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Catholic CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS MAGAZINE
St. Agnes, Richeyville • St. Agnes, West Mifflin • St. Albert the Great • St. Alexis • All Saints, Etna • St. Aloysius • St. Alphonsus, Boyers • R St. Alphonsus, McDonald • St. Alphonsus, Springdale • St. Alphonsus, JE E JO SU Wexford • St. Andrew • St. Angela Merici • St. Ann, Bulger • St. Ann, F O S IC Waynesburg • St. Anne, Castle Shannon • Ascension • Assumption • E IS H E S G St. Athansius • Ave Maria • St. Barbara • St. Bartholomew • St. Basil • B E R O C U St. Bede • St. Benedict the Abbot • St. Benedict the Moor • St. Bernadette R O B I • St. Bernard • St. Blaise • St. Bonaventure • St. Camillus • St. Catherine of N S T D ! Siena, Beechview • St. Catherine of Siena, Crescent • St. Catherine of Sweden T I • St. Cecilia • St. Charles Lwanga • Christ the King • Christ the Light of the World • P St. Christopher • St. Clare of Assisi • St. Colman • St. Columbkille • Corpus Christi • St. Cyril of Alexandria • St. Damien of Molokai • St. Elizabeth Ann Seton • St. Elizabeth of Hungary • Epiphany • St. Felix • St. Ferdinand • St. Fidelis • St. Frances Cabrini • St. Francis of Assisi • St. Gabriel • St. Gerard Majella • St. Germaine • Good Samaritan • Good Shepherd • St. Gregory • Guardian Angels • St. Hilary • Holy Angels • Holy Child • Holy Family, Creighton • Holy Family, New Brighton • Holy Innocents • Holy Martyrs • Holy Redeemer • Holy Rosary • Holy Sepulcher • Holy Spirit, Millvale • Holy Spirit, West Mifflin • Holy Trinity, Robinson Twp • Holy Trinity, West Mifflin • Holy Wisdom • St. Hugh • St. Ignatius • Immaculate Conception • Immaculate Heart of Mary • Incarnation of the Lord • St. Irenaeus • St. Isaac Jogues • St. James, Sewickley • St. James, Wilkinsburg • St. James the Apostle • St. Januarius • St. Joan of Arc • St. John • St. John the Baptist, Baden • St. John the Baptist, Monaca • St. John the Baptist, Plum • St. John Capistran • St. John Fisher • St. John Neumann • St. John Vianney • St. John of God • St. John XXIII • SS. John and Paul • St. Joseph, Cabot • St. Joseph, Coraopolis • St. Joseph, Duquesne • St. Joseph, Natrona • St. Joseph, North Oakland • St. Joseph, O’Hara Twp • St. Joseph, Roscoe • St. Joseph, Verona • St. Joseph the Worker • St. Juan Diego • St. Jude the Apostle • St. Kilian • St. Louise de Marillac • Madonna del Castello • St. Malachy • St. Margaret • St. Margaret Mary • St. Maria Goretti • St. Mark • St. Mary, Aleppo Twp • St. Mary, Cecil • St. Mary of the Assumption, Glenshaw • St. Mary of the Assumption, Herman • St. Mary of Mercy • Mary, Mother of the Church • Mary, Mother of Hope • St. Mary of the Mount • Mater Dolorosa • St. Matthias • St. Maurice • St. Maximilian Kolbe • St. Michael, Avella • St. Michael, Elizabeth • St. Michael the Archangel • St. Monica • Most Holy Name of Jesus • Nativity • St. Nicholas • St. Norbert • North American Martyrs • St. Oliver Plunkett • Our Lady of the Angels • Our Lady of Consolation • Our Lady of Fatima • Our Lady of Grace • Our Lady of Joy • Our Lady of Loreto • Our Lady of Lourdes • Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal • Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament • Our Lady of Peace • Our Lady of the Valley • Our Lady of Victory • St. Pamphilus • St. Patrick, Canonsburg • St. Patrick, McKeesport • St. Patrick, Oakdale • St. Patrick-St. Stanislaus Kostka • St. Paul • St. Paul Cathedral • St. Peter, Butler • St. Peter, North Side • St. Peter, Slippery Rock • SS. Peter and Paul • St. Philip • St. Pio of Pietrelcina • St. Pius X • Prince of Peace • Queen of the Rosary • St. Raphael • St. Regis • Resurrection, Brookline • Resurrection, West Mifflin • St. Richard • Risen Lord • St. Rita • St. Robert Bellarmine • St. Rosalia • Sacred Heart, Emsworth • Sacred Heart, Shadyside • St. Scholastica • St. Sebastian • SS. Simon and Jude • St. Stephen • St. Susanna • St. Sylvester • St. Teresa of Avila • St. Therese of Lisieux • St. Thomas • St. Thomas Aquinas • St. Thomas à Becket • St. Thomas More • St. Titus • Transfiguration • St. Ursula • St. Valentine • St. Victor • St. Vincent de Paul • St. Vitus • St. Wendelin, Carbon Center • St. Wendelin, Carrick • St. Winifred • Word of God.
Joy and inclusion | Attitude of gratitude w w w. p i ttsb urghcatho l i c.org Christmas Traditions 2015
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 1
Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a New Year of Peace and Happiness
2 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
Christmas Traditions 2015
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6
Inside this issue: 4 | Christmas memory:
A school principal remembers a special homily given by her parish priest.
6-12 | Creating traditions: Area schools find ways to create their own holiday memories.
14 | Hidden ability:
A teen receives special gifts of inspiration and talent, attributing them to the Almighty.
15 | Pittsburgh Catholic archives:
It’s 1943 and a time of war, but the nation stops to focus on a child in a manger.
17 | Counting blessings: Pope Francis says some people simply don’t know how to thank God.
18-19 | Christmas at the convent: A pictorial look at past yuletide events at religious congregations.
25 | Joy and inclusion:
A writer explains that you don’t necessarily have to be a Christian to enjoy Christmas.
26 | Attitude of gratitude:
How the right view of life can transform the world around us.
