Thanks to the lunar calendar's creation of a very early Easter this year, March 17 falls on Monday of Holy Week, according to the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church and most other Western Christian churches.

From this morning's New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Holy Week elbows out St. Joseph activities
St. Patrick parade to squeak in early
By Bruce Nolan

This year's memorably early Easter, which already has produced a memorably early Mardi Gras, will have one more curious effect before passing into history: The arrival of the earliest Holy Week in decades has rescheduled St. Joseph's Day festivities.

In addition, the Catholic church is limiting celebrations of the feast of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and moving them out of Holy Week. That will have little public effect, however: Organizers of two major St. Patrick's Day parades in New Orleans and Metairie said they will march as scheduled on March 15 and March 16.

Both saints hold the affection of old immigrant groups, who launch parades or other cultural celebrations in major American cities on or around each St. Patrick's Day, March 17, and St. Joseph's Day, March 19.

But this year, for the first time since 1940, those feasts fall during Holy Week.

The Associated Press reported that in cities such as Savannah, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, local Catholic bishops have asked civic organizations to move big cultural celebrations out of Holy Week. For many Christians, the week is a solemn period of preparation for commemoration of the climactic events of Jesus Christ's execution on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter. The Catholic church cancels its internal celebration of all saints' feasts when they fall in that week.

Sarah Comiskey, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, said this year the church has moved the worldwide observance of the feast of St. Joseph to Saturday, March 15, the last day before the start of Holy Week.

Archbishop Alfred Hughes has asked local Catholic parishes, schools or lay groups that normally display food-laden St. Joseph's altars on his feast day to advance their work by a few days, she said.

In most cases, such altars will be on display between Saturday and March 15, she said.

In addition, the Italian-American Marching Club's 38th annual French Quarter parade has been moved up to Saturday evening, parade Chairman Tony Russo said.

Meanwhile, Comiskey said the Catholic church has canceled this year's feast of St. Patrick, but parishes or other institutions named after him may celebrate his feast on Friday, March 14th.

In New Orleans, the Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day club will mount its big parade the Saturday before the feast, as usual -- outside any conflict with Holy Week, said Dick Burke, a member.

The St. Patrick Parade Committee of Jefferson will march in Metairie on March 16, organizer John Marchese said. That's Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, but Comiskey said Hughes did not ask private organizations not affiliated with the church to move their parades or other celebrations.

While Italian-American communities in most US cities celebrate their national heritage in October, on Columbus Day, New Orleanians of Italian descent (the vast majority of whose ancestors came from Sicily) have always observed the Sicilian tradition of honoring St. Joseph as their patron saint. This year's confluence of St. Joe's/St. Pat's with Holy Week is having a greater impact upon the Italian-American celebrations in New Orleans than the Irish-American party.

Elsewhere in America and the world, St. Joseph's Day is less of an issue, but St. Patrick's Day is a big deal throughout the Irish Diaspora ~ perhaps moreso among those whose forbearers left Ireland than in the Auld Sod itself. Anyone out there experiencing any St. Paddy's scheduling difficulties thanks to this year's unusual conflict with Holy Week?

I can't imagine that very many Irish-theme bars and pubs would follow the Church's instructions to "cancel this year's feast" on Monday the 17th ~ but they might well be OK with "adding" a celebration (or actually starting a long weekend of partying) on the alternate date of Friday the 14th.

PS ~ I'll be out on the streets parading with the Irish Channel St. Atrick's Day Marching Club that Saturday. For a peek at my first appearance in the parade back in '01, see Member Photos.