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Catholics seek to keep Christ in Christmas
By Ambria Hammel The Catholic Sun
December 6, 2007
Some parents watch in dismay on Christmas morning as their kids tear through a mound of perfectly wrapped gifts in minutes.
Not the LeBeaus. Chris and Jeannie quietly gather their five children and have everyone watch one child at a time open the few presents exchanged.
“It takes hours,” Chris said.
“It was very hard in the beginning because everyone wants to rip them open,” Jeannie said.
But they were successful in starting a tradition. It’s one of many they hold to keep Christ at the center of their Christmas preparations in Advent and their celebrations through Epiphany.
Celebrating Christmas
Chris and Jeannie shared some of those traditions with parents at St. John Bosco Interparish School last month.
“Mothers enter Christmas Eve and they are just exhausted,” Jeannie said.
That’s because some parents spend more money and energy buying and wrapping gifts than they do on bringing Christ into their children’s hearts, she said.
“I see parents go into debt over Christmas,” Jeannie said, but it’s about “spiritual memories and not material gifts.”
Those memories for her kids involve the family traditions at home and serving the poor.
The LeBeaus’ daughter, Mary Elaine, 17, remembers presenting las posadas for several years with her siblings and cousins. The religious and social celebration allowed them to experience Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter in the days before Christ’s birth. They played the part visiting several rooms in their grandmother’s house that served as inns.
At Christmastime, the LeBeaus deliver gifts to a family they adopt from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Sometimes they partner with another family to make the project easier.
“Our kids don’t always remember what they get for Christmas, they remember the families” and traditions, Jeannie said.
Members of the Knights of Columbus agree that Jesus should remain the focus at Christmastime.
“We have to force ourselves to ignore the messages retailers are sending us. The holiday shopping season is not the Christmas season,” said Michael McAdams, of the Knights of Columbus at St. Anne Parish in Gilbert.
The Knights of Columbus council sells boxes of seasonal greeting cards to remind people — especially those who receive the cards in the mail — what Christmas should be about. The nativity design on the front is the same as that on a canvas icon that hangs behind the altar during Christmas.
Other councils sell different items to honor the season. John Garcia, public relations chairman for the Knights of Columbus, Arizona State Council, said the council at St. Henry Parish in Buckeye sold ornaments for years.
He described them as “very Catholic ornaments” because Jesus is at the center. Garcia said it sends the message to keep Christ in Christmas.
“Christmas isn’t about political correctness. It’s about announcing the birth of our Savior,” Garcia said.
Saying ‘Christmas’
Alan Sears, a local Catholic and president of the Alliance Defense Fund, said some groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and school officials across the country have tried to make Christmastime about political correctness.
“We have seen the usual array of school officials obliterating the ‘Christmas Holiday’ to ‘Winter Break,’ the elimination of Christian lyrics for ‘seasonal expression’ at ‘winter festivals,’” Sears said.
His organization has trained more than 1,000 lawyers who offer legal counsel and funding to clients facing a barrier to religious freedom among other liberties.
“Religious expression at Christmastime was absent from the public square,” said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel with the fund.
That’s why the organization began its annual Christmas Project campaign. Its aim is to remind Christians and non-Christians that it’s OK to say “Merry Christmas” in public. The project’s Web site, www.saychristmas.org, explains legal rights and offers products that help spread the word.
It also tells stories of others fighting to keep Christmas in the public sector. One describes a recent victory at the Washington State Capitol where a man who was barred from placing a nativity scene there last year will face no opposition this year thanks to the Alliance Defense Fund.
Despite opposition, 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas and 67 percent prefer to see “Merry Christmas in seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays,” according to a recent Rasmussen Report.
Store owners are listening. More and more companies, like Wal-Mart, are permitting employees to wish customers a “Merry Christmas” again.
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