On the cover... “And when we give each other Christmas gifts in his name, let us remember that he has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans — and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused — and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, he came down to earth and gave us himself.” — Sigrid Undset Norwegian author and convert Cover design by Karen Hanlin
Christmas Traditions 2015
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Vol. 7, No. 4 Publisher | Bishop David A. Zubik General Manager | Ann Rodgers Editor | William Cone Operations Manager | Carmella Weismantle Christmas Traditions Project Editor William Cone Associate Editors Phil Taylor (Special Projects) Chuck Moody (News) Staff Writer | John W. Franko Graphic Designers David Pagesh | Karen Hanlin Advertising Director Carmella Weismantle Account Executives Michael A. Check | Paul Crowe Michael Wire Circulation Mgr./Parish News Coord. Peggy Zezza Administrative Assistant | Karen Hanlin
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Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 3
A Christmas memory By JoLYNN CLOUSE Attending Christmas Eve Mass with my whole family is a holiday tradition that we have done ever since I was born. When I was younger, every Christmas Eve my mom, dad, two brothers, I and Grandma Karenbauer went to Mass together at St. Joseph Church in North Oakland. Our parish priest was Father DePaul Ripko, and every Christmas my grandma and I would look forward to his Christmas homily. Father DePaul always told the story of the little boy and his red wagon. The story goes like this: Tommy wanted this little red wagon for Christmas so bad. Every night at the end of his prayers he would pray for Jesus to tell Santa to bring him this wagon. He
4 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
went shopping with his mom, and he saw a wagon in the store window. He got so excited just thinking about it. So Christmas morning finally arrived and Tommy ran down the steps to see what Santa had left him. And there it was — the red wagon. Tommy threw on a jacket and shoes and dashed out the door with his wagon. He left so fast that his parents didn’t even know where he had gone. His parents were worried about him, so they went down to the church to ask their friends if they had seen him and pray for him to come back home. When they got to the church, there were police everywhere around the manger scene. Tommy’s parents asked what had happened. The police officer told them that the Jesus statue was stolen from the Nativity scene. Tommy’s parents were
puzzled because who would steal baby Jesus on Christmas morning. Then all of a sudden they heard little footsteps and wagon wheels coming down the sidewalk. It was Tommy, with a smile from ear to ear, pulling his new wagon with baby Jesus inside. Tommy’s parents ran to him and asked why he took the statue. He said, “Today is Jesus’ birthday, and I promised him the first ride in my new wagon!” My grandma is with Jesus now, but every Christmas I tell my three children the story of Tommy and his red wagon because it not only reminds me of my grandma, but it teaches my kids the real reason for Christmas. Clouse is the principal of St. Wendelin School in Carbon Center, Butler County.
Christmas Traditions 2015
WHAT DOES YOUR CHILD BUY AT CONVENIENCE STORES? The RAND Corporation, in Pittsburgh, is conducting a research study to learn about what children, ages 11-17, purchase at convenience stores. Participation requires completion of a 20-minute phone or web survey and one 90-minute visit to the RAND study center. Children who complete the study will be compensated for their time and effort with $50 in gift certificates. Parking and travel compensation is provided. If you are interested and want to learn more about the study, please call 412-545-3005 or c-storestudy@rand.org.
www.rand.org/storestudy
Christmas Traditions 2015
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 5
Area schools create their own Christmas traditions
‘Los Posadas’ has found a home By PATTY CROSS A “Los Posadas” play about Mary and Joseph’s journey to find lodging or a place to stay in Bethlehem has been performed annually at St. Ursula Church in Allison Park by the parish school’s fourth-graders after an allschool Mass the day before Christmas break. I started having students perform the play that I wrote 20 years ago. I continue to direct the play each year, complete with Bible costumes. As the scenes change, the children lead the church congregation through the transitions in song, singing a cappella an African-American spiritual,
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“Children Go Where I Send Thee.” The performance includes three scenes led by narrators as Mary and Joseph enter from the back of the church and walk, searching door to door for a place to stay. “Be on your way! We do not know you!” the innkeepers shout as they each turn Joseph and Mary away. One innkeeper offers her stable and welcomes them when she says, “Enter, holy pilgrims, and find rest.” In the second scene, shepherds hear the news of the birth of the Savior from an angel. The third scene includes the final tableau of the Nativity scene with the arrival of the Three Wise Men. It’s a great way to share the
story of the birth of Jesus with the schoolchildren and their parents. It always seems to put everyone in the spirit of Christmas, and those who played the parts when they were in fourth grade look forward to watching the tradition continue. Somehow it works out that, just as the students freeze in making the tableau of that first Christmas night, the St. Ursula Church bells begin to ring. When the bells stop, the cast of the play hold their frozen Nativity pose like statues as everyone exits the church. Cross is a fourth-grade teacher at St. Ursula School in Allison Park.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Committed to our roots By JOANNE P. ONYSHKO Last year marked the beginning of a new era of “Christmas on Campus� for the students and staff of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School. The Christmas on Campus idea was brought to North Catholic High School in 1990 by religion teacher Greg Evans. He attended the University of Dayton, where Christmas on Campus was originated as a celebration for students, faculty and local families, particularly those who may not have the opportunity to fully celebrate the Christmas holiday. With the high school moving last year, it was paramount to keep the 30year tradition alive. The event aimed to bring the joy of Christ to families in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood. The families joined the students and staff of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic at Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish for a pasta
dinner, hot chocolate and treats. Student volunteers spearheaded planning of the event and orchestrated everything, including serving food, playing games, singing songs and making crafts with children from the neighborhood. “It was like going back home,� Evans said. “It was amazing to be able to give back to our roots of the school.�
With that spirit of tradition and Trojan pride, we called the celebration “Christmas on Troy Hill,� and we will continue to do so for years to come as a way to maintain our deep roots and commitment to the North Side of Pittsburgh. Onyshko works in the Admissions Office of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.
