Roman Catholic Cardinal John O'Connor has had enough.

Angry that Major League Baseball opened its 1998 season with games on Good Friday, the archbishop of New York announced he would not attend any Mets or Yankees games during the year, though he is well known as a fan of both teams.

Major League Baseball was unmoved.

But if taking on Major League Baseball in the Big Apple was not controversial enough, the archbishop earlier decided to take on a really powerful institution - Little League Baseball.

"Why is it that religion must always accommodate?" O'Connor asked. "Why must Little League and soccer league games be scheduled on Sunday mornings? Why create this conflict for kids or for their parents? Sports are generally considered good for kids. Church is good for kids."

If the games conflict with Sunday worship, so much worse for the church.

Taken as a portrait of post modern America, this squabble reveals a great deal. Years ago a statement like this - from a man known simply as His Eminence to most New Yorkers - would have brought Little League to a Sunday standstill.

No more. The secularization the archbishop blamed for a decline in Sunday observance has eroded his authority as well.

Americans treat Sundays like any other day, though for many work takes a back seat to leisure activities. Sociologists have traced the demotion of Sunday and the decline of worship attendance for years and have offered a variety of explanations. Their theories all come down to the secularization of the American soul.

The erosion of Sunday observance is the inevitable result of a decline of Christian conviction. A loss of faith preceded the encroachment of Little League. If enough Christian parents refused to let their children play on Sundays, the league would have to adjust.

Committed Christians know Sunday is the Lord's Day - the day set aside for the worship of God. The Lord's Day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and looks back to His atoning death as Savior. A secular society has no use for a day of Christian worship. The problem is a lot bigger than the archbishop thinks.