Christmas" "
Cribs, Christmas trees, folk heroes of popular tradition, but also dedication to the victims of wars (Kosovo), natural disasters (Italy) and environmental catastrophes (France, Spain, Albania, Germany). Christmas, in many European countries, is combined with gestures of solidarity, of dialogue (Turkey), of sharing. A festivity that is not only an occasion to remeditate one’s own faith, but also an incentive to promote more sober and sustainable lifestyles. France For the flood victims “At Codolet, Sommières, Aramon, Goudargues, Saint-Geniès and elsewhere, preparations for Christmas and its celebration will inevitably be accompanied by the oppressive memory of the floods of September and their consequences”, declared Bishop Robert Wattebled of Nîmes, the diocese most badly struck by the autumn floods along the Mediterranean coasts. In the same communiqué the bishop appealed to the faithful to participate in “a Christmas of greater brotherhood”, right from the beginning of Advent, and urged the “less stricken parishes” not to forget the others. On 25 December the bishop will visit Bagnoles, a town particularly damaged in the floods. There he will celebrate Christmas Mass to express gratitude to all the young volunteers who helped in the emergency. The floods also caused widespread devastation in the diocese of Montpellier, in particular in the towns of Lunel and Marcillagues, bordering on the diocese of Nîmes. In the little town of Lattes, almost a hundred families were left homeless. Thanks to the “ten million stars” project, which is repeated every year and which consists in the sale of oil-lamps in favour of local projects, it should be possible to release other funds for emergency aid. But, after the floods, France’s Atlantic coasts are now threatened by the oil slicks of the sunken oil tanker the “Prestige”. Father Mikaël Epalza, chaplain of seamen in the diocese of Bayonne, will celebrate a special Christmas Mass for fishermen and their families on 22 December, during which he proposes to review the situation together with them. There is no pollution as yet, but the bishop Pierre Molères, in coordination with Msgr. Januario Ferreira, President of the Stella maris apostolate in Portugal, and Bishop Luis Quinteiro of Orense in Spanish Galicia, have already expressed their concern in a joint declaration issued on 21 November 2002: “the sea is not a refuse dump but a gift of God”: “We listen with respect and support to the recriminations and fears of all those who are or will be gravely damaged in their livelihood, in their future, and in their human and spiritual harmony” as a result of the disaster, say the three bishops in their joint statement. Germany Disaster and festivity “No one has forgotten the victims of the floods” in Germany: so said Tobias Löser, Caritas representative for relations with the public in Dresden, interviewed on preparations for Christmas in the areas struck by the flash floods in August. “Many victims hoped to repair the damage by Christmas: that has only happened in part. Life in these conditions is enormously difficult. In spite of that, or perhaps just because of it”, continues Löser “the joy of people as they await Christmas can be palpably felt in the stricken areas. No one seems willing to let the disaster ruin Christmas, quite the opposite: this festivity could become, more so than in the past, a feast of meditation and inward reflection”. The events promoted for the preparation of Christmas are numerous in these areas: “An enormous number of associations, parishes, local authorities, businesses and media are organizing Christmas campaigns dedicated to the flood victims”, explains Löser, also describing the various activities performed by Caritas during this period: “In the pre-Christmas period, our social assistants have visited homes in the stricken area, bringing Advent greetings; it’s a small gesture to inspire people with fresh courage and fresh strength. And now they are addressing themselves more than ever to people’s anxieties and needs. Some people are still living in emergency shelters, other families still remain divided due to sickness or medical treatment; we’ve tried to find specific solutions, to enable these people to spend Christmas together in decent conditions”. Referring to the signs of solidarity with the victims, the Caritas spokesman declares: “Participation continues to be strong. Still today artists, sports associations and innumerable private projects are promoting charitable events on their behalf. What’s happened on a large scale in the community at large, is also happening on a small scale in private: individuals or small businesses that want to express their solidarity in their own particular way are contacting us with offers. We’ve had offers from hoteliers who want to give a short holiday to stricken families. We get phone calls from families who want to invite victims to spend Christmas with them. The floods have unleashed an incredible wave of solidarity and willingness to help. Today we can say: there wasn’t only a wave of good will destined to evaporate in a hurry. Something has been born that will remain”. Spain 600 cribs constructed from waste The Christmas initiatives in Spain include the mounting of an exhibition of 600 cribs