Growing up I never claimed to be Irish. When I reached high school I had learned just a tiny bit about Irish things and concluded (rightly or wrongly) that to wear green on St. Patrick’s day is to associate with being Irish and that by extension associates with being Roman Catholic, but I learned that being protestant in Ireland was more associated with the color orange. So, on St Patrick’s day I used to wear Orange. Now, I’ve learned more and discovered that the color originally associated with St. Patrick was blue, and the orange I was associating with Irish protestant might actually be more (or as much) a statement of Britishness for the folks in Northern Ireland. So, I am wearing blue today… but only cause that was the first shirt I grabbed coming out of the shower. And recently due to the genealogical digging my mom is into, I learned that I have Irish ancestors.
I have come to have a deep respect and admiration of St. Patrick though. Anyone who allegedly was captured and taken into slavery of some sort and then felt called by God back to spread the gospel in the land of his captivity, has my respect! I also don’t really associate him with the Roman Catholic tradition as he seemed to forge a celtic Christian tradition that spawned a great missionary movement that spread Christianity across Ireland and then later across Scotland through my bigger hero St. Columba. These men established monasteries that were really training centers for men who would go out and proclaim the gospel.
Having worked in recent years to establish a partnership between our diocese in SC and one in the Church of Ireland, I encourage you to keep the Irish in prayer. This is an island that has become dear to our hearts. Ireland was once a major missionary sending country and now only a tiny percent of the population attends church regularly. Bishop Ken Clarke describes Ireland as being in a state of spiritual poverty, though he sees good things happening for the gospel there.
Just for fun on St. Patrick’s day though, I share the following video…
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