Congressmen renew push to make Easter Monday a federal holiday

Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, is once more calling on Congress to pass his bill to enshrine Easter Monday as a federal holiday.

“In just seven years, we mark the 2,000th anniversary of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That milestone will be one of the most significant moments in the history of the world. We should be preparing for it,” Moore wrote in an April 6 social media thread.

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The post comes a year after Moore, alongside Sen. Eric Schmitt, introduced legislation that would make the day after Easter Sunday a federal holiday. No hearings have been held on the House and Senate measures, which have been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Senate Judiciary Committee respectively.

“More than 80% of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — celebrate Easter,” Moore said. “Most other Western nations already observe Easter Monday as a public holiday. The U.S. is the outlier. It’s time to fix that.”

Moore also pointed out the “practical benefits” of the bill, which he named the Easter Monday Act, saying it would give families who travel for Easter “the breathing room to be fully present — with their relatives, in their churches, and at their dinner tables” rather than having “to rush home Sunday night to make it to work Monday morning.”

“Just as Christ continued appearing to his apostles for 40 days after his resurrection, our celebration of Easter should not end at the strike of midnight,” he said. “Easter Monday is an invitation to carry the meaning of Easter into our daily lives — and into the public life of our nation, which has been gripped by a culture of death for far too long.”

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch responded to Moore’s post, writing: “It’s actually quite shocking Easter has never been a national holiday, owing only to the fact that it’s always on a Sunday.”

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“For all the reasons here, including the fact that our civilizational identity would be greatly enhanced, I hope this is given serious consideration,” Burch said.

Schmitt also called for passage, writing on social media: “Christ is risen. Today of all days, we should be focused on celebrating and not the work week ahead. Let’s make a federal holiday to celebrate Easter.”

Good Friday

While Good Friday is not a federal holiday, state offices in 16 states mark the day by early- or all-day closure, including Connecticut, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, according to the Library of Congress.

So far, there have been no legislative efforts to make Good Friday a federal holiday in the U.S.

Good Friday is a public holiday in many countries around the world, including Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, according to Time and Date.