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Book Review
Book a how-to on passing the faith along with family traditions
Reviewed by Andrew Junker, ajunker@catholicsun.org
November 6, 2008
The Church has always emphasized that its health is greatly tied to the home and family. It’s where young Catholics first learn about the faith, the Mass and the sacraments.
In other words, no matter how good a parish’s catechetical program is, parents are the primary educators, entrusted with passing on the Church’s tradition. Without them and their loving Christian example — well, without them, the Church faces a much greater challenge.
Local Catholic Don Voss shows just how important the domestic Church is in his new book, “Celebrate Family: Strategies for Creating Lasting Joy in the Home.”
His large family — 10 children in all — celebrated the Christian life throughout the year with a host of traditions, parties and liturgical reminders in their home.
His book recounts those experiences and offers them for other families to use in their own homes. Voss also incorporates commentary from his children — and even from his grandchildren — as to what these traditions meant to them and how they helped them grow in faith and love of God, the Church and one another.
“As a child, I don’t think I realized that the traditions we practiced were forming my values,” writes Mary, the eighth and now grown child of Voss. “I guess no kid really knows that at the time, or much cares for that matter. I just knew that something fun was always around the corner.”
There does seem to be an overflowing abundance of celebration in the book. Voss and his wife Kathryn — now deceased — could put any cruise director or party planner to shame.
Let’s start with Thanksgiving.
“The first order of business was the blessing,” Voss writes. “After an informal introductory prayer, each person at the table was asked to state what they were most thankful for that year. It was not unusual for this process to last more than 30 minutes, and often someone had to run to the kitchen for a box of tissues.”
You have to give the Vosses credit for restraint. In my family, it wasn’t unheard of for someone to surreptitiously eat half their plate of food before the brisk “Bless-us-O-Lord” was completed. The only Kleenex that might be needed was to blot the blood of an overly zealous carver.
For the Vosses, Thanksgiving kicked off more than a month of family activity. The day also saw the drawing of Kristkin names — a sort of “Secret Santa,” activity in which each family member would perform kind acts for his or her beneficiary. It culminated with the revelation of the do-gooder’s identity and a gift on Christmas morning.
During Advent, the family would light the Advent wreath before each Sunday brunch — the menu of which, as per tradition, would rotate between pancakes, waffles and French toast.
There was also Las Posadas, the Hispanic tradition of reenacting Mary and Joseph’s hunt for lodging. Here, the Vosses would recruit some neighbors. The family would walk candle and carol bearing to a neighboring house where Mr. and Mrs. Voss would ask the inhabitants for a room.
They would deny the request and then join the procession to another house. Finally, the growing brood would return to Casa de Voss where there was room — and a piñata, margaritas and a feast.
“Las Posadas is the one tradition that we did that amazes me as I look back on it,” daughter Joanie writes. “How unique it was that we had four different neighbor families willing and excited to participate in reenacting this holy night of Mary and Joseph trying to find shelter for the birth of Jesus.”
Advent also saw the appearance of a large purple star in the Voss home. The children were awarded smaller gold star stickers each night for good behavior or small sacrifices they had made throughout the day.
They would affix these to the larger star, transforming the penitential purple into glorious gold, which would then hang over the manger scene.
St. Nicholas Day saw small gifts appearing in each of the kids’ shoes. Christmas Eve Mass was followed by a family drive to look at Christmas lights while a helpful neighbor laid out all the presents inside their house.
I don’t have the column inches to summarize the traditions and festivities that occupied the rest of the year. And reading this book as a member of a loving, but tremendously unorganized family, left me slightly exhausted by all the activity.
But the included reflections of Voss’s grown children show how pivotal these traditions were in their growth as Christians. It kept them close to one another, generous of their time and gifts and truly appreciative of each other’s company.
It must be gratifying for Voss to see that his children are now passing these traditions down to their own children. And even if you’re not so ambitious as to incorporate all these celebrations into your own calendar, it never hurts to start somewhere.
Maybe I can start this Thanksgiving by asking my family to pause, reflect and share the multitude of blessings given to us.
I’ll just have to remember to give them advanced warning. That’s not the sort of thing you spring on ravenous knife-wielders.
Media critic Andrew Junker is a staff writer for The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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