As Catholic communities each year we celebrate St Patrick's Day. This day is more than shamrocks and Irish pubs, dressing in green and sharing a pint of guiness. It has a signifance for many Catholics around Australia and throughout the world.

Last Friday over 300 schools paraded proudly into St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne to celebrate a Saint who has a proud history in this country. On the Friday evening Archbishop Comensoli delivered an oration that called people to follow the work of St Patrick in "re-planting our city with the seeds of the Gospel, re-discovering a knowledge, language and pedagogy that can transform lives. It is a proposal to make the move away from the institutional centre and relocate ourselves among our local neighbourhoods of grace."

The full oration talks us through the history of St Patrick and how he helped to transform and strengthen the communities of Ireland.