Editorial

Recent New York Times and Associated Press articles have reported a new trend: some so-called "megachurches" have decided to close on Christmas this year.

For the first time since 1994, Christmas falls on a Sunday. Megachurch leaders explain that they want Christmas to be a "day for families to be together." They are concerned that they won't get enough volunteers to help with church services, so they are cancelling Christmas services altogether.

One church - Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. - is compensating by handing out a DVD featuring a "heartwarming contemporary Christmas tale." They're encouraging people to play the DVD "in the comfort of their living room, with friends and family."

What is wrong with this picture? I hardly know where to begin! These churches have missed the true meaning of Sunday worship and Christmas.

Sunday as the Lord's Day. For Catholics - and I believe most Christians - Sunday is a celebration of the Lord's Day, the day when we remember Christ's Resurrection. The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that "the Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused by a serious reason."

The Catechism goes on to say: "Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church."

Christmas celebrates Nativity. Faithful Catholics have an obligation to attend Mass on every Sunday, but Christmas gives us even more reason to worship together. Christmas is the day when we celebrate the Nativity, the birth of our Savior. We honor his Blessed Mother, Mary, and her husband, Joseph - the Holy Family.

So where should Christian families be on Christmas? They should be spending at least part of their day in church, joining together with their church family in worshipping the Lord with joy, giving thanks for the blessings He has given us.

Reason for the season. Christ is indeed the "reason for the season," yet our society - even some churches - have woefully forgotten that truth. Keeping Christ in Christmas should be a crusade for all believers.

In his message on Sunday, Dec. 11, Pope Benedict XVI said that the contemporary Christmas season is being spoiled by "commercial pollution" that obscures the true meaning of Christ's humble birth. He said Christmas brings true joy and peace to those who, like the shepherds at Bethlehem, recognize the sign of "an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

The Holy Father blessed Nativity creche figurines of the baby Jesus held up by thousands of children in St. Peter's Square. The pope said the custom of putting up Nativity scenes in the home is a simple and effective way of bringing back the real meaning of Christmas.

So along with the glittering Christmas trees, poinsettias, and snowmen, I would suggest every Christian home should place a Nativity set in a prominent place. Parents might encourage children to help put up the Nativity and pray together.

Get involved. Catholic churches will, of course, be open for Christmas Masses. These are some of the best attended liturgies of the year. But some of our parishes also report having difficulty getting enough volunteers to help with liturgical roles. Please volunteer your time if possible.

Be sure to make attending Mass a priority on Christmas. Invite family members and friends to join you. And at home, offer prayers around the Christmas dinner table and sing some religious songs. Find ways to keep a focus on Christ in Christmas this year. Have a happy and blessed Christmas!

Mary C. Uhler

Mailbag

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Don't adopt death penalty

To the editor:

On October 31, 2005 the light and beauty of a local, innocent young woman's life was violently and irreverently extinguished. As we struggle with our horror and outrage over the murder of Theresa Halbach, we encounter our interconnectedness as a human family. And it hurts.

As we cry for justice in the wake of such atrocity, compassion must temper our outrage and deny vengeance, and its minions, especially those in public office, from satisfying their appetite for more killing in the name of justice. Please think long and hard when they ask you for permission to allow the state to kill in your name.

Our free will must not enact laws that emulate the criminal's blindness. Our state currently commits our most violent criminals to life without parole (LWOP), within highly secure prisons, a public policy that effectively protects the public safety and proportionately punishes the guilty. Adoption of the death penalty (DP), and its attendant flaws, can never deliver our state and its people to higher moral or spiritual ground than where we have honorably stood under law that has affirmed the sacredness of human life, even that of the "least among us," for over 150 years.

LWOP and DP laws equally protect the public safety. It is only the appetite for death that differentiates these facets of ourselves that we form into law. We must see that adoption of the DP in Wisconsin would establish a regressive moral standard that could only perpetuate and pay homage to the evil it erroneously asserts it will excise from our midst.

Kevin H. Molteni, M.D., Manitowoc

Think before viewing movie

To the editor:

Those who plan on viewing the movie The Da Vinci Code should realize that the main character is intended to be Jesus, the Son of God, who is God. At the same time they should read Section 2148 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward Him in one's speech; in misusing God's name. . . ."

As pertains to Saint Mary Magdalene, Section 2148 also applies: "The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things. . . ."

A sincere Catholic will think not only twice, but many times, before deciding to view The Da Vinci Code.

Charles J. Sippel, Waterloo

Adult stem cells are helping

To the editor:

With all the success accompanying adult stem-cell research, why would researchers want to waste their time with embryonic stem cells which at this point are too dangerous to even try on humans? In California millions of dollars are being raised for just such research. Again why?

To find the answer, go to stemcellresearch.org to find testimony by a doctor from the University of Alabama before a congressional committee, stating that money is the reason. The technique, if ever discovered, that would make embryonic stem cells work can be patented. So the race is on!

There is much good information on that Web site, including testimony by two girls with broken backs who were both helped by adult stem cells taken from their own bodies. News like this should be making headlines everywhere. To date over 65 injuries and diseases are being treated with adult stem cells and the score for embryonic stem cells is still 0! Please help spread the word.

Vince Metcalf, Montello