St Patrick's Day is a brand with worldwide recognition

The piece below is from today's Rollebon Press Sunday Letter. It is reprinted here by kind permission of Rollebon Press, Tallaght.

Michael Commane
Brand names are in many ways the magic of our times. Companies spend millions of euro and expend extraordinary energy and creativity building up and then protecting a brand.

Volkswagen, Coca Cola, Tommy Hilfiger and even our own Kerrygold are all world-famous brands. The very sound and sight of the name creates an air of quality, reliability, but above all trust.

When a company knows its name, its brand evokes a trust with people it then knows it is a world leader. Companies spend years building a brand name.

Back in 1985 I was crossing from West Berlin to East Berlin. Germany was still divided and the border crossings between West and East Berlin were the most formidable frontier crossings in the world.

Just as I went through the final security check at Friedrich Straße the East German guard wished me a happy St Patrick's Day. Needles to say I was greatly surprised, indeed, shocked. We ended up chatting to one another, something unheard of at those crossing points.

It was St Patrick's Day and a Sunday and I was on my way to celebrate Mass in the Catholic cathedral in Bebel Platz.

I was chuffed that a border guard in the Communist GDR knew who Ireland's patron was. I was proud too.

The Irish State has branded this day in a clever and marketable way. It's the day when our Government Ministers travel the world to sell Ireland. It would be an unwise and silly marketing team that would remove the Shamrock from the tailplane of an Aer Lingus aircraft.

In current parlance most of us refer to the day as 'Paddy's Day'. Indeed, to talk about 'St Patrick's Day' can even sound 'old fashioned'. Strange how style and fashion can influence how we think.

But today above all is an Irish Christian feast, recalling the man who is reputed to have brought the faith to Ireland.

March 17 is both a holy day and a national holiday.

Soon after his ordination as bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy in a lecture he gave in his new city stressed that Ireland today with all its anger for and alienation with the Catholic Church is never far away from its Christian tradition.

There is such a wealth of tradition in our faith that it would seem really shocking if we dismissed it out of hand because of bad behaviour and mismanagement within the institutional church.

In the second reading at Mass today (Philippians 2: 6 - 11) St Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes how all creation is in awe of Jesus Christ, who is Lord and God. Paul tells his readers how Jesus humbles himself, even to the point of death. And this man happens to be God.
Yes, it requires faith to accept the divinity of Jesus. But how many aspects of our lives depend on leaps of faith. So much to do with love and trust requires us to believe in the other person.

Our Christian faith has stood the test of time. Placing Christ, the one who humbled himself, at a central place in our lives makes sense. It suggests we give more time and thought to the other person. It reminds us we are not alone.

In St Patrick's Breastplate we read:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, (100)
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Marketing companies would give their right hand for a 'brand' as fantastic as St Patrick. We should do our damnedest to retain it.