St Patrick's Day 'to be moved'

The feast day of Ireland's patron saint is set to move next year to avoid a clash with Holy Week according to The Irish Catholic newspaper. The paper claims 2008 St Patrick's Day will be celebrated of March 15 instead of the traditional March 17, because it falls on the first day of Holy Week. Church leaders in Ireland have decided to switch the feast day to Saturday, March 15 in a bid to cause as little confusion as possible. A source close to the Irish Bishops' Conference told The Irish Catholic that the bishops were "keen to keep a link with the civic celebrations by moving the feast to the nearest Saturday, in this case March 15". It will be the first time in almost 100 years that St Patrick's Day is not celebrated on March 17. The change in the Church's calendar is set to cause havoc for St Patrick's Day celebrations world-wide where events are often scheduled years in advance to coincide with the traditional March 17 celebrations. The next time St Patrick's Day clashed with Holy Week will be 2160.