created with waste materials in Valencia, free telephone calls to convey good wishes to missionaries in far-flung places, exhibitions of confectionary and Christmas cakes made in the convents of Seville, diocesan pilgrimages to Guadalajara. The Capuchin monastery in Valencia, for example, is hosting a charity exhibition of 600 cribs constructed with waste materials collected on the street and from refuse dumps. Blessed by the bishop of Teruel, Antonio Algora Hernando, the cribs have been made from abandoned TV sets, broken guitars, used bits of wood, orange peel and even from fossils. The creator of almost all them is Brother Conrado Estruch, 77 years old, whose aim has been to “convert what no one wants into a thing of beauty, according to the spirit of poverty of Jesus”. The donations collected will be devolved to church-run aid organizations and mission-aid societies. Meantime Spain’s Telephone Foundation is organizing a Christmas campaign during which the families of missionaries and Spanish aid workers working abroad can phone their dear ones free of charge to convey their Christmas good wishes. The campaign began on 11 December and ends on 8 January. The free telephone service is provided 24 hours a day and calls can last up to 12 minutes. Switzerland Bells and candles In Switzerland, in the period of Advent, it is the bells that break the silence of the night to invite the faithful to the celebration of Rorate, which begins at 6 in the morning. “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness” ( Is 45:8): with these words begins the prayer that opens the so-called Rorate Mass, a votive mass of Advent, in honour of the Mother of God. The faithful congregate in church before dawn to await the true light: the church, shrouded in darkness, is lit only by candles. “These celebrations are very popular, more so than Sunday Mass”, says Father Leo, parish priest of Arbon, a little town on the shores of lake Constance. At times they are organized in a rather special way for children and families (who then breakfast together in the parish house, before going to school or to work). On other occasions the eucharist is replaced by an ecumenical prayer, celebrated together with Protestant communities. Hungary Radio solidarity Food, sweets and clothing for the homeless, the poor and the disabled; a national campaign for blood donors; a Christmas collection in a large supermarket chain: just some of the Christmas projects of the Hungarian Catholic Church of oriental rite, described by Msgr. Keresztes Szilard, Greek-Catholic bishop of Hajdùdorog, a diocese of 280,000 faithful comprising the whole country. They are projects organized or supported by Hungarian Caritas through its national and local groups and by the Hungarian Maltese charity service, with its 140 local associations. In addition, the bishop explains, through a radio programme broadcast by national radio, “Hungarian families are providing monthly support to fellow-Hungarian families living in the Ukraine in conditions of extreme poverty. They visit each other, and invite poor children to spend their Christmas holidays in Hungary”. England and Wales A costly gesture The Christmas message of the Anglican bishop of Lichfield, the Right Rev. Keith Sutton, was carried in all the British dailies on 16 December. The reason for the furore was the bishop’s likening of Jesus to present-day asylum-seekers: a clear invitation to Christians to renew their spirit of hospitality. “Love came down to earth at Christmas, a season of peace and good will for all men” but that does not mean that during this period we should wallow in “sentimental attitudes” or confine ourselves to “a superficial view of the history of the nativity”, writes Sutton in his message. We need, instead, said the bishop of Lichfield, to look at the harsh reality contained in the biblical narrative: “Mary and Joseph were forced to flee as refugees to Egypt when Herod was meditating the massacre of the innocents with the aim of making sure that Christ would be killed”. And here lies the modernity, the paradoxical newness of Christmas, summed up as follows by the Anglican bishop: “The love of Christmas consists in the act of God who sent his Son down to earth though knowing the kind of world into which he would be born, and the cruelty and pain of the death he would have to suffer”. By this heroic gesture, Sutton continues, God shows us that love is “a costly gesture”. Pointing out the grief and difficulty that Christmas may mean for those suffering from “loneliness”, “fear” and “feelings of exclusion”, the bishop urges Christians not to limit themselves to “thanking God” for this Christmas but to express love in practice: “It’s not the thought that counts, but what one does with it”. In the view of the new archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams “at Christmas we must remember that there is no way of entering into Jesus’ world without divesting ourselves of the burden of our arrogant faith in ourselves”. Only once we have “cast aside these attitudes concludes Williams will there be sufficient space for everyone”. Scotland The true gifts cannot be bought Bishops of the Anglican Communion in Scotland launched an advertising campaign on 11 December to re-propose the Christian sense of