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Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 7
‘A King is Born’ at St. Bede By REBECCA PAGE At St. Bede Parish in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood, the excitement of the week before Christmas is enhanced by the anticipation of the annual school Christmas program. On a chilly evening, the church is packed with families and friends, literally spilling out the doors, to watch this beloved show. The program consists mainly of children in first through eighth grades, all dressed in their Christmas finest and singing carols and hymns. The carols, though, only build the excitement for the most-awaited portion of the program, the kindergarten Nativity
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oon the strains of “Silent Night” and “A Violet in the Snow” can be heard in angelic voices, emanating throughout the school.
pageant, “A King is Born.” As early as October, while the rest of us are preparing for Halloween, the kindergartners are given their roles, and parents are asked to practice lines at home. Soon the strains of “Silent Night” and “A Violet in the Snow” can be heard in angelic voices, emanating throughout the school. This, of course, continues throughout November, then Advent. Each child has a part in the holy story, from Mary and Joseph to kings, shepherds, a donkey and a whole chorus of angels. There is true Christmas joy, pride and love, as these small actors and actresses come up to the altar, dressed in their robes, crowns and tinsel wings. Pictures snap, people murmur in appreciation as these cherubs once again give a flawless performance. This has been a St. Bede tradition for about 40 years. In fact, there is not a former student who does not remember the role they had in the kindergarten pageant. “I was the third wise man.” “I was the seventh angel!” When the program ends, we all leave the church and head for our homes, renewed in the true Christmas spirit, provided by these special messengers of the good news of Christmas. Page is principal of St. Bede School.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Here’s to a healthy holiday season. Let’s celebrate every moment we have with the ones we love. Let’s give and share and warm each other up. Let’s indulge in a little tradition but stay on top of the good habits we’ve worked for. And along with the gifts under our trees, let’s take some time to appreciate the gift of health. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Pittsburgh HMK5-465 PITTSBURGH CATHOLIC CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
Catholic Magazine 9
Doing amazing work for our community
By LAUREN MARTIN Seton-LaSalle Catholic High School will hold its annual Advent Week of Giving Dec. 7-11. The charitable event allows SLS students, faculty, staff and families to help the local community by collecting food, toys, diapers, clothing and money to benefit the needy. In response to numerous requests for help at Christmas, Seton-LaSalle inaugurated its Advent Week of Giving in 2014. SLS Activity Director Brian Klisavage said, “the idea had its roots in the students coming to the administration, asking how the school could help people during Advent. The students recognized the need to help local people through local organizations. Instead of turning someone down, we decided to do a cooperative effort to help all of them.” This year, Monday will be “Manna Monday” when students will donate food items to benefit St. Catherine’s Food Bank in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood. On “Toy Tuesday,” toys will be collected for Toys for Tots (Salvation Army) and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Wednesday will be a “Diapers for Baby Jesus” diaper drive to benefit Angels’ Place in the city’s Brookline neighborhood.
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Winter clothing and outerwear will be donated Thursday to go to local homeless shelters. Friday will be a cash dress-down day to benefit homeless women and children through Sisters Place in Clairton. During November and into the first part of December, students save money and gather items for the respective collections. Then, during the Week of Giving, students are permitted to dress out of uniform by making their donations each day. Senior Erin Milcarek said, “The Advent Week of Giving has become one of my favorite events through my high school years because our contributions feel especially personal in directly helping our local community.” Last school year, running from Dec. 15-19, the Week of Giving garnered tremendous results to benefit local families. The school community donated more than 500 new toys for Toys for Tots and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. They brought in thousands of diapers and hundreds of baby products for Angels’ Place, more than 1,000 non-perishable food items for St. Catherine’s Food Bank, and hundreds of winter clothes items for homeless shelters. Finally, the community made a significant contribution to Sisters Place
to help homeless mothers and children. In addition, students traveled to Angels’ Place to unload trucks full of donations. Angels’ Place program director Stephanie Parker said, “SetonLaSalle is truly a special place doing amazing work for our community. It’s easy in high school ... to get so wrapped up in our own lives. However, (they’ve) chosen to look outward and use (their) energy to have a positive impact on someone else’s life.” In addition to the Advent Week of Giving, Seton-LaSalle also hosts a Jesse tree for the Salvation Army and holds its Advent Prayer Service and Annual Christmas Concert. Also, student groups organize and go Christmas caroling for charitable causes. Leading up to the Advent season, the students bring in donations for a diaper drive for Angels’ Place, as well as a Thanksgiving food drive for Brookline Community Food Bank and the South Hills Interfaith Ministries Thanksgiving Dinner. SLS students even serve the special dinner to refugees and immigrant families at the Prospect Park Family Center. Throughout the school year, SLS students continuously volunteer their time and talents at The Brookdale Senior Living Center in Mount Lebanon, Marian Manor Nursing Care Center in Pittsburgh’s Green Tree neighborhood, Casa San Jose outreach for Latino immigrants at Beechview Elementary School, First Food and Friends Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh and Grow the Garden Day at Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens. They also raise money annually during their SLS Pink Out Week for the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation in Pittsburgh, and throughout the year for the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s Chimbote Foundation, Pediatric Cancer Awareness, and retired Sisters of Charity and Christian Brothers, as well as other charitable causes and families in the community. Martin is principal of Seton-LaSalle High School.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Jesse tree teaches about Jesus By ROSANNE KWIATKOWSKI This year, Northside Catholic School will continue the tradition of decorating the Jesse tree. The tree is located in the lobby of the school for all to see as soon as they enter. It is not just the decorating that makes it special; it is the children learning about all of Jesus’ ancestors. Every day in December, a class is responsible for presenting the ancestor to the school via the public-address system. The story of the ancestor is read, prayers are presented and the ornaments the students made are placed on the tree. Kindergarten through eighth-grade classes are responsible for presenting to the school while preschool students participate by hearing the stories and creating their own Jesse tree ornaments to hang on the tree. By the time students go on Christmas break, the tree is filled with beautiful ornaments and all students are a little more knowledgeable of the stories of the Old Testament. Blessed Christmas to all from Northside Catholic School! Kwiatkowski is principal of Northside Catholic School.
Jesse trees at St. Gregory By CINDY HANEY St. Gregory School in Zelienople has an Advent/Christmas tradition that goes back some 30 years, when the nuns who were on staff took the time and made Jesse tree ornaments. They were crafted so that the schoolchildren could honor the coming of Christ through a wonderful
Christmas Traditions 2015
daily remembrance. To this day, our staff continues this Jesse tree tradition during our morning announcements. For 24 days during Advent one of our eighth-graders share a short Scripture reading that helps tell the story of the Bible from creation up to the Christmas story. During the reading, another student places the corresponding ornament on the Jesse tree that is displayed in the hallway for all
to see. This tradition is also carried out by some of our primary students in their own classrooms. Ornaments are colored by each student and placed on their individual tree while their teacher reads the Scripture. Before Christmas break, each student takes their Jesse tree home to share with their family. Haney is a secretary at St. Gregory School.
