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To: TNdandelion; Vicomte13

Sure. Christmas trees are listed in the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, I suppose? I doubt evergreens were present and "dressed" in the Mediterranean basin where Christianity developed. Why are you blaming the Catholic Church for the inculturation of such items into the celebration of the Nativity? These things developed centuries later as the religion spread north. No Catholic goes to Mass on Christmas day to worship a decorated bush, Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And the menorah is symbolic of a miracle that is celebrated by Judaism with good reason.

Don't confuse secular appendages with symbols of things that happened. That is why St. Francis of Assisi was so fond of the Nativity creche and spread its use so widely. He saw the difference.


179 posted on 12/11/2006 10:21:46 AM PST by Frank Sheed ("It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged." --G.K. Chesterton)
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To: Frank Sheed

I was pretty clear with my intention in my previous post. As I said, this time of the year is no one's season exclusivly.


191 posted on 12/11/2006 10:31:48 AM PST by TNdandelion
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