Mass, those in attendance gathered in the parish
hall of the church to dine on Irish soda bread and other delicacies. The loud
stomping of soft shoes could be heard throughout the hall, as students of
various Irish dancing schools entertained guests. Dressed in ornate costumes,
the curls of the dancing girls bounced around their young, smiling faces as
those in attendance clapped in appreciation.
Rosemary Egan, a parishioner of St. Jude the Apostle Church,
Atlanta, dressed festively in a green sweater, said that both her parents and
her husband were born in Ireland and that St. Patrick’s Day has always
been a religious occasion.
“It has always started with Mass,” she said.
“It’s an opportunity to share with people from other heritages and
create a little more understanding about the Irish.”
Dot Mears, a parishioner of St. Thomas More Church in Decatur, was
the mascot of the 1950 parade when she was five years old.
Mears, who serves as the secretary and historian of the Hibernian
Benevolent Society, has an accent that’s pure Georgia, but a heart
that’s pure Irish. Her mother’s last name was O’Reily.
“St. Patrick’s Day has always been a traditional thing
for me and my family,” she said. “I think that in today’s
society it’s important to keep the values of our Irish heritage prominent
and to honor St. Patrick and the values he stood for and to emulate those
values he stood for.”
Tom Begley, the president-elect of the Hibernian Benevolent
Society, has attended the St. Patrick’s Day Mass since 1983. His wife,
Rose, is the coordinator of the Mass.
“The right way to start St. Patrick’s Day is with a
Mass,” he said. “The religious factor is brought out early and as the
day progresses you meet friends and enjoy more social time.”
Begley said it was important to honor St. Patrick.
“Because he is the patron saint of Ireland, we owe all our
heritage to him,” he said. |
