Santa Claus made an appearance at Christmas Eve Mass

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O_Moriah said:
While the idea of Saint Nicholas is a nice, Catholic one, Santa Claus, as he’s understood by our culture and by the children is no Saint Nick. He’s a magical toy-giver. And when kids grow up and realize the truth, then it’s perfectly logical for them to ask, “So, the same deal with Jesus, too? Right? He’s just a story for small kids?”

The more the church and parishes can disassociate themselves from cultural Santa the better. Not only keeping him outside the Mass, but outside the church, and outside the parish hall where he shows up for Breakfast with Santa.

That will require a lot of pastoral teaching to make happen and there will be pushback. But unless we want our maturing children to lump Jesus in with Santa and the Tooth Fairy, it’s something that needs to be done.

First step is de-emphasizing Santa in the home. Parents can ‘ask Santa’ to bring the less flashy gifts, like underwear, and they can be the ones to give the new bike (I never understood why parents don’t want the credit for all the cool gifts). And the nativity scene should be the centerpiece of home decoration, not the Christmas tree.

Next step would be ditching Breakfast with Santa where kids tell him all their egoistic fantasies, and instead, Santa shows up to pack food for a soup kitchen. When that happens, then we’re going back to the real Saint Nicholas and the real meaning of Christmas. Otherwise, it’s just goading kids into a selfish gimmee frenzy, and there ain’t nothing Christian about that.
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Do you have children? Is this the way you do it?

When our daughters were growing up, we did Christmas much the way you describe.

The thing is, Jesus is real. Santa isn’t. Kids really do get it, honest. It’s not so important to de-emphasize Santa and all the fantasy surrounding Christmas. What’s most important is that Jesus is real in the parents’ lives all year 'round. That’s how the kids know the difference between Jesus and Santa.
 
mrs_katekista said:
During the Mass, the priest gave his final blessing and then asked everyone to sit. Santa Claus entered from the sacristy and knelt before the statue of the infant Jesus placed in front of the altar. After a few moments, he exited through the center aisle, to the back of the church. When Mass was over, Santa was there to greet people.

It doesn’t sit well with me. I just don’t think that that part where Santa showed up belongs to the liturgy. Any (charitable) thoughts? 🙂 If you think that it shouldn’t happen again, how can I tell father politely? Thanks in advance and I wish you all a blessed Christmas!
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I honestly don’t see what the big deal is, Mass is over after the Priest gives the closing blessing. I’ve seen pictures being shared all over Facebook this month of Santa kneeling in front of the crib acknowldoging the real reason for the season. Then again, i’m post Vatacian II cradle Catholic, don’t know a lick of Latin and wear shorts to Mass in the summer months, so what do I know :rolleyes:
 
devoutchristian said:
The mass is no place for mythological characters.
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Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas is not a mythological person but a real Bishop and Saint who was known for his kindness and love of Children. It was the fact that he put money in shoes for some poor girls to have a money to get married is the basis for gifts being put into stockings. Yes, he has morphed into something else but so have blond hair blued Jesus in creches. To turn a blind eye to what goes on in the culture is more harmful than helpful. Having a Red Santa Claus come into Church AFTER Mass, (not during) just a pay homage to a baby Jesus is a refocus of what is important, and I am sure that in this children’s Christmas Mass, 90% of the children there believe in Santa Claus at depicted in our culture.
Most Churches do sponsor some sort of lunch with Santa anyway.
 
The miracle of transubstantiation is great, but I think my 2 and 3 year old would be VERY interested in the idea that a)Santa was at church and b) Santa prayed to Baby Jesus! Right now, being quiet in church is better than having to sit quietly and still outside on the ground if they misbehave in church.

I have a feeling that would stick with them, and although my first instinct is that I don’t like it, it would be something I’d be willing to endure. Obviously it’s after Mass, which it sounds like it was.

I think I’d be hearing lots of “Why did Santa” and “I do that too!” and “Did you see how?!” That’s good. If it can encourage reverence and interest in church at for those ages, I’m ok.
 
Santa can be at the parish Christmas party if they want to have him, but he has no place at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the eve of the celebration of our Blessed Lord’s birth. If they want to make it a “kids Mass” have some upbeat music and have the priest address his homily to the kids. Create some special bulletins for the children, so that they get something, but keep Santa out of it. The lasting image from Mass on Christmas Eve should be the birth of Christ.

Call me a curmudgeon, call me old fashioned, or a bore, whatever. I don’t care. This is a bad idea and there is no way to make it a good idea. I don’t care whether he knelt before Christ, and I don’t care whether it was before, during, or after Mass. I understand that technically, the Mass was over at that time. I don’t care. It should not happen. Period.

Christmas is secularized enough as it is, and kids will get plenty of it the second they leave Mass. We don’t have to encourage it, and we sure as heck don’t need to bring the secular aspects of Christmas right smack in the middle of our parishes, right in the nave, at the foot of the altar.
 
So did Barney make an appearance too:D Sorry I just had to make a joke. If the blessing occurred and the mass was ended then I’d have no problem with it, but if it was during mass, its not right. I’m sorry have Santa show up for the kiddo’s after mass.
 
Saint Nicholas, in the appearance of Santa Claus, came in to kneel and pray in front of the Baby Jesus AFTER the Mass had ended!!!

