Ireland has been described as "an increasingly secularised and vulgarised country" where "Paddy's Week is descending into an excuse for mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry".
Fr Vincent Twomey, emeritus professor of moral theology at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, has also said that "it is time to reclaim St Patrick's Day as a church festival, one that should have a special ecumenical perspective, since all Christians in Ireland trace the origins of their faith back to Patrick."
Writing in the current issue of the Word magazine, which he edits, Fr Twomey said of St Patrick's Day festivities that "within the past decade, prosperity combined with an explosion of creativity transformed the main parade in Dublin into a spectacular affair.
"However, in an increasingly secularised and vulgarised country, 'Paddy's Week' is descending into an excuse for mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry. Must it be so?
"Celebration is essential to life . . . What is needed is sufficient reason to celebrate.
"Our history since the penal times has prevented us from developing a culture of public celebration for these festivals similar to those of Italy, Spain or the countries of central Europe.
The last vestiges of medieval celebrations were the "pattern days", the celebration of various patron saints, usually associated with their shrines or holy wells, which in the 19th century were almost completely eradicated by an over-zealous clergy.
"Yet these pattern days had the right mixture of piety and fun that should mark every celebration," he said. "It cannot be denied that we have restored the fun to St Patrick's Day. What is often absent is the faith dimension. It is time to bring the piety and the fun together."
