Chennai: It’s easy to miss the message for the sales pitch; Christmas has after all, becomeoneof the market’ssweet seasons. But rising determinedly above store calls to self-indulgence and pampering one’s family with inessentials, can be heard a quiet appeal to reach out also to one’s community. It’s a message sent out by churches and organisations in Chennai, intent on returning to the originative values of the festival like charity and kindness.

At St Theresa’s Church, Nungambakkam,for example, parish priest Fr Lawrence Raj hasbeen entreating parishioners to contribute to the annual Christmas hamper effort they’ve been running for five years. Each hamper – containing a live hen, rice, lentils and other comestibles–sells at 500 and will be offered to a impoverished family of any faith. “The Society of St Vincent de Paulidentifies around300families and we supply them the hampers on December 24 morning so they can prepare a Christmas meal the next day,” saysFr Lawrence.

The church also collects packets of food cooked by parishioners on Christmas morning – a portion of eachfamily’s own feast – and the church youth fan out, delivering the food to the homeless. “Each year wecollectbetween 1,000to 1,500 packets,” Fr Lawrence says, pointing outthatthiswill help people remember that Christmas is the feast of sharing, notjustconsuming.

St Mathias Church at AshokNagar hashitupon an innovative campaign, ‘Be a Star this Christmas’. The parish Christmas tree will be mounted with dozens of stars, each inscribed with particulars of items neededby the poor ofthe parish, from food to stationery or clothes.People areinvitedto pick a star and donate the itemslistedon it. “Stars arethe need of the season,” says Fr Anthony Das, parish priest of this Capuchin order, calling to mindthe Star of Bethlehem.

Social outreach has long been central to the Christmas programme, in both religious and secular circles with parties and gift-giving organised in socialinstitutions.However, efforts that rally a community or neighbourhood to partake in collective outreach have yet to pick up. While most of these initiatives are taken up by churches,some are alsofielded by community organisations like the newspaper ‘Mylapore Times’.

Aboutfive years ago,editor Vincent D’Souza established a tradition which, by nature of its practice, became a vehicle for aid. He brought Santa Claus back to Mylapore. “We wanted to rekindle the simple joys of gifting; despite the age we’re in, people still believe in Santa Claus,” says D’Souza. This is how it plays out: on December 21 and 22, ‘Mylapore Times’ takes Santa Claus aroundthe neighbourhood, accompanied by three young members from St Bede’s Band who strike up a medley of festive tunes. The entourage drops off gifts (that had been deposited at the ‘Mylapore Times’ office the previous week) to children and adults. They venture into bylanes and up anddown buildingstodeliver the goods,someof which are marked out for residents of old age homes and other disenfranchised quarters of society, all anonymously sponsored. “We used to make our rounds from 5.30pm to 10pm in an open-top car, but then drunks would invariably want to join the party,” says D’Souza, adding that they’ve switched to safer modes of transport. As the editor emphasises, when youwantto pulloff something nice, youhavetoworkfor it.

Source: Times of india | Joeanna Rebello Fernandes TNN | Dec 22, 2013

The Vicar of Christ is preaching the Gospel, in word and deed

He is everywhere. The Pope, that is. On the cover of magazines. As Person of the Year. As the subject of street corner discussions. As longform magazine stories. On meme boards. You get the idea.

The Pope’s mystique started on the night of his election, when he took a bus with the other cardinals, refusing to travel in the papal limousine. His plain white robes stood in stark contrast to the opulent trappings favoured by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. In his first media conference, he said that he wanted a “poor church, for the poor.”

When Time magazine pronounced Francis as the person of the year, Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias wrote, “But what makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all… In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church – the church as servant and comforter of hurting people in an often harsh world – above the doctrinal police work so important to his recent predecessors. John Paul II and Benedict XVI were professors of theology. Francis is a former janitor, nightclub bouncer, chemical technician and literature teacher.” Ron Fournier writing at The Atlantic looked to the Pope as a way for the American Republican Party to understand the virtues of “openness, populism, humility, and courage.” His pro-poor message was not a change in direction for the church, away from cultural issues like gay marriage, abortion or contraception, but a return to the core values of Christianity, argue several observers. And at a time when atheism has gained ground rapidly in the world, he has made Catholic Christianity cool again, writes Jeremiah Jacques at TheTrumpet.com.

He’s now the most discussed person on the Internet. Reddit loves him. Francis memes have exploded since his papacy began. And his name is the most popular in Argentina for baby boys.

For more: