War of words over the Sabbath

"This is so typical,'' we hear you all saying in unison.

"Port Macquarie picking on poor little Taree. What bullies they are.''

Under normal circumstances this would be completely true. But this has nothing to do with Port Macquarie-Taree bullying. It's all about the Sabbath. The Holy Day. And exactly when the Sabbath is celebrated.

The genesis of all this unrest was the decision by Group Three Rugby League last week to switch grand final day this year from a Saturday to a Sunday.

Feeling somewhat ecumenical when we penned the story Friday morning last, we decided to lead the report by saying that the grand final day would return to the Sabbath.

While it has been many decades since we were trapped in the Catholic education system, we were entirely confident that the Sabbath was a Sunday.

We're sure the nuns or one of their always eager henchmen would have bashed that into us somewhere along the line.

So we were at peace.

That was until Saturday morning where our stupor was interrupted by an e-mail from the editor of said northern publication. For the sake of this exercise we shall call her 'Sue.' Mainly because that is her name.

"Hey guys,'' she snarled. "I may be a Catholic but I'm pretty sure the Sabbath is a Saturday."

We were aghast. Sabbath a Saturday? We've never heard such blasphemy.

Of course, we thought it our religious duty to correct the heretic; to put her back on the godly path.

However, we were a little unsure as to where to get the correct information. We doubt any of the Sisters of St Joseph, who bludgeoned us on all matters religion back in the 1960s and 70s, would still be around.

And there's never a Jehovah Witness around when you need one. So we went all 21st century and Googled Sabbath.

"Sabbath: Sunday observed among Christians as a day of rest and worship,'' was one response we received.

We duly e-mailed this away, while adding church service times in case 'Sue' wanted to repent and return to a righteous way of life, all thanks to this correspondent. Hallelujah!

But Lord have Mercy, that wasn't the end of the matter. Not be a long way.

For 'Sue' fired back thus: "The Jewish Sabbath (from Hebrew shavat, "to rest") is observed throughout the year on the seventh day of the week - Saturday. According to biblical tradition, it commemorates the original seventh day on which God rested after completing the creation.''

'Sue's' claiming an ecclesiastical victory, as is this correspondent. No one wins a war. We always say this. Especially a religious one.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: