Pastor's Desk Archive (October 2009)

You Can Help Put Christ Back In Christmas (10/4/2009)
Appreciating Important Clergy In My Life: Part 1 (10/11/2009)

You Can Help Put Christ Back In Christmas (10/4/2009)

If you ask almost any little child what makes Christmas so special, they are likely to mention Santa and presents. So, how did we go from Christmas being all about Jesus Christ, to Christmas being mostly about Santa and presents piled beneath Christmas trees?

It’s a very long story that can be summed up in a couple sentences. People discovered that they like the image of the Baby Jesus and all that signifies much more than that of Christ hanging on the cross and all that it signifies. When manufacturers, and merchants, and advertisers realized that they could play on the sentiments of people to turn Christmas into a “cash cow”, it was the beginning of the end of Christmas being all about the Savior’s Birth. Although a “jolly old St. Nick” or “Santa Claus” figure had come to be associated with Christmas in various cultures over the centuries, it was not until the 20th century that he turned into a deliverer of presents to children all over the world. So, what are the chances of us changing the Santa-centered celebration of Christmas to a Christ-centered one? Actually, very good if we place the focus on how each of us chooses to do this. What might we (not the stores, not the world, not the television) change if we pray about it and put our minds to it?

1. We could begin speaking to little children about Santa as a fun but fictional figure like Frosty the Snowman. We could tell them the truth that Santa helps stores sell lots of things that people enjoy. Then where do the Christmas Presents come from?
2. We could tell the same little children that Christmas is all about the extra special GIFT that God gave the world in his beloved son, Jesus Christ. We tell them we give gifts to those we love to express our thanks to God for the gift of his son.
3. We could tell them that parents and other family members who are so grateful for GOD’S GIFT on the Savior’s birthday that they enjoy giving gifts to those they love to express their love and appreciation.
4. We could free ourselves from the idea that the more gifts we give children the more we love them. Instead, we could determine what they need and what might be truly good for them. Then we do this within our means.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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Appreciating Important Clergy In My Life: Part 1 (10/11/2009)

My earliest memories of clergy take me back to October of 1953 when my mother died. Father Norton from St. Brendan’s came to our house to assist my father in telling us about her sudden passing as a result of a pulmonary embolism. He was kind and gentle, and he wept with us. Afterwards, he heard my confession in an upstairs bedroom so that I could go to communion at the funeral mass. That may well have been when the earliest seeds of my vocation were planted. That kind parish priest has been dead for many years now, may God give him eternal rest.

At Boston College, many years later, three priests stand out: Fr. Bob Ferrick and Fr. Bob Hoey (both Jesuits). Father Ferrick was an instructor in Theology and the chaplain at the school of education (did you know I once aspired to be an elementary school teacher?). He was sharp as a tack and an inspiration to me. Father Hoey started out as a kind of “bad guy” when he “suggested” that I needed to drop out of college until I was in a position to give my studies a much higher priority. Some years later, while I was in the seminary we reconnected and he became a great encourager of my vocation. May they rest in peace.

I met Fr. Marty Grey, a Stigmatine priest, when I lived a cursillo weekend to discern whether to apply for the seminary or not. I can’t begin to describe what an inspiration he was to me. His manner of teaching and his friendliness stand out in my memory.

I am beginning to see that this will have to be just a first installment, but I’ll move on for now to Fr. Shawn Sheehan. He was a professor at the seminary in Boston and my faculty advisor. We had met when he was on his cursillo weekend and I was a part of the presentation team. When I was told by seminary authorities after my first year that I didn’t seem “to fit into the system”, he was there to help me sort that out. When I told him that I was invited to become a seminarian for Oklahoma, he was enthusiastic in my support.

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