Calendar's Christianity omission criticised

A FINE Gael MEP has accused the European Commission of “a major oversight” by issuing three million calendars which mark the …

A FINE Gael MEP has accused the European Commission of “a major oversight” by issuing three million calendars which mark the important dates for all major religions, except Christianity.

Jim Higgins said the calendar, issued to 21,000 schools, included all the most important religious holidays for Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Chinese festivities, as well as other public holidays, but failed to mention any Christian holidays, including Christmas Day.

Yet, as he has pointed out, Christianity is the religion of the majority of Europeans.

“Aside from the hurt caused by this calendar, it also cost a whopping €5 million to produce, yet no one appears to have proof-read it. At a time of economic crisis this is a scandalous waste of EU money,” he said. “To make matters worse, on January 12th the commission’s press service flatly refused to recall the calendars.”

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry is a contributor to The Irish Times