LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Earth day should not be observed on Good Friday

Posted

TO?THE?EDITOR:

Is it being overly sensitive to be concerned that Good Friday was "shared" this year by Earth Day? But why was this secular event parked in the middle of the most sacred stretch of the Christian calendar in the first place?

Wouldn't it have been accommodating of the founding fathers of this environmental affair to make it such that it would be before, or after, Holy Week and Easter each year, so as to not divide the attention of Christians, approaching the pinnacle of their liturgical year?

Am I allowed to be "put off" by the usurping this year of the commemoration of the Lord's death (and subsequent Resurrection) by an environmental lalapalooza that no less than infers the ancient pagan nature cults that Christ's coming dispatched? Or, further, that rabid (but, please, not all) environmentalism frequently invokes the quiet rise of unholy campaigns of contraception and abortion across the planet due to the utilitarian perception that mankind is a plague upon its "mother"?

All Christians, especially Catholics, should have doubled our efforts to consider our heavenly mother instead, given to us by Jesus from the holy cross. We should have stood with her on Friday and considered the ransom that her holy son, Our Lord, paid on Calvary for our sins (the true plague on Earth) and for "the saving of many." Training our interests on ecology that day would have convoluted. We could have easily waited until Monday to concentrate on the legitimate concerns of preserving the environment. Does anyone else remember when the religious practice of others was so greatly respected as a general rule in society, that it was automatically accommodated as a form of civic kindness, even by those who did not practice any religion? My, how times have changed.

When any major cultural affair, is positioned over the crucifixion of Our Lord, no matter how well intended or no matter what excuses might ensue, something is very wrong. It at once becomes a callous and even potentially malignant occasion. A 35 year old secular-feel-good holiday shouldn't be observed over the most solemn day in human history – reverently commemorated by Christians for centuries. Bad enough that many have come to see Easter as a time of rabbits and eggs alone ... is it now really to be also about light bulbs and grocery bags?

Ken Vaudrain

Pawtucket