Keeping the Tradition

St. Patrick's Day stirs Irish pride as thousands gather at Mass and parade

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL

Irish heroes and Irish heritage took center stage March 17 as New York celebrated St. Patrick's Day, from Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral to the march up Fifth Avenue.

Cardinal Egan, who was the main celebrant and homilist at Mass, welcomed the congregation and named many dignitaries who were present, including the parade grand marshal, Tommy M. Smyth, the ESPN sports broadcaster, and his wife, Treasa.

Many elected officials who usually attend were in Albany for the swearing in ceremony of Gov. David A. Paterson, which took place that day, the cardinal noted.

Smyth, a New Yorker who was born in Ireland's County Louth, told CNY how proud he felt about being chosen to lead the march.

"Everybody in the world should have an opportunity to feel like I feel now," he said. "It's the greatest honor that an Irish person can receive in the United States, and I will be proud to represent my country, my faith and my heritage on Fifth Avenue."

He said that on St. Patrick's Day, "the world focuses on New York," and the parade draws many people from Ireland and elsewhere. "Not alone is it bringing New Yorkers together on this great day," he said, "but it brings people from all nations together-something that we're very proud of."

The entrance procession was led by a contingent of the 69th Regiment of the New York Army National Guard, the famous Fighting 69th.

The cardinal also announced news from the Vatican about a man he described as "a great American and a great Irishman." Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, had been named Venerable, a significant step toward canonization.

In his homily, Cardinal Egan said that it was "a very special St. Patrick's Day" because it fell within the archdiocese's Bicentennial Year. On St. Patrick's Day 1908, he said, the archdiocese celebrated its centennial with a Mass offered in the cathedral by Cardinal Michael Logue, the first Irish cardinal and the 114th successor of St. Patrick in the See of Armagh.

Cardinal Egan wryly remarked that the archdiocese today was not about to be outdone by the celebration 100 years ago, "so we have the pope coming to close our bicentennial."

Cardinal Egan then said that, like the homilist 100 years ago, he would focus on Irish heroes. He chose four: Father John Drumgoole; the Sisters of Charity of New York; Dorothy Day; and Alfred E. Smith.

Father Drumgoole founded the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin on Staten Island to care for the thousands of homeless street children in New York, the largest orphanage in the nation at the time.

The Sisters of Charity founded schools, academies, St. Vincent's Hospital and the New York Foundling Hospital, and served as nurses in military hospitals. In 1866 Mother Mary Jerome Ely, superior general, asked the sisters for volunteers to nurse the sick and restore order to the overburdened Emigrant hospital on Ward's Island during a cholera epidemic, the cardinal said. "Every sister volunteered, and six went, and all six had Irish surnames," the cardinal added. He quoted the commissioner of health at the time, who stated that in two weeks, "all was in order, thanks to the courage and devotion of the sisters."

Cardinal Egan noted that Al Smith-who was Irish in part-worked as a legislator and governor to pass laws to protect workers' wages; to prevent child labor; to obtain health care for the poor, and to institute low-cost housing, rent controls and prison reform.

Dorothy Day was a convert who saw Catholicism "as the Church of the immigrant and the Church of the poor," the cardinal said. She opened houses of hospitality for the poor, was a champion of civil rights and fought war and anti-Semitism, the cardinal said. He noted that her cause for canonization is before the Holy See; the postulator is the cardinal's priest-secretary, Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo.

Cardinal Egan called on all to imitate his "Irish heroes" and become "champions of charity, compassion, courage and commitment to justice and peace."

At the close of the Mass, the cardinal thanked the soprano Mary Dunleavy, who sang "Ave Maria," and Dr. Jennifer Pascual, director of music at the Cathedral.

About an hour after the Mass, the 247th St. Patrick's Day Parade began on Fifth Avenue. Preceding the grand marshal and his aides were officers and soldiers of the Fighting 69th and Cathedral High School Band, the girls' bright blue and gold uniforms gleaming in the sunshine.

Crowds thronged the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue and cheered the New York City police and fire departments and their bagpipe bands, other police and organization bands, school marching bands and light-footed Irish dancers in colorful costumes.

Shamrocks and smiles were plentiful among spectators on the cathedral steps.

"St. Patrick's Day has always been a time for family, and my grandparents have instilled that in me, and to not continue the tradition does not make sense to me," said Kimberly Dowd, 21, a Marist College senior at the parade with her father, Ed Dowd.

Teresa Kelly Ahlstrand came from Northport with her son, Jason, 3. Her parents were New Yorkers who faithfully went to the parade. "It's a memory I have from when I was growing up, coming here with all my cousins, and I want to keep the tradition up," she said.

Dapper in light green jacket, slacks and vest, with a bright green tie, was Edward Fitzsimmons, 88, of the Bronx, attending with his son and daughter-in-law, Edward and Eileen Fitzsimmons, and their son and daughter. He had a ready reply for anyone who might suggest that with a chill wind blowing, he would have been warmer and more comfortable viewing the marchers on television.

"I don't watch TV," he said. "I'm nice and warm here, watching the parade."

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