MIDTOWN MANHATTAN — New York’s Fifth Avenue was a sea of green for the 265th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17, a grand march that turned one of the world’s most famous thoroughfares into a feast of festive sights and sounds.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined the parade route to cheer for the marchers, marching bands, and floats as they passed by. Many of the spectators were also dressed for the occasion, wearing green hats and green sweaters and waving Irish flags.
The New York parade has become so legendary that spectators came from all over — including Ireland, the birthplace of St. Patrick — to see it. Patrick Guinan lives in County Offaly in the Midland Region of Ireland, but flew all the way to New York.
“This is very exciting! I wanted to come to this parade because I heard it’s the biggest and the best,” Guinan told The Tablet.
This year marked newly installed Archbishop Ronald Hicks’ first parade as the archbishop of New York.
“We are going to celebrate all day long!” Archbishop Hicks said during the pre-parade Mass he celebrated. “And it is good to be here, and it is good to begin right here in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.”
In his homily, Archbishop Hicks paid tribute to Irish immigrants who came to New York in the 19th century and helped build the city despite facing hardship and discrimination.
“Through their faith, their hard work, and their devotion to family and to church, they helped build parishes and schools, neighborhoods, and communities,” he said.
Archbishop Hicks reminded the faithful that New York is still the arrival point for immigrants today. “As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called not to see them as strangers,” he added. “But as brothers and sisters, welcoming them with respect and walking together in faith.”
The grand marshal of this year’s parade was financier Robert J. McCann, co-chairman of NewEdge Capital Group and chairman of the board of the Irish Arts Center.
Bishop Robert Brennan, whose maternal grandfather arrived in the U.S. from County Sligo 99 years ago, said Irish immigrants were guided by faith.
Many, he said, were “very poor people with great hope that wanted to give glory to God.”
Bishop Brennan said that new waves of immigrants coming to the U.S. now are continuing to make contributions, just as newcomers did years ago.
“They are reviving our faith with a sense of enthusiasm,” he added.
