Years ago, I recall an Irish-born caller to a talk show saying how he despised how Americans turned St. Patrick’s Day into a drunken fool fest. He spoke of the religious connections to the day.
My Episcopal parish had for years celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a party featuring food and booze in the middle of Lent. Then we got a new priest. He said that he would countenance this if and only if we had a service that day before the party started in the name of St. Patrick, so as to emphasize the religious aspect of the day. He also said that if you didn’t show up for the service, don’t show up for the party. That sounded fair to me. I showed up at the appointed time. There were maybe 5 people in the pews, and nobody else showed up. I’d brought a bottle of 21-year-old single malt Bushmills’ Irish Whiskey, which was party enough for me and the priest. I had no criticism of the priest and told him so - “F” the rest of them if they can’t take a 1/2 hour out of the day to remember exactly who St. Patrick was and why he deserved a day.