St. Patrick Church in downtown Washington, D.C. marked the feast day of its namesake with not only a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, but Irish dancing and bagpipe playing as well. 

The dancers from the O’Neill-James School of Irish Dancing, who performed before the Mass in front of St. Patrick’s doors despite the rain, were adorned with traditional step dance dresses, poodle socks, and tight rings of curls in their hair.

Frederick Donnelly Francis James Jr. is the assistant director at O’Neill-James – his mother Laureen O’Neill James runs the school, which has been open for over 50 years.

“It’s Irish, you got to keep it up, I don’t about you, but Irish people are pretty fun,” James Jr. said.

The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Gregory along with multiple concelebrants including Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy Campbell Jr. and Mario Dorsonville, and Father Andrew Wakefield, who serves as the pastor at St. Patrick.  

During his homily, Cardinal Gregory said St. Patrick’s Day is “a cause of joy in all of us.” 

The cardinal pointed out that most feast day celebrations are typically “limited to the standard 24-hour time frame,” while St. Patrick’s Day celebrations go on for longer. “I daresay that most of you will be observing this feast for at least 24 hours,” Cardinal Gregory said. He added “and (that) may continue for a few extra hours.” 

Cardinal Gregory hypothesized why St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are typically so involved.

“Perhaps because St. Patrick’s Day always falls within the Lenten season, people are more prone to want to kick up their heels during this otherwise abstemious season,” the cardinal said. 

Washington’s archbishop said American Catholics “owe a tremendous debt” to those who descend from Ireland and worked to establish and continue the Catholic Church in the United States. 

“Today we are all somehow Irish, today we pause to give thanks for the wonderful gifts of the Irish people and for their great patron, Patrick, we praise God, raising up Patrick as an apostle of faith for the Irish community throughout the world, [as] they continue to claim him as their special heavenly guardian,” Cardinal Gregory said. 

The cardinal ended the St. Patrick’s Day Mass by saying “our hearts are filled with joy” to finally celebrate that Mass together again after such public celebrations were halted during much of the pandemic.