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 11
Worship and giving fill the Advent season at OLSH
of reconciliation and fellowship with students, families and community friends. Started by religion teacher and alumna Erin Stuvek, the event is well attended by students and their families. It’s set this year for Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Community members interested in supporting the OLSH Giving Tree or joining us for our Advent Night of Worship can contact the OLSH main office at 412-264-5140.
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At Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School, the start of the Advent and Christmas seasons is highlighted by the arrival of the OLSH Giving Tree in the Hall of Social Justice outside the entrance to the OLSH Chapel. Each year freshman religion classes help to decorate the tree, and students and community members take tags to purchase gifts for those in need. Main office secretary and OLSH alumna Christine Glatz coordinates the creation of the tags and the collection and distribution of gifts. “Families start calling in the fall asking for their children to be included on our list. It can be daunting to see the list at first, but I’m always overwhelmed by the generosity of the OLSH community,” she said. Each year, the school supports organizations such as the Staunton Clinic and Genesis House. There are also tags for families who utilize the services of Our Lady’s Pantry, the on-campus emergency food bank that was started by students more than 30 years ago.
Another group supported by the Giving Tree is the Felician Center in Kingstree, South Carolina, that supports people in one of the poorest counties in the United States through afterschool and summer programs for kids, a food pantry, clothing exchange and more. The OLSH and Kingstree partnership has a long history, with students traveling there in the summer for mission trips and collecting toys and other items or cash for special projects. Throughout December, brightly wrapped packages fill the hallway. Typically, more than 200 gifts are requested, and the needs are fulfilled by alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff members. The joy and gratitude seen in the faces of those who pick up the gifts is a true statement of the meaning of the season. The annual Advent Night of Worship is an opportunity for prayer and worship during the holy season of anticipation and preparation. The event features contemporary worship led by a band, Eucharistic adoration, a dynamic talk, opportunity for the sacrament
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Christmas Traditions 2015
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Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 13
By DAN RUSSO
‘God moment’ leads teen to compose music for Sandy Hook effort
Catholic News Service DUBUQUE, Iowa — On Dec. 14, 2012, the day a lone gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Kylie DeWees was badly shaken by the news. Although the young woman, then a junior at Xavier Catholic High School in Cedar Rapids, had never played piano before, something compelled her to sit down at the piano her family had inherited just two days earlier from her late grandmother. As soon as her fingers touched the keys, she instantly began to compose melodies as if she had been taking lessons for years. “My mom came down that day when I started playing and said, ‘Turn down the radio, Kylie!’ and I was like, ‘It’s not the radio,’ and she started crying. I knew I wanted to do something for Sandy Hook because I feel like it was God and Sandy Hook that made this all possible.” Kylie immediately began to create instrumental songs with the intention of somehow using music to help the families of Sandy Hook. Although she couldn’t read or write music, the compositions came into her mind and she memorized them. “I don’t know exactly how I do it,” said Kylie, now a second-year student at Loras College, a Catholic school in Dubuque. “I think in patterns and rhythms. I could almost see a song, and whatever emotion I was feeling I could develop it into something without words.” After the initial discovery of Kylie’s hidden talent, her mother, Lisa DeWees, was thinking about what her daughter could do for Sandy Hook when she accidentally knocked two books off a shelf. “One of them was ‘The Christmas Box’ and I had not opened that up when I first received it,” Lisa told The Witness, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The book is a 1993 novel about a woman who mourns the loss of her child at the base of an angel statue. The angel has the word “hope” on one of its wings. Parents who had lost a child in Salt Lake City asked for a monument matching the description of the angel in the book. Author Richard Paul Evans paid for the project. The statues began to spread. There are more than 120 in cities worldwide. In the 1990s, when Kylie was very young, Evans signed a book for her mother while he attended the dedication
14 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
CNS photo/Dan Russo, The Witness Kylie DeWees, 19, plays a piano in the campus ministry office at Loras College, a Catholic school in Dubuque, Iowa.
ceremony for an Angel of Hope statue in Iowa City. Lisa had been involved in raising money for that statue after someone she worked with was in a car accident in which a young girl died. The author signed Lisa’s book, but she had not thought to read the inscription until it fell off the shelf in 2012. “(Evans) had signed the book and it said, ‘To Kylie — use your God-given talents,’” said Lisa. “I came upstairs and told Kylie, ‘I totally think that this is a God moment.’” Kylie decided she wanted to create an album of her piano music, sell it and then use the proceeds to erect an Angel of Hope statue for the Sandy Hook community. “A friend of mine was out in the Sandy Hook area,” said Lisa. “She met with the chief of police. They were already putting a statue in, so that’s why we put in a statue at Xavier (in Cedar Rapids).” Kylie’s first album, “Believe,” was sold on the Internet and at various events. The pianist also organized other fund-raisers. With the help of family, friends and businesses in the Cedar Rapids area, she sold more than 500 albums and raised $19,000 for a statue at her high school. Word spread of her musical talent and dedication to the Sandy Hook victims. She was
invited to play at the first anniversary memorial for the Sandy Hook victims in Newtown. At that event, the town dedicated its own Angel of Hope statue. DeWees played piano as the victims’ families and others arrived at St. Rose Catholic Church in Newtown. “When I was playing, the parents of one of the children came in and there were 26 roses on the altar,” remembered Kylie. “They put a picture of (their daughter) and some seashells because they would go to Hawaii a lot.” During her time in Newtown, DeWees met Evans. The Cedar Rapids Angel of Hope statue was blessed at an all-school Mass at Xavier High School in April 2014. Placed in the Xavier gym in July, the statue is the 124th in the world. “I hope it’s a place that people can go for hope and healing,” said Kylie. “I know a lot of people walk by it every day, and so even if some days they don’t notice it. Even if there’s one day they do and it helps them through the day, it’ll be worth it.” DeWees released her second album, “Leap of Faith,” last year. The proceeds from her music will go toward other charitable efforts. Her music is available at www.apple.com/itunes and www. cdbaby.com. Russo is a staff writer at The Witness, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Christmas Traditions 2015
From the Pages of Past Midnight Masses to mark another ‘War’ Christmas Dec. 22, 1943
Observance of another war-time Christmas by the churches of the Pittsburgh Diocese is at hand, with the effects increasingly noticeable of the struggle in which the nation is engaged. In most places there will be the traditional Midnight Mass, preceded by the singing of the traditional carols; Masses will continue throughout the morning, but many congregations will be smaller than in former years by reason of the thousands of young men who are in the nation’s armed forces. Some churches, on the other hand, located in districts where war industries have brought in large numbers of new employees, will be overcrowded. Uniformed soldiers and sailors, home on furlough, will be everywhere. At St. Paul’s Cathedral, there will be Solemn Pontifical Mass at midnight, with Most Rev. Hugh C. Boyle, Bishop of Pittsburgh,
Personnel of the 303rd Bomber Group receive the Eucharist at an airbase somewhere in England on Dec. 26, 1944.
as celebrant, assisted by the priests of the cathedral. The choir of men and boys will sing a new Mass written by Rev. Carlo Rossini, director of music at the cathedral; composed especially for Christmas. It introduces themes from hymn and chants of the season, including
the Gregorian “Resonet in Laudibus,” the French carol “Angels We Have Heard,” as well as the “Adetes Fidelis” and “Stille Nacht.” In all churches the annual collection for St. Paul’s Orphan Asylum will be taken up at the Masses on Christmas.
