Planning For Next Year- Getting Christ Back In Good Friday

Get Religion has a good piece that is part the problem I am talking about. See A good Friday for baseball? It examines the controversy, and how the Press reported it, when the Baseball team in Detroit scheduled a Mid afternoon Good Friday Game. It is a good read.

The Knights of Columbus have the famous Keep the Christ in Christmas campaign. May be we need the same for Good Friday.

In the very Christ haunted evangelical south where I live Good Friday was pretty much an unofficial holy day. All the banks were closed and most business at least closed by noon if they were open at all. How things have changed. I noticed that at my local Catholic Church at the 3 p.m. service it seems the crowds are getting smaller and smaller each year. One reason for that smaller crowd size is people are all having to work.

If you transported someone in a time machine from lets say the late 1970's to last Good Friday 2009 I think he or she would be shocked. We sort of miss it because it is all so gradual. Now no one blinks a eye that all the SEC baseball teams were playing on Good Friday as well as a ton of high school baseball and softball on Good Friday afternoon itself.

I think we are losing something important here. Needless to say Easter Monday that played a more fun important secular role in the Easter celebration is now nonexistent.

As to Good Friday I suspect the problem might be a little bit worse in the more Catholic part of the State where more people demand time to go to the 3 pm services. As usual Catholics and their services affect those around them and other faith communities no doubt have similar services. However I sadly expect the problem is there too.

I do think that some group, whether Catholic or Protestant, should do a Get Christ in Good Friday program. It would be nice if the U.S Bishops perhaps did a well organized movement (by organized I mean taught and promoted in the Parishes not just their web site) of asking Catholic and Christian Business folk to at least close down at noon if not for the whole day. A promotion where the Bishops would at least promote awareness to sporting venues of keeping in mind the Good Friday tradition. This outreach of course could not just be done a few days before but be something that was a constant theme for months. Who knows who else might join in. I expect a lot of different communities would.