Good Friday

A judge in Limerick officially established last week that there are two institutions far more respected than the Catholic Church in Ireland: rugby and the pint. Rival teams Munster and Leinster face off tonight in Limerick’s Thomond Park stadium, the home of Irish rugby. Today is also Good Friday, and pubs, by law, aren’t allowed to open. But Irish pub owners -- collectively called Publicans -- are more omnipotent than the Church ever was (*). They lobbied to allow Limerick pubs to open on Good Friday and won. Pubs are to Irish sports fans what the watering holes in the Serengeti are to wildebeest and zebra: a place to socialize, lap up a lot of brown frothy drink, and forget about the stalking lion or the Celtic tiger. Rugby fans who aren’t ticketholders are far more likely to watch the match in a pub than on their couch at home. Pubs always post a list of match times on their door so passers-by know what the TV above the bar will be showing. The pub atmosphere during a match is really festive, in part because children are allowed in pubs and these half-pint fans often paint their faces the colors of their favorite team. Tomas, who with his family owns Burke’s Pub, our favorite place, told us while serving us a pint on Holy Thursday that he predicts this is the last year pubs will have to close on Good Friday. The Limerick judge’s ruling set a precedent, he says, that will open the doors of all Irish pubs by this time next year.

*The Catholic Church is no longer the omnipotent force in Irish society that it used to be, not simply because so many priests have been exposed as pedophiles and granted sanctuary by their superiors. Contraception and divorce have been legal for years; clergy no longer teach in public schools; shops are open on Sundays. Church pews lose out on Sunday mornings to warm beds, bike rides, leisurely lunches, anything really. And the Holy Hour was abolished decades ago. The Holy Hour was a 60 minute stretch on Sunday afternoons when pubs weren’t allowed to sell drinks. After its elimination, Good Friday and Christmas Day remained the only times when pubs, by law, had to close.