21st war-time Christmas for United States (N.C.W.C. Christmas Supplement) Christmas 1943, will be the 21st Christmas in which our country has been officially at war. A war-time Christmas always recalls that of 1776 when Washington daringly crossed the Delaware, surprised the Hessians at Princeton, and took many prisoners. Even in time of war, however, Christmas is a day apart. Last year War Production Board head Donald Nelson urged all war workers, with the exception of those whose presence on the job was absolutely essential, to take a full holiday on Christmas. “On the birthday of the Prince of Peace,” Nelson said, “we can and should rest from the production of weapons of war.” Army WACs come together during WW II.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 15
Retirement Fund for Religious Please give to those who have given a lifetime. www.retiredreligious.org More than 33,000 senior Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests benefit from the Retirement Fund for Religious—like Sister Ann Hipp (above), 95, who taught for 50 years and today continues in volunteer ministry. Your generosity helps provide prescription medications, nursing care, and more.
Over 93 percent of donations aid senior religious.
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Retirement Fund for Religious • c/o Department of Consecrated Life • 111 Boulevard of the Allies • Pittsburgh PA 15222-1618 Photos: (top) Sister Ann Hipp, CPPS, 95; (bottom from left) Brother Anselm Allen, OSB, 76; Sister Luanna Brucks, CPPS, 90; Father Brendan Miller, OSB, 70; Sister Rosemary Zaffuto, ASCJ, 87. ©2015 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Photographer: Jim Judkis.
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Christmas Traditions 2015
Count down to Christmas by counting your blessings, pope says By CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — No saint was ever known for having a “funeral face,� Pope Francis said; the joy of knowing one is loved by God and saved by Christ must be seen at least in a sense of peace, if not a smile. Celebrating last year’s third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Dec. 14, Pope Francis paid an evening visit to Rome’s St. Joseph Parish, meeting with the sick, with a group of Gypsies, with a first Communion class and with dozens of couples whose newborn babies were baptized in the past year. “Be joyful as you prepare for Christmas,� he told them at Mass, urging as a first step that people thank God each day for the blessings they have been given. A Christian’s Christmas joy has nothing to do with “the consumerism that leads to everyone being anxious Dec. 24 because, ‘Oh, I don’t have this, I need that’ — no, that is not God’s joy.� With Christmas “less than 15 days away, no 13 days, let us pray. Don’t forget, we pray for Christmas joy. We give thanks to God for the many things he has given us and for faith, first of all.� Earlier in the day, reciting the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis blessed the statues of the baby Jesus that will take center place in Nativity scenes in Rome schools, churches and homes. Addressing the children who brought their figurines to the square, the pope said, “When you pray in front of your creche at home, remember to pray for me, like I will remember you.� At the end of the Angelus, volunteers distributed a little booklet, marked “gift of Pope Francis,� containing the texts of the Our See Blessings, Page 22
Christmas Traditions 2015
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Women religious mark past Christmas seasons
St. Francis of the Providence of God Sisters M. Beatrice Siratavec, Marianne Walters and Joan of Arc Urban celebrate Christmas 2013 on Mount. Providence in Whitehall.
Sister of the Holy Spirit Stephanie Lazor was reading a Christmas story when this photo was taken. Note that she is wearing a special Christmas dress for the occasion. The reading took place some time ago at Marian Manor in Pittsburgh’s Green Tree neighborhood.
Sister Francesca Parana, right, of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Bellevue assists the late Sister Magdalene Lovrich with building holiday gingerbread houses.
Divine Providence Sister Lucille Qualters donned a Tyrolean-style hat and enjoyed making Christmas crafts during the sisters’ Germanthemed St. Nick’s day celebration.
The 1950s classroom of St. Joseph Sister Lucina Smith is decorated for Christmas for the boys who attended Mount Gallitzin Academy in Baden.
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Christmas Traditions 2015
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Sister of St. Francis of the Providence of God M. Immocenta Palonis with St. Francis Academy students Carol and Jeanne practicing for an upcoming holiday folk music concert in 1952. In 2009 photos, Holy Family of Nazareth Sister Wianeja Byczkowska is shown in the sisters’ kitchen in Nowogródek, Belarus, where the sisters have been handcrafting oplatki for years. Oplatki are traditional Christmas wafers shared at Christmas Eve dinners by many Polish and central European families. Since 1999, friends of the religious community in the United States have been able to order handmade oplatki through the community’s development office. Donations support the order in the U.S. and in Belarus.
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Handcrafted Nativity stables reflect stories of faith By JOHN SHAUGHNESSY Catholic News Service OLDENBURG, Ind. — Ed Kirschner knows there’s one thing he can count on when people visit his small shop where he creates Nativity stables. Before long, the visitors will start sharing stories about Christmases from their past, focusing on memories of the Nativity sets that their parents and grandparents displayed through the years.
