Switch Good Friday match to solve spiritual crux
THE Augustinian priest who penned a prayer for the Munster rugby team has said the only solution to the spiritual dilemma around the Good Friday fixture with Leinster is moving the big match to Thursday or Saturday, writes Mike Dwane.
City publicans fear losing out on one of their biggest nights of the year but believe there might be a way around the Good Friday drinking ban if the District Court considered the fixture an event of significant local importance and allowed pubs open from 6pm to midnight. Local vintners are to meet with senior gardai in the city to see whether the force would have a difficulty with such a court application.
Fr Ryan, a devoted fan of Munster rugby and the Limerick hurlers, said “the publicans are trying to negotiate with the gardai to see if we can have it declared as a special occasion and no doubt Munster against Leinster is a special occasion but it is superseded by the special occasion of Good Friday, one of the most solemn and sacred days on the Christian calendar”.
And Fr Ryan has backed the call of the head of the Redemptorists, Fr Adrian Egan, for the Church to be included in the ongoing debate.
“I am a strong Munster supporter myself and we don’t want to appear to be lecturing anybody. But the opinion of most in the Church is that Good Friday is a special day of reflection. I spoke about this a little on Sunday and I expressed the wish that the match be re-fixed for either Thursday or Saturday to take the heat out of the situation,” said Fr Ryan.
“I can understand the feelings of the Munster fans and the local businesspeople in the city but if they could find a way to move the match back or forward by a day, it would be much easier to deal with it for all concerned,” he said.
Fr Ryan called on divine intervention to help out Munster ahead of a previous clash with Leinster, the Heineken Cup semi-final of 2009, when he said a special mass for the team.
He also composed the light-hearted Prayer of Desperation to St Jude, patron saint of lost causes, ahead of the Heineken Cup Final against Biarritz in 2006 at a time when rugby supporters were finding it impossible to find a ticket for the history-making occasion.
The short prayer included the lines “St. Jude, saint of the impossible, help me to find a flight, a ferry, a paddle boat, a ticket for the stadium in Cardiff; forgive me for the times when I considered rugby to be my first religion; soften the heart of my boss and my bank manager so I can travel on Thursday”. It finished: “If you answer my prayer I promise to limit myself to one drink, if they win. Thank you for the gifts I am about to receive. Amen."
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