Christmas: posters in all the main railway stations in Glasgow and Edinburgh remind passers-by and those intent on Christmas shopping that “the true presents of Christmas are love and peace, which are both priceless and cannot be bought in any shop”, as explained by the Right. Rev. Bruce Cameron, Primate of the Scottish Episcopal Church and bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney. The posters show one of the Three Magi, horrified to see the price-tag still attached to his gift of gold to the infant Jesus. The slogan reads: “Have you lost the thread? Take time out in church this Christmas”. Ireland “Black Santa” In Ireland, the tradition of Black Santa the black Santa Claus is now some thirty years old. It’s celebrated both in Dublin and Belfast, respectively in the Cathedral and in the church of St. Anne. Now a popular charity event, it was begun in Belfast by the Dean of the Cathedral Sammy Crooks in 1976. For the duration of a week or so, in the days preceding Christmas, the vicar of the religious complex dresses in black with the traditional Anglican habit and remains seated for several hours on the steps of the church to speak with passers-by and to receive their donations, which are then used to fund various local community projects. In this sit-out, which attracts people from all over Ireland and which also enjoys the participation of the mayor of Belfast, large numbers of the faithful have become involved and in 2000 no less than 2.2 million pounds was collected from private donations, schools, organizations and offices. “Charity is the greatest of the Christian and human virtues”, said the present dean of St. Anne’s in Belfast, the Rev. Houston McKelvey, who declares that thanks to the sit-out he was able to experience “the charitable nature of the vast majority of people in this part of Ireland. Italy Earthquake and sense of wonder “We all know what happened, we all know what it means to abandon one’s own town, one’s own home and live temporarily in a tent. Yet, just from this situation of difficulty and precariousness, we are called to “begin afresh from hope” . Hope is a theological virtue that gives man the light, the courage to go forward, to bring his own expression of humanity, the sense and the dimension of his own faith through the roads of life”: this, in essence, is the message of the ‘Letter for Advent 2002’ that don Mario Colavita, the young parish priest of Ripabottoni, one of the little towns in Molise struck by the earthquake on 31 October, has sent to parishioners in recent days. “It is hope, the prince of virtues, that must inspire, particularly this Christmas, our history, our lives; it must urge the community to pursue the path interrupted by the earthquake. Hope is born and is reinforced whenever an adult, or a child, in wonder and amazement, abandons himself to God’s hands”. And “God pitches his tent in our midst” is the theme for reflection proposed to the parishes of the diocese of Termoli-Larino for this Christmas 2002. “The earthquake said don Antonio Di Lalla, parish priest of Bonefro, another of the little earthquake-damaged towns in the region is not just a disaster to be suffered but a theological place in which the Word needs to be incarnated. The tent needs to be transformed from a place of poverty to one of incarnation: it’s not we who give shelter, but God who shelters us under his tent”. Turkey Basket of flowers Christmas in Peter’s grotto, in Antioch, where “the disciples were for the first time called Christians” ( Acts 11:26). This grotto is the one record of Christianity that flourished in Antioch in the early days of the church, and is now the goal of numerous pilgrimages. Naturally hewn into the rock on the western slopes of Mount Stauris, the mountain of the Cross, one of the three mountains that look down on Antioch, the cavern is 13 m. long, 9 m. wide and just over 7 m high. Here, according to tradition, the first Christian community met with Barnabas, Paul and Peter, who stayed several years in Antioch (42-48), before going to Rome. Tradition has it that it was donated to the Church by the evangelist Luke, who came from Antioch. “In this grotto, which is the first cathedral in the world says Father Domenico Bertogli, Capuchin parish priest of the Catholic church of Antioch we traditionally celebrate all the solemnities of the liturgy, including Christmas. Never is the place so thronged with faithful as for this feast. And they consist not just of the some sixty Catholics that form our small community, but many Protestant and Orthodox brothers who participate in our services and whose visits we reciprocate”. But what strikes Father Bertogli most is the presence of Muslims: they show a good deal of curiosity about Christianity. For that reason we are trying to distribute gospels, religious books and other aids which are also made available by the Protestants”. So Christmas is an occasion for bringing Christians and Moslems together; and this coming together is reinforced by the visit that the city’s political authorities, headed by the mayor, make to the grotto. “The basket of flowers that is given to us by the municipal administration points our Father Bertogli is placed on the altar during mass”. “These days of festivity he adds must not distract