On March 17, the streets of Kansas City will turn as crowds line Broadway for the 52nd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. For many Rockhurst students, this is a holiday centered around friends, tradition and celebration.
Rockhurst professor Dr. John Kerrigan, who studies Irish literature and works closely with Kansas City’s Irish community, explains the day actually carries a more layered meaning.
“My feelings are complex,” Kerrigan said. “St. Patrick’s Day originated as a feast day in Ireland, and for some certainly still it is a humble religious holiday. But it has become an international secular celebration of Irishness thanks especially to Irish immigrants to the U.S. who more than a century ago were trying to assert and preserve their cultural pride.”
Irish immigrants in America once used the holiday to claim dignity during a time when they faced discrimination. Over time, however, the celebration became heavily associated with drinking, reinforcing stereotypes that persist today.
Kerrigan is quick to distinguish between national trends and Kansas City’s local Irish Community. Kansas City is among the 40 largest cities in the United States, yet its St. Patrick’s Day parade consistently ranks among the top ten in the country. The city’s Irish community, he said, balances pride with openness.
“There is a lot of pride,” Kerrigan said, “but alongside that an expansive, hospitable nature to the way most people regard Irishness… On St. Patrick’s Day everybody is Irish, if they want to be.”
In his classes, students are often surprised not by how different Ireland feels, but by how familiar it has become.
“The closer we get to our own day and age, the Ireland we encounter has become, surprisingly, not so different from how Americans live now,” Kerrigan said.
While the forces of globalization have erased many cultural differences, Irish writing still carries a distinctive reflectiveness, eloquence and often a deep undercurrent of sadness shaped by colonial history.
That tradition stretches from Oscar Wilde and James Joyce to Seamus Heaney and contemporary novelist Sally Rooney. Even artists like U2 reflect that blend of beauty and history in their work.
“There long has been a deep-seated sadness imbued in Irish writing,” Kerrigan said, “likely because of the long shadow of colonialism.”
While St. Patrick’s Day has become largely cultural and commercial, Kerrigan finds himself thinking about the historical figure behind the holiday. Long before he was recognized as a saint, Patrick, born Patricius, was captured as a teenager from Roman Britain and enslaved in Ireland. After six years working as a shepherd, he escaped and returned home. Later, as an adult priest, he made the deliberate choice to return to Ireland, the land of his captivity, to do spiritual work.
“To me the remarkable and braver part of Patrick’s story is that he returned to Ireland… to bring spiritual welcome to a place where he had not experienced hospitality himself,” Kerrigan said.
For students who want to engage more deeply with Irish culture beyond parade day, Kerrigan recommends visiting the Kansas City Irish Center at Drexel Hall near 33rd and Main. Kerrigan has facilitated a monthly Irish book club there for nearly a decade.
What stands out most to him about Kansas City’s Irish community is its emphasis on hospitality.
“When we’re at our best,” he said, “we can embody hospitality as a sort of radical spiritual ideal.”
As Rockhurst students head out to celebrate, Kerrigan hopes they carry more than green accessories with them. St. Patrick’s Day is about pride, migration, resilience and story. In Kansas City, it is also a community, one that invites participation and deserves understanding.
