I dunno, Mary. Catholics sure seem to be good at thinking for themselves, however irrational their thinking may be. There's a huge and angry anti-intellectal right-wing force arising among the Catholic laity that wants the whole faith reduced to simplistic, legalistic fundamentalism. Catholic parishes offer all sorts of education programs for adults, and people just don't show up and then complain that the Church doesn't explain things to them. Mary, have you ever taken a religion class from somebody who actually has a college-level education in Catholic theology? I don't know how many adult-level classes I've taught for fewer than five people, but it's a lot. And when we bring in a more accomplished speaker, it's just as few - unless the speaker is a right-wing demagogue.

The whole point of Vatican II was to encourage people to "be sensible and think for themselves," instead of waiting to be told what to do. I often hear complaints that Vatican II "watered down the faith" because people are no longer threatened with Hell for eating meat on Friday or breaking their Lenten fast (although fasting and abstinence are still highly encouraged). I hear complaints that a priest won't make a sick call on a Sunday morning, or on an evening when he's scheduled to teach a class. And people just can't seem to understand why parish worship takes precedence over the time they want for their wedding pictures.

Same with this St. Patrick thing. The Catholic Church has been criticized, sometimes correctly, for overemphasis on the saints and forgetting God. Here's a case where God takes precedence over St. Patrick, and people go berserkers.

And I sympathize greatly with the family who wants to have a funeral on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, but would they expect to be able to have a funeral on Christmas or Christmas Eve? Easter is a four-day celebration that is far more important than Christmas, so people are asked to forego weddings and funerals on those four days and have their family celebration two days earlier or two days later than they'd like - or to have the wedding or funeral without a Mass.

Yes, there are "more important problems facing it than whether or not to celebrate St. Patrick's Day during Holy Week" - but the church is plagued by people screaming about just such trivialities. I wish they'd get a life, read a book, and think for a change.

-Joe-