Of parents, parades and politics, by Times Leader columnist, Mark Guydish

Monday March 17, 2008 06:43 PM

Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com in Education

It felt odd, even unseemly, to see a mass of parents and supporters marching in Wilkes-Barre's St. Pat's Parade to support Catholic teacher unionization.

The new group - Parents Supporting SDACT (Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers) deserves a lot of praise for pulling together such a big contingent on relatively short notice. The intent was to make it clear there's plenty of community support of the Association's efforts to unionize Catholic school teachers (or at least to let them vote on it). The sheer size of the crowd, almost without a doubt the largest contingent in the parade by a large number, made that intent successful.

Since Bishop Joseph Martino has said emphatically that the rejection of unions is final and irrevocable, the only hope the union has is to convince him to reconsider, and public pressure is one tool in the box for that project.

Yet on first blush, this struck me not only as a poor fit, but possibly an intrusion. What, exactly, do union supporters have to do with St. Patrick celebrations? Doesn't this politicize an event that feels very apolitical (you know, once a year "everybody's Irish!" Is it downbeat in an upbeat event?

But of course, such complaints don't really hold water. Politics are drawn to parades like bees to pollen. Hillary O'Clinton's march in Scranton's parade Saturday is just the most glaring example. Every parade has its U.S. and State congress folk, its mayors and council people, its county officials. They ain't there cause they look great in green, they come seeking the alchemy that converts public exposure to votes on the ballot.

Every parade marries money to community celebration. Most entrants opt in precisely to sell their stuff. This one had two Mr. Peanuts, balloons sponsored by three separate companies (including the Times Leader, but the saga of how that idea never got fully off the ground is not for this space at this time ), and a plethora of organizations you could join as long as your money is as green as the day's beer (dance schools, radio stations, phone companies, roller derby teams looking to enlarge crowds... the list is long).

Even the idea of welding causes to the entertainment is far from new. The Shriners always come through with something (Those little funny cars this time, and their big purpose is helping wee sick kids. This parade included some reps looking for construction of a skate park, lots of age groups of boy and girl scouts, and some Rugby players looking ... well, I'm betting they wanted people to know there are Rugby players in the valley.

Heck, if anything, the union-supporting parents could lay a tighter claim on the day. It is a Catholic-spawned celebration, no? And the union's claim all along has been that the Catholic church has staunchly supported organized labor for more than 100 years.

The group was polite and respectful, paramount goals voiced by Sharon Hourigan, one of the organizers. Their numbers gave heft to their effort while silence made sure they didn't weigh the parade down. (I wish I could say the same for the one rock band on a flatbed truck that had the amps cranked up enough to make ears ache).

And while it may seem as much stunt as statement, it raises an interesting question.
Could Martino, given the same amount of time, have mustered a similar contingent willing to publicly march in support of his decision?