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And while Kirschner prefers listening to other people’s stories, he has his own heartwarming memories to share. Like from his childhood, when he and his mother would make Nativity scenes from boxes and brown paper. “It was time we spent together when I was little,” recalled the 76-year-old member of Holy Family Parish in Oldenburg. “My mother had a very strong faith. As far as she was concerned, setting up the Nativity was always a focal point of Christmas.” His stories also include one of the first wooden Nativity stables he ever made — a Christmas gift for his wife, Joyce, that he gave her shortly after they were married and moved into their first home. “We used it for about 10 years as the kids came along,” said the father of four grown children who has been married for 55 years. “It was kind of plain, and I replaced it with a new one. My wife didn’t like that I did that. It had all the memories and traditions attached to it. That’s the way it is for a lot of people. Those traditions and memories are important. She still mentions that one from time to time.” Then there’s the Christmas story involving Nativity stables that just may be his favorite. “When one of my grandsons, Alex, was 12, he came over to our house during the summer, and we worked on making them together,” said Kirschner, who has nine grandchildren. “He made seven of them. That Christmas, he gave me the first one he ever made. We still put that one up for Christmas every year. He’s almost 21 now. ... Eventually, we’ll give it back to him when he gets married.” Kirschner shared those stories as he sat in the Creche Shop in the heart of the village of See Nativity, Page 26
Christmas Traditions 2015
As remote Peruvian town changes, so do Christmas celebrations By BARBARA J. FRASER Catholic News Service SANTA RITA DE CASTILLA, Peru — It took all morning to build Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. To the right of the altar in the simple but airy wooden chapel in this steamy Amazonian town, two men draped blue plastic over a frame and filled it with water, while another cut houses out of cardboard. Outside on the sidewalk, three parishioners were building a raft of five small logs bound together with strips of bark and equipped with two paddles carved with a machete. When the Nativity scene was complete, Mary and Joseph were afloat on the raft, with Jesus nestled in a canoe-shaped piece of bark at their feet. Sod surrounded the pool. Fruit tree seedlings and a small palm shaded the houses. The two turtles were an afterthought, much admired by the boys who clustered around the scene after Mass in the evening. The Nativity scene in the chapel changes from year to year, depending on the materials at hand and the whims of those who show up to help build it. Santa Rita de Castilla, a town of about 1,500 people on the bank of the Maranon River in northeastern Peru, is accessible only by boat. But despite its remoteness, it is at a crossroads. And as it changes, so does the Christmas celebration. “This was a tiny town, and just about everyone was family,” Sister Pilar Millan said of her early days here. A Spanish member of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she arrived in Peru in 1968 and in Santa Rita in 1981. “People planted their fields together, did community tasks together and held community meetings,” she said. Christmas dinner was a roasted or stewed hen and rice. The Christmas pageant, held in the main plaza, was an elaborate affair that began with Emperor Caesar Augustus ordering the census and ended with Herod killing the Holy Innocents. “The teenage boys all wanted to be Herod or the soldiers, because then they could run after the girls, who were carrying dolls and playing the mothers,” Sister Pilar said. “That was the only (entertainment) they had on Christmas. Now they have many other things.” One major change came around 2000, when large riverboats began to call regularly.
Christmas Traditions 2015
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CNS photo/Barbara Fraser Children in Santa Rita de Castilla return home after caroling on Christmas.
Outsiders moved in and local people moved away, seeking jobs and education in larger towns nearby or in Lima, the Peruvian capital, far away on the coast. Television and cellphones accelerated the changes, and Internet service arrived recently. A town generator provides electricity, though only for a few hours each night. Technical problems on Christmas Eve meant the lights came on late, and some people probably stayed away from Mass instead of walking through the pitch-black town. Inside, the chapel was bathed in a yellow glow of candles until the lights finally came on. Spanish Augustinian Fathers Miguel Angel Cadenas and Manolo Berjon celebrated Mass, and a small choir of children sang carols they had rehearsed with Sister Nancy Rocca, a Peruvian sister of the same congregation as Sister Pilar. Then they gathered around the Nativity scene as Sister Nancy held a candle to letters they had written to baby Jesus, and their prayers rose up to heaven with the smoke. On Christmas morning, the chorus gathered again, this time on the bank of the Maranon River, a major tributary of the Amazon. On the day before Christmas Eve, the passenger boat from the port town of Nauta, five hours downriver, was crammed with travelers and the gifts they were carrying, including bicycles and other playthings. “The town isn’t the same as when I arrived,” Sister Pilar said. “The people aren’t the same, the teenagers aren’t the same. All of life has changed, so Christmas changes, too.”
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BLESSINGS
Continued from Page 17 Father and Hail Mary and other “traditional prayers,” as well as prayers drawn from the Psalms and the “five-finger prayer.” Using the fingers on one hand, the prayer guides people in praying for those closest to them, for those who teach, for those who govern, for those who are weak and — on the pinkie or smallest finger — for one’s own humility. “The human heart desires joy,” the pope said in his Angelus address. “We all want joy; every family, all peoples aspire to joy. But what kind of joy are Christians called to witness? It is that joy that comes from closeness to God and from his presence in our lives. “A Christian is one who has a heart full of peace because he or she knows how to find joy in the Lord even when going through difficult moments in life,” he said. “Having faith does not mean not having difficulties, but having the strength to face them knowing that we are not alone.”
When joy or at least peace shines through a person’s face, he said, others will wonder why, opening the possibility of sharing with them the Gospel. With Christmas approaching, the pope
said, “the church invites us to give witness that Jesus is not just a historical figure; he is the word of God who continues to illuminate people’s paths today; his gestures — the sacraments — show the tenderness, consolation of love of the Father for every human being.” Dressed in rose vestments for the evening
Mass at the parish on Rome’s western edge, Pope Francis explained that usually Advent vestments are a dark color, “but today they are rose because the joy of Christmas is blossoming.” “The joy of Christmas is a special joy, a joy that is not only for Christmas Day, but for the entire life of a Christian,” he said. Speaking without a prepared text, the pope said someone could say, “’Oh, father, we make a big meal (at Christmas) and everyone is happy.’ This is beautiful. A big meal is good, but it is not the Christian joy we’re talking about.” Christian joy, he said, “comes from prayer and from giving thanks to God.” It grows as one reviews all the blessings God has given. “But there are people who do not know how to thank God; they always look for things to complain about,” the pope said. Speaking confidentially, he told parishioners that he used to know a nun who worked hard, “but her life was all about complaining,” so much so that “in the convent they called her ‘Sister Whiner.’ But a Christian can’t live that way, always looking for something to complain about!”
Planning to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage or a 50th Anniversary in the next six months? Celebrated the Sacrament of Marriage or a 50th Anniversary in the past six months? Share your joyful announcement with the rest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in the Pittsburgh Catholic’s full-color Wedding Guide to be released in March 2016! Send your color photograph and a 110 word announcement postmarked on or before Friday, January 22, 2016 to: Wedding Guide, Pittsburgh Catholic, 135 First Ave., Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1513 or e-mail khanlin@pittsburghcatholic.org For questions, call Karen at 412-471-1252 Ext. 3573 Hard copy photos will be returned to those providing a self-addressed stamped envelope.
