Weekly Principal’s Message

This week’s Principal’s Message is a reprint of my message of last year and deals with the “attack on Christmas”.  It was one of my favorites.  As our country, founded upon Christian principles, begins to look nothing like its glorious past, there almost seems to be a concerted effort to wipe from the pages of history anything resembling traditional values and their celebrations.  We all know of the United States’ “sins of the past” and its failings over the centuries.  In fact, as a nation we still struggle with our past.  However, almost to a person, those who’ve lived outside the U.S. borders will tell you, that with warts and all, the United States of America is still that “beacon on a hill”.
 
So why do I call what’s going on in our country and, more specifically, our schools an attack on Christmas? Because it is so blatant it cannot be ignored or denied!  That’s why!  When Christmas Carols are seen as promoting bullying as in the case of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; when candy canes are banned in public schools because they’re shaped like the letter “J” which stands for Jesus; when Christmas trees are no longer able to be erected in school hallways or offices; when the words “Merry Christmas” are seen as threatening and offensive and not allowed to be uttered in public; when all school Christmas Pageants have been renamed “Holiday Shows”; I would say there’s an attack on Christmas!
 
This attack goes far beyond that of Ebenezer Scrooge being a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”  He is quoted as saying, “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!”  To which his nephew responds, “Though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”  The attempt to erase the Christmas tradition from our lives is far from just one man’s or woman’s effort.  I believe it is a movement to debase anything that’s seen as good and wholesome in our world, an attempt to let an “anything goes” mentality be the law of the land.  A country without moral absolutes leaves its citizens to wander aimlessly as they attempt to define who they are and what they believe and trust in.  This has proven to be the case over and over again around the globe.
 
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote, “If Christmas were just the birthday of a great teacher, like Socrates or Buddha, it would never have split time into two, so that all history before the advent of Christ is called B.C. and all history after, A.D.”  Never have truer words been spoken.  How can one refute that the birth of Jesus was the event that determined how we mark time?  So, with no equivocation, I tell you that we will celebrate Christmas here at Saint Mary School with joy and gusto!  We will not look to be rewarded for our kindness to others or selfless acts of charity and generosity.  Instead, we will bask in the glow of the birth of the Christ child, being thankful for the greatest gift one could receive.  As Tiny Tim once said, “God bless us everyone!”
Please check our website, Facebook page and the Church bulletin for updates and upcoming events that you can enjoy with us.  Please continue to pray for our school, its staff, students and families, and our clergy as we strive to provide an education that is unapologetically Catholic, family centered, caring to others and respectful to all. 
 
Craig Palmer, Principal