This article originally appeared in the December 2004 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter

Celebrating Christmas In Mission Land, USA

Volunteers come every year to Vanceburg, Ky., to help with Project Merry Christmas, an ecumenical effort to help needy families “buy” new Christmas gifts for their children. For the past 19 years, Glenmary’s Holy Redeemer mission has been involved in organizing the event.

Sister Kristine Vorenkamp, Glenmary’s multicultural worker in Vardaman, Miss., has added a new duty to her job description: producer/director. Since October, she has been working with 15-20 Spanish-speaking young people on a pastorela, a play that tells the story of the devil’s reaction to learning that Jesus is to be born in Bethlehem.

“It’s a delightful play,” Sister Kris says. “It’s the story of the shepherds and their families, as the devil is trying to stir up trouble to prevent them from welcoming Jesus. The youth decided that they wanted to perform it for the church community in December.” After months of preparation, the cast is looking forward to their “premier” at Glenmary’s mission in nearby Houston.

The pastorela is just one example of the preparations taking place in Glenmary missions to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.

As Christmas falls on a Saturday this year, Glenmary priests are preparing for “Masses, lots of Masses,” laughs Father Brian LaBurt, pastor of missions in Claxton, Pembroke and Glennville, Ga. Christmas Masses will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday followed by the usual Sunday-obligation Masses the next day.

Outside the liturgical preparations, Father Brian and pastoral associate Sister Janet Fischer are also getting ready for visitors from Holy Name of Jesus Church in Niceville, Fla. The Florida volunteers will make an eight-hour trip to Claxton to distribute toys and clothes to children in the community prior to Christmas. The gifts are paired with food baskets prepared by the people of Glenmary’s South Georgia missions.

“We have a Jesse Tree where we hang cards with the name of a food item that can be brought in for the baskets,” Sister Janet says.

In Clintwood, Va., the people of St. Joseph are looking forward to using their newly-remodeled fellowship hall to display a “progressive Nativity scene.”

Christine Ramirez, pastoral coordinator of the mission, bought Nativity figures on eBay to create the still life. “We’re going to start with a desert camp and, as Advent goes on, we will add Mary on a donkey and Joseph walking beside her,” Christine explains. “We’ll keep adding through the Feast of the Three Kings in January. Then, we plan on keeping the display up until Lent.”

She envisions using the display throughout the Church year: a barren desert during Lent; an empty tomb at Easter; an empty room for Pentecost and the depiction of parables and biblical scenes during Ordinary Time.

The tradition of a “progressive” Christmas celebration is very common in the Spanish-speaking communities Glenmary serves. In Idabel, Okla., the Christmas celebration begins with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. This year, according to Father John Brown, pastor of the mission, the feast will be celebrated with a mile-long Rosary procession, bilingual Mass, mariachi and a covered-dish supper.

The excitement of the feast will barely fade before posadas begins on Dec. 16. This is a tradition within the Spanish-speaking community that reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem.

For nine evenings parishioners process in prayer and song through Idabel carrying statues of Mary and Joseph. Traditionally, a different home hosts a posada each of the first eight evenings with the final evening of posada celebrated on Christmas Eve at the church. The celebration in Idabel concludes with a 10 p.m. vigil Mass.

This year, the Catholic community in Houston, Miss., has another reason, besides the Vardaman pastorela, to look forward to the Christmas season. Following Masses celebrated in Spanish and English on Christmas Eve, the Houston mission will begin preparations for visitors from their sister parish, St. John the Baptist in Savage, Minn., the day after Christmas. The Minnesota group will help out with work around the parish during their visit, according to pastoral associate Sister Rosemary Empen. Builders are also part of the group, and they will consult with the parish building committee regarding the parish center that is being planned.

These are but a small sampling of the Christmas customs and traditions found in Mission Land, USA. The common denominator, no matter the Glenmary mission or missioner, is making sure the light brought by the Prince of Peace shines on all in the counties they serve.