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Christmas Traditions 2015
Authors explore theological, populist roots of Christmas traditions “Joy to the World: How Christ’s Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does),” by Scott Hahn. Image (New York, 2014). 192 pp., $23. “Christmas: The Sacred to Santa,” by Tara Moore. Reaktion Books (London, 2014). 224 pp., $30.
REVIEWED by MITCH FINLEY Catholic News Service In his slim volume, “Joy to the World,” Scott Hahn — a former Presbyterian who has become one of today’s most prominent Catholic authors, professor of theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and McEssy distinguished visiting professor in biblical theology at Mundelein Seminary — reflects on the meaning of Christmas. Masterfully leaving behind the academic theologian’s technical language and tendency to ask questions the average person is likely to find boring, Hahn speaks from his own experience and to the experience of the average person. At the same time, in everyday English he shares with readers insights from his many years of study — biblical and theological. “Joy to the World” explores the personages who populate the Gospels’ narratives about the birth and meaning of Jesus. These include, of course, Joseph, Mary, Herod, angels and the Magi. But Hahn also draws on insights from the letters of St. Paul and the Johannine literature. He helps the reader see that the entire New Testament, not just the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, is about the meaning of Christmas. Hahn also draws upon and quotes the works of other Scripture scholars, theologians, preachers and popes, including Pope Leo XIII, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis and, yes, the Rev. Billy Graham. Hahn even reminds us of the original meanings of such common Christmas
Christmas Traditions 2015
traditions as baking Christmas cookies (“because the Messiah has come to lead us into a land flowing with milk and honey”); decorating a Christmas tree (“to recover the tree of paradise, which was restored by the tree of Calvary”); and giving gifts (“because God has given himself to us as a gift, wrapping his divinity in true humanity.”) “Joy to the World” is a fine and insightful book, one of the best to read if you want to deepen and enrich your understanding of Christmas, whose religious meaning can easily get lost in the dominant commercial culture. Christmas has histories both sacred and secular, and you can learn a great deal about both from Tara Moore’s “Christmas: The Sacred to Santa.” In fact, priests and deacons looking for material to liven up a Christmas homily would be wise indeed to read this book. Moore teaches in the writing program at Penn State York, and her academic credentials are evident in this book. Still,
this isn’t a book written only for academics. Most reasonably well-educated readers will find it an informative and intriguing pageturner. If there is anything to be known about Christmas you will find it here. Moore writes that her book explores “how past generations have felt about Christmas, how people in the same neighborhood might look at it in different ways, and how a simple birth in Bethlehem continues to make waves across the continents.” Topics the author addresses include how Christmas came to be dated on Dec. 25; what the earliest Christmas celebrations looked like; how Christmas has been portrayed in art and in various cultures; historical settings in which Christmas was outlawed; and how Christmas has been celebrated by those away from home, from immigrants to astronauts. She also discusses the commercialization of Christmas; the central characters of Christmas, from St. Nicholas to Santa Claus to a European personage named “Wild Man”; how other countries have imported, in particular, the English and German Christmases; how Christmas became a public holiday; and how churches respond, and have responded, to secular understandings of Christmas. This last discussion begins with an attention grabber, for sure: “On Christmas Eve in 1951, (French Catholic) clergymen hanged and burned an effigy of Father Christmas on the railings of Dijon cathedral. Furthermore, the priests carried out their efforts in the sight of 250 Sunday school children.” At the risk of being redundant: Read this book to learn a lot about Christmas. Then if you want to hear a better Christmas homily than you heard last year, give your copy to a priest or deacon. Finley is the author of more than 30 books, including “The True Meaning of Christmas,” by Santa Claus with Mitch Finley (Crossroad), and “The Rosary Handbook” (The Word Among Us Press).
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 23
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24 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
Christmas Traditions 2015
Christmas is a time of celebration, joy and inclusion By PETE SHEEHAN Catholic News Service I know Christmas is coming, but please allow me a few words about St. Patrick’s Day. That day of merriment in honor of the patron saint of Ireland has, for as long as I can remember, appealed to Irish and non-Irish alike. When I was growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, there was no St. Patrick’s Day parade. When radio personality Pete Gabriel — of Greek ancestry — came to Youngstown, he couldn’t believe there was no St. Patrick’s Day Parade. So, he started one, reasoning that almost everyone, no matter their ethnic or religious background, enjoys celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. For perhaps a century or more, that was the case with Christmas. One December I went to a Neil Diamond concert at the old Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, where he sang Christmas songs, including some in Latin. “Growing up in Brooklyn I always loved Christmas,” Diamond told his audience. Nor is he unique. Such beloved Christmas songs as “White Christmas,” “Silver Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” were written by Jewish composers. John Lennon, an atheist, wrote “And So This is Christmas.” I personally know Jewish people and even atheists who enjoy celebrating Christmas. Someday, someone will write a doctoral dissertation about when the movement against mentioning Christmas began. I call it the “Never Christmas” campaign, from a phrase in C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” I first noticed it during the 1986 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Santa Claus, who traditionally winds up the parade, proclaimed: “Ho, ho, ho. Happy Holidays.” That went on for a few years until, I assume in response to protests, Santa began just silently waving. Nevertheless, the Never Christmas campaign began to dominate TV, movies and everyday conversation. Advertisements full of Christmas decorations — the tree, Santa, etc. — and instrumental versions of Christmas songs appealing to you for your Christmas shopping scrupulously avoid mentioning Christmas. “Happy Holidays” goes the bland, obligatory, evasive greeting — as though the idea of Christmas is something to avoid. In recent years, there seems to be some letup, though most national advertisers and some individuals still avoid mentioning Christmas, the way that some pro-Iraq War advocates in 2003 began calling French fries
Christmas Traditions 2015
“Freedom fries.” It’s easy to criticize that Never Christmas mentality — and believe me, I have. This aversion, according to some surveys, is felt by only 5 percent of the public, but that 5 percent has been able to foist this odd sort of intolerance on the rest of the country in the name of tolerance and inclusion. Of course, I’m all for being sensitive to minorities and being inclusive. Yet the irony is that Christmas is perhaps the most inclusive of holidays. People of different religious beliefs or no beliefs are free to enjoy the sights and sounds of the season without anyone really caring about their beliefs. They can enjoy it while those of us who believe in Christmas are making the
preparations. You can listen to Handel’s “Messiah” or Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” “Silver Bells,” “Silent Night” or “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” You can watch “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Carol,” “The Nativity Story” or “A Christmas Story.” You can wish people “Merry Christmas,” “Joyeux Noel” or “Feliz Navidad.” Christmas is so inclusive that parallel celebrations of Hanukkah or Kwanzaa are welcome. In fact, Knights of Columbus councils have invited Jewish congregations to set up menorahs by their Nativity scenes. Ironically, the Never Christmas crowd doesn’t seem to mind explicit celebrations of Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Of course, the religious dimension to See Inclusion, Page 26
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Holidays opportunity to face life INCLUSION Continued from Page 25 with ‘attitude of gratitude’ Christmas — the true source of Christmas joy — By DR. JANIE HARDEN FRITZ The end-of-the-year holiday season gives us a chance to reflect on our many blessings — to remember what we’re grateful for. We may be busy with preparations for a number of feasts with family and friends, but even that “busyness” gives traction to our appreciation. We prepare for a reason; these gatherings are remembrances, actions of giving thanks to God in the celebration of meals, giving gifts, and spending time with family and friends. All of these holidays, from Thanksgiving to Christmas and other traditions celebrated by many in our diverse culture, ask us to make a choice to be thankful and to cherish the gifts we’ve been given. Every life has disappointments, some almost too much to bear. But every life is also rich with opportunity for the attentive heart. The key to gratitude is how we “turn” toward our circumstances. The attitude we take — our stance toward life in God’s world — makes all the difference. When we face what life brings us by asking, “What can I learn from these circumstances? Where is the opportunity? How have I been fortunate here?” we create the chance for constructive action.