Are some of you people missing that? Apparently so. Some of you are acting like Father had Jolly Old St Nick trotting in and passing out candy canes during the consecration. :rolleyes:
 
benjammin said:
So did Barney make an appearance too:D Sorry I just had to make a joke. If the blessing occurred and the mass was ended then I’d have no problem with it, but if it was during mass, its not right. I’m sorry have Santa show up for the kiddo’s after mass.
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As the OP stated, it was after the final blessing, so therefore, the Mass was over.
 
robwar said:
Mass was over at that time, the priest gave his final blessing already and this is not liturgical abuse as the OP was trying to present it.
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Yes, I agree. Mass was over, no liturgical abuse. If you don’t like it fine, but Santa is part of our reality. He should not be over stressed, but he is not going to disappear either…for an impressionable child to see Santa silently adoring baby Jesus, well, I wasn’t there, but to say that the mass was less then perfect because of this action seems an over reaction. Just my opionion.
 
Mass was over. Santa Clause is a modern day representation of Saint Nick - a canonized Bishop who in this depiction kneeled before the Christ. I think it was nicely done.
 
Catya said:
Just remember, please, Santa means saint and Claus is derived from the name Nicholas. All children should be made aware that St. Nicholas was a bishop who lived in what is now Turkey. Although the image of St. Nicholas has been commercialized over the years, he really is St. Nick and he really existed. Popular depictions of him in a red suit are no farther from reality than is a blond haired, blued eyed baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas everyone.
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And Saint Nicholas day is December 6th, not the 25th. I’m grateful that my parish does not do Santa in the red suit on Christmas day but honors Saint Nicholas on his proper day.
 
O_Moriah said:
Can you explain how they’re the same? Is Santa Claus’ red floppy hat a miter? Was Saint Nicholas the bishop of the North Pole?
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They are not the same but is was St Francis ever a bird bath? Either way it’s an opinion, it did not happen in the Mass and therefore is not harmful or disrespectful.
 
I agree that Saint Nicholas’ Day is a wonderful tradition and substitution for inserting a secular symbol, representing an already-overly-commercially-saturated society, into the Mass.

The aspects of it that bother me the most, are these:

~ the compulsion to accommodate to secular society. The subtext is therefore that other assumptions and symbols of secular society can intrude and can modify Catholic understandings.

~ he entered from the sacristy. I find this offensive and entirely inappropriate.

In general, what is the compulsion to pander all about? To me, it’s another way that modern Catholics, and possibly some well-intentioned but misguided priests, communicate an apologetic attitude about The Faith. Children have plenty of opportunity to acknowledge the secular, historical tradition of Santa Claus (apart form the European origins of that), outside of Mass and church settings. Let them have whatever level of secular celebration, including Santa, that the parents discern is proportional to the Christian centrality of the Christmas message. But please do it entirely outside of Mass and Mass occasions, pre- or post-.

If parents, or priests, believe that Catholic children will be less involved with their faith if Santa does not appear inside the Church (and hence that was possibly the reason for this), such people have shifted responsibility from themselves to the children.

Hint: You’re the adults. You are in control of the message, especially while children are young. If the children need to be pandered to (or entertained! ) in order to identify with Catholicism, go to Mass later in life, or anything else, then The Message is not being delivered adequately. Men in red suits are not responsible for that, pro or con.
 
Personally, I prefer my Mass without extra foofy stuff for kids; but I don’t know if I would be THAT upset. They didn’t do anything like that at my parish. I really think this was something nice that the pastor was trying to do for the kids, and nothing more than that. Are we so un-confident in our CCD classes (and ourselves as parents) that we’re afraid that our kids will be confused as to the REAL meaning of Christmas?

Almost all of the Catholics here on this forum are real die-hards in one manner or another, and I would expect reactions such as the ones that I’ve seen here. Does Santa belong at Mass? Not really. Was the priest trying to have a little fun for the kids who might get a kick out of something like that? Yes. It’s not like Santa barged in during the Liturgy of the Eucharist ho-ho-ho-ing…

If it were me… as long as this was a one time thing, the priest shows the proper respect for the liturgies at all other times, and kept this in it’s proper perspective, I’d let it slide. I may not have cared for it, but I’d have let it go.
 
rfournier103 said:
Personally, I prefer my Mass without extra foofy stuff for kids; but I don’t know if I would be THAT upset. They didn’t do anything like that at my parish. I really think this was something nice that the pastor was trying to do for the kids, and nothing more than that. Are we so un-confident in our CCD classes (and ourselves as parents) that we’re afraid that our kids will be confused as to the REAL meaning of Christmas?
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Unfortunately, yes. Have you seen the books they use? They avoid the word altar like the plague.
Almost all of the Catholics here on this forum are real die-hards in one manner or another, and I would expect reactions such as the ones that I’ve seen here. Does Santa belong at Mass? Not really. Was the priest trying to have a little fun for the kids who might get a kick out of something like that? Yes. It’s not like Santa barged in during the Liturgy of the Eucharist ho-ho-ho-ing…
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If it were me… as long as this was a one time thing, the priest shows the proper respect for the liturgies at all other times, and kept this in it’s proper perspective, I’d let it slide. I may not have cared for it, but I’d have let it go.
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Why did it have to be attached to Mass in any way? Why couldn’t it have been done in the parish hall?
 
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