out attention from those living in situations of difficulty. Our thoughts go to the populations of the Marmara who suffered a terrible earthquake in 1999 and to the poor of the city. Caritas is trying to relieve their needs with material aid. No genuine Christmas can forget the poor”. “To celebrate the birth of Jesus in the grotto Father Bertogli concludes is always moving. This nocturnal liturgy amid the cold damp walls and the dim lights of the grotto make us think we are those ‘men of good will’ proclaimed by the angels. We feel ourselves more strongly than ever brothers and children of a God who continues to be love and mercy also for mankind today”. Albania Emigrant families “Christmas hasn’t yet arrived here. After fifty years of Communist regime, many families don’t even remember what a crib is”: so says Luciano Levri, Marianist missionary who, together with his confrere Davide Gozzio, has been working in Albania since 1995. For the last year they have been living in Lezhë, in the north of the country. “Christmas explains the missionary is a day just like any other here, with the shops that remain open and people going about their normal business. We have got the children in our catechism class to build little cribs for them to take home with them. They told us that many of their parents had never seen one”. The festivities are also an occasion to reunite Albanian families, so many of whom are divided by emigration: “Those who can, return home at least once each year says Levri but the fact is that Albanian families are decimated by emigration; most of the young people have gone abroad, many of them to Italy. The headmaster of the main secondary school in Scutari, for example, told me that of the 100 school-leavers in the previous year, 88 have left for Italy. In this way it’s impossible to reconstruct the country from the rubble of the previous regime”. To induce youngsters to stay, the diocese of Lezhë, with the help of the missionaries and thanks to the many donations sent from Italy, has set up a “youth centre” equipped with a library where the young can study, a multimedia room for computer courses and a sports complex. The youth centre has also become an occasion for “multicultural and multiethnic” meetings. “At the end of September Father Levri recalls Albania was struck by violent floods. Our region suffered tremendous damage. In particular, many groups of gipsies, the so-called ‘magjp’ who live in the environs of Lezhë, suffered a great deal: when we went to bring them aid, we discovered the situation of extreme poverty and exclusion in which they live, made even more dramatic by the damage caused by the rains. We set up a field kitchen to ensure that they got a hot meal at least during the first days after the disaster and now we’ve tried to involve the young ‘magjp’ in the activities of the youth centre. It’s an extraordinary experience because we see how the gipsy teenagers, many of them illiterate, slowly integrate themselves with children in their own age group, participate in common activities and make friends. I believe that if we want Albania to have a future, we must multiply projects of this kind”. Kosovo Muslims also at mass There are some 2500 Catholics in Kosovo: some 4% of a population of 60,000; a further 40,000 inhabitants are still refugees abroad. “Christmas here”, says Msgr. Marko Sopi, apostolic administrator of the region, “is just like anywhere else: a crib is erected in the church, and we try to get families to do likewise”. But then we discover that it’s not entirely true to say that Christmas here is just like anywhere else: because on Christmas Eve, the church of Prizren is thronged half with Catholics and half with Muslims, who attend mass, attracted by this ‘mystery’ and fascinated by the beautiful singing. So Christian and Moslem families exchange good wishes, as is normally the case also on the occasion of Moslem festivities. And Bishop Sopi, who collected 1500 euros during a recent trip to Switzerland, will distribute this money, as every year, to the poorest families of the diocese, to enable them to prepare a more festive meal or buy new shoes for their children. Russia A working-day festivity The 25 December is a normal working day in Moscow, because Christmas will this year be celebrated on 7 January, according to the Orthodox calendar. So for Catholics who are studying or working in Moscow it will even be difficult to get to mass. But the majority of Catholics attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve. “It’s a Christmas steeped in Polish traditions,” explains Sister Paoletta, an Italian nun who works in central Moscow for a soup kitchen that helps to look after 120 Orthodox beggars. “It’s full of rites and gestures unfamiliar to us Italians. For the Orthodox, the 25 December is still a time of fasting and preparation for Christmas; so we celebrate New Year with our beggars, distributing parcels with some Christmas confectionary and some linen”. “For the fact is a hangover from the Communist regime New Year’s Day is celebrated more than Christmas here. It’s the usual practice for the Orthodox Patriarch and the Catholic archbishop to exchange good wishes at Christmas. Last year, however, that no longer happened. Let’s hope it resumes this year!”
