Newspaper Page Text
2 (1392) * THE
CHRISTMAS MUS
(Continued fror
> t
Within the last year voices have been heard,
protesting against the secularization of Christmas
Day.
"It is our duty to keep alive the true meaning
of Christmas," said tlie Kev. Frederick l?dwards,
of Milwaukee. "We should hand down
to our children and our children's children the
story of that birth in the manger and other
sacred stories connected with the birth of
Christ. It is wrong to consider Chrismas only
as a day to give presents and to feast. Without
that beautiful story handed down for over 1900
VCJirs 1 !li ristJllno line nr? vnlno wliofnuoi. "
"No one of our Christian festivals has been
so thoroughly paganized as Christmas," said
the Kev. William lirowu Thorp. "Much Christmils
giving is not giving at all, but simply part
of uu elaborate exchange of presents. It is this
which has dragged the festival down to its
present aiinost pagan level.
"lie best keeps the birthday of Jesus who
keeps it in the spirit of Jesus, confining himself
to the simplest tokens of personal remembrance
and making his substantial gifts take the form
or tilings that are really needed and go to those
who can make no return."
A Chicago paper said:
'Does any one believe there would not be
more of the Christmas spirit in this First Ward
of Chicago if every mother in every home had
made up her mind to tell of the power and influences
which have made Christmas a worldholiday?
Bring a South Sea Islander to the
First Ward, and he will learn in a year to imitate
the celebration of the birth of Christ. How
many American children in this country never
have been taught that the observance of this
holiday comes about through the Christian
Church ?
"Let the mothers of this country teach a
Christian Christmas. Let the mother confide
in the daughter, and the father confide in the
son, and the Christmas season will come to us
in its full significance. Then there will be little
need for recalling that in this great First Ward
of Chicago there is no Christmas eve and no
Christmas Day."
T?llt "TTnw tn rofnrm I'tirtctmsot" io llio
question. The answer is very simple. A Chicago
paper struck "the nail on the head" when
it said: "I wonder sometimes if enough of this
Christiuas spirit is left in the Christmas celebration?
Would it not be a good thing to begin
weeks ahead of Christmas to preach the doctrines
of Christ in the homes as well as in the
churches? The mothers of the household have
this task. It is theirs by virtue of loving motherhood."
Cermany has a St. Nicholas day, but it is a
preparation for Christmas. Two weeks before,
the mother assembles her children in the evening
twilight, around the lire-place. No lamps
are lit?it is so cozy to sit in the twilight, singing
Christmas songs and listening to dear mother
when she relates beautiful stories?not of
Santa Claus, or fairy tales of Hans Christian
Anrlnrvnri Hilt nf tlio liirtli r\P tlin f*lirict-/>hil#t
the Wise Men of the Orient, the Shepherds and
the song of the Angels. Then a window would
suddenly be thrown open from the outside,
where St. Nicholas stood, throwing nuts and
candies into the room. At first the little ones
were terribly frightened, but after a while it
vas great fun to sec them scramble over dne
another on the floor in their eagerness to gather
in ?.s many nuts and candies as possible. The
v/ritef remembers it distinctly, though seventy
years ago. f ,
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SC
T BE REFORMED
a last week.)
It can readily be uuderstood bow this Saint
Nicholas Lhty prepared the children for the
joys and mysteries of Christmas Bay, increasing
the expectation and :thc love for Christmas.
Saint Nicholas was soon forgotten. Christinas
?never. ?" y 9. ? ' *
If our American people want a Santa Claus
day, let them arrange one in November, like in
Beuuaiiy. But, if they want to celebrate
Christmas, let it be a celebration in honor ot*
Christ, iiot ot bauta Cluus. W hat would we
tlimk if a speaker who was invited to make an
auuress on \\ asningion or Cincolu, would not
say a word about tnese two great men, but instead,
would eulogize Theodore lioosevclt or
W. 11. Talt 1 AVe would think he was 'oft' liis
base." " .
As to church and Sunday school celebrations
at Christmas, why not liavo a little iairy girl,
represeuting the Ciirist-enild, and a stable with
Mary and Joseph and the bhepherds near the
Christmas tree, as they have it in the Catholic
:uid 111 some Episcopal churches, even in some
private homes. It would make the children just
us happy as & Santa Claus that often frightens
them. And would it not be more appropriate to
the day We celebrate, than to dethrone the
"Christ-child" and replace it by a Santa
Claus?
Another thing would add to the celebration.
A large or small transparent sign over the
stable with that wonderful heavenly message:
"Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth
and good will to men." In such a celebration
there is nothing that would detract from the
real hero of the day, but when the first thing the
children see when entering the school room is
a big fat Santa Claus, then 1 would like to know
where a Christmas spirit can come from to fill
their hearts.
