Melbourne, Australia, Jul 30, 2009 / 04:05 am
Bishop Les Tomlinson, auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, has praised the Australian Football League for its tradition of resisting pressures to schedule games on Good Friday. Reacting to proposals to change the custom, he called on the sports organization to continue to preserve “local culture” and to accommodate the spiritual needs of people in Melbourne.
His comments, published in a statement from the Archdiocese of Melbourne, echo those of the Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart in holding that Good Friday is a public holiday because it is a sacred day for Christians.
“We are very proud of Melbourne’s sporting culture,” Bishop Tomlinson said. “Easter and the Easter holidays are a season of the spirit and the spiritual for Christians.”
“It’s not just about the three o’clock ceremony. It is about the day,” he explained. “From our awakening to the end of the day, it is the day Christians remember that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us so that we might know and enjoy the love of God for all eternity.”