NATIVITY
Continued from Page 20 Oldenburg in southeastern Indiana. Some of his handcrafted Nativity stables were on display in an old ice locker that was once part of a general store. In his small workshop, the tools he uses are always close by: a skill saw, a miter saw, a drill, a screwdriver and a box cutter. Figurines of Mary, St. Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, shepherds and the three Wise Men watch over him. In an interview with The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese, Kirchner said he has been making the stables for about 21 years. He started in his garage when he retired at age 54 from his job as a buyer for a Cincinnati department store. For Kirschner, it’s special that he gets to do something that reflects his faith. “Faith is a very important part of my life,” he said. “My wife and I both attend Mass two or three times a week, and on Sunday, of course.
26 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
When we focus attention on the positive elements of our lives, even in the midst of difficulties, we enlarge the size of those good things, and we move to the margins the negative elements that would otherwise fill our field of vision and block the light of life. The holiday season offers a chance to turn toward life with an “attitude of gratitude.” Gratitude is appreciation, goodwill and a disposition to act; it surges up from deep within and moves outward. The holiday season prompts us to offer an expression of gratitude for the many good things that have come our way and encourages us to reach out to others in giving and, most important, sharing of ourselves. A true holiday “turning” will pour out to others as we find ourselves behaving more charitably — in our words and in our deeds — to friends, family and coworkers. May our “attitude of gratitude” this holiday season transform the world around us. Fritz, an associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Duquesne University, is author of “Professional Civility: Communicative Virtue at Work.”
Our faith ties into what we think. “I hope they make a difference for people,” he said about his stables. “For most people, the Nativity scene is a very important part of their Christmas. A lot of people get them for their children and their grandchildren. People give them to couples who are getting married so they can have that tradition.” In carving the Nativity stables by hand, Kirschner tries “to make everything look like it was made of hand-hewn logs.” He also adds a cross to each stable. “I just thought the cross should be an important part of the Nativity,” he explained. “Without the death and the Resurrection, there wouldn’t be much of a reason for the Christmas story. It’s part of the whole narrative.” Kirschner also strives to make each Nativity stable different — in a way reflecting the variety of people from across the country and around the world who have stopped by his small shop. Visitors have come from many of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They share their traditions, including how they
must never be lost, but anyone can share in that joy without believing. No one is forced to celebrate Christmas any more than anyone is forced to go to a Super Bowl party. And if you’re at the Super Bowl party, you don’t even have to watch the game. Trying to reduce Christmas to “the holiday” is really the opposite of pluralism and multiculturalism. It is trying to hide something that has touched hearts in a way that the “the holidays” can’t. There’s that wonderful story from World War I, when on Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers in the trenches began singing Christmas songs. Soon, soldiers on both sides were crossing the trenches into the enemy camp, making Christmas decorations, giving presents and playing a game of makeshift soccer. Eventually, hostilities resumed, but that brief shining moment will forever offer hope for something more. I doubt that celebrating “the holidays” would have touched the battle-hardened soldiers’ hearts so deeply. Merry Christmas to all. Sheehan is editor and general manager of The Catholic Exponent, newspaper of the Diocese of Youngstown.
display the Nativity figures, some handed down from parents and grandparents brought with them when they came to the United States. Other visitors come from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Ireland and Venezuela. Kirschner who works year-round in the shop, averaging about 40 to 50 hours a week there. “I feel very blessed at my age that I have something to do, that I enjoy doing it, and I get to meet a lot of people and hear their stories.” This year, like every year, Kirschner and his wife planned to go to midnight Mass on Christmas. He has gone every year since he was a little boy. “My mother’s faith was yearlong,” he said, remembering the woman who started his love of the Nativity scene. “It wasn’t just focused on Christmas. She was a very religious woman. Advent and everything associated with the church was important to her.” Shaughnessy is assistant editor of The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese.
Christmas Traditions 2015
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
It’s more than a piece of junk . . . • It’s a month of meals for your unemployed neighbor and his family. • It’s new beds & furniture for a family of six who just lost their house in a fire. • It’s clothing for 10 children living in poverty. • It’s a dignified burial for an elderly woman who died alone in a nursing home. • It’s a month’s worth of gas & electricity payments for a family trying to make ends meet.
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul provides assistance to over 100,000 local people annually throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Your tax deductible car donation enables us to serve our brothers and sisters in need.
Christmas Traditions 2015
It’s easy!
Just call 800.322.8284 or visit www.svdpusacars.org and we’ll take care of all the details.
Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 27
28 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine
Christmas Traditions 2015