Another thing 1 would suggest. Last year,
on Christmas eve (evening before Christmas),
one of our ministers assembled his Sunday
school classes at the church and divided them
into several groups. Then the children under
r\ f 4 Vi/m ?? 4An/>ViAMn i 4 4 V. ?
u L liiVil tcauuClOj VYClit I 111 UUqII lilC
main streets, singing Christmas hymns. People
that heard them sing say it was so beautiful,
so touching, that it brought tears to the
eyes of some. I am sure, next Christmas many of
our churches will imitate this exaiqple. Certain
it is, that the true Christmas spirit, which
fills the hearts of these singers, will find a response
in the souls of the listeners.
To answer in a few words, the question,
"IIow to rbform Christmas?" I would say:
"Bring the Christ-child to the front and place
?or,io !,? l.??l ...l K- l.?
vuiiui viuuo xu nig ua^x\^i uuuu >Y nt'l u lit; UClongs."
/1. , s . ,
"May some of the above quotations touch a
sympathetic chord in the hearts of every Christian
father, mother, minister and teacher that
they may be reminded of the great wrong they
are doing to their Lord and Master, nnd to the
children, by assisting in the secularization of
Christmas day."
Cnrl Thendnrp Wpftstpin
Milwaukee, Wis.
Marvelous is the power of kindness. They
will do most in life who are most considerate.
They may be charged with sentimentalism by
those who do not understand the power of human
feeling, but they will be credited with philosophy
by men who understand the genius of sympathy.
Joseph Parker.
I U T H L December 25, 1912
ROMAN CATHOLICISM A FAILURE, ALWAYS
AND EVERYWHERE.
By Juan Orts Gcuzaiea.
L am well aware of tho fact that a great
many Americans and not a few Protestants
will say: "What you tell us about the Roman
Catholic failure may be true iu Mexico, in
South America, iu Italy or in Spain, but it is
certainly not true here in America. As a matter
of fact tue Roman Catholic Church, they
will say, is a great success both in regard to
her constant growth and in regard to her ability
10 build nn KTHlii (hii'ialiwn . hnmntuB
D -
They may any: "We see among liomuu Cath-oliea
as good I'liXens, it illtr, as good
Christians, if not' better, i.iuu we sec among
l'j otestauts."
1 acknowledge that this is a thing of which
1 spea': unwillingly, not because. 1 do not have
clear, definite and precise ideas abqut it, but
because the prejudices arc such that i fear
more than one reader ina;? say: "Yes, lie is a
converted (Jalholic and wishes to ignore the
goodness or his fprcivr Church." Others may
say: "lie is a loreiguer and, unable to grasp
well tlie real situation in the United States;
lie looks at the American Catholic Church
through the Roman Catholic Church of other
countries."
Nevertheless, even at the risk of unjust criticism,
1 shall state brieiiy and plainly my opinion,
that even here in the United States the
lloman Catholic Church fails to uplift morally
her followers.
i wish also to state at the outset that I distinguish
carefully between native American
Catholics and immigrants of that faith. 1 have
said more than once that 1 hold in high respect
the Catholics who originated in the last generation
the Catholic system, known as Americanism.
Let my readers not forget that until
recently the American Catholic Church has
been a missionary Church.
The Catholic immigrants of a hundred years
ago found themselves surrounded by powerful
Protestant influence and by very weak Roman
Catholic influence and organization. Under
those conditions and with the environment in
which they found themselves, they received a
purer vision of religion and lived under higher
moral and civic standards. They become so
tolerant and liberal that they were rather co
vert and unrecognized types of Protestantism
than genuine followers of Romanism. But ray
brethren, today that type of Catholic is rare
and unimportant, they constitute a minority
without power and influence. . .
Today the bulk of Catholicism in America
is made up o,f Italians of the lowest type, of
Mexicans of the most superstitious class, of
Poles of the most ignorant peasantry, etc. Can
any of my readers believe that because Mexicans
have crossed their national boundaries
into the United States they will lose at once
viivu ou^/gi ouuuu i
Can any one imagine that because Italians
have crossed the sea and entered this country,
they will be at once transformed t Can any
one think that because Poles or 'Austriang or
Hungarians work in American mines, they will
become both enlightened and honest Catholics
T
Let my readers look at the real facts and
then they will realize that many foreigners remain
here for years and years, as ignorant, as
dirty, as low, as superstitious, as they were in
their own countries. "With these unpleasant
qualifications they constitute today the majority,
yea, a very large majority of the present
American Roniati Catholic Church.