IS CUBA MORE RESPECTFUL OF GOOD FRIDAY?
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the way Cuba and the United States commemorate Good Friday:
The Cuban government has acceded to Pope Benedict XVI’s request to declare Good
Friday a holiday. Yet in the U.S.,
nine major league baseball games will be played. It’s time Baseball
Commissioner Bud Selig took a page from the Communists and exercised some
prudence: there should be no games on Good Friday.
In 2009, Congressman Anthony Weiner asked Selig to move the start of the New
York Yankees’ home game against the Boston Red Sox to 1:00 p.m. so that
observant Jews could attend services on Yom Kippur; it was scheduled for an
8:00 p.m. start, after sundown. Selig conceded, as he should have. But it
should not take a congressman to get Selig to be more respectful of holy days.
While it may be too late to cancel the games this Friday, at the very least
Selig should respect the “O’Connor Rule” in the future: in 1998, John Cardinal
O’Connor was critical of the decision to play major league baseball on Good
Friday, and was particularly disturbed by playing during the 12 to 3 hours (the
period of the crucifixion). Cardinal O’Connor said it well when he remarked
that “playing on Good Friday, at the very least from 12 to 3, is cheap and
cheapens our culture, no matter how big the box-office receipts.”
The Catholic League commends the Cincinnati Reds for moving their home opener
from Good Friday to Thursday. I will ask Commissioner Selig to respect the
“O’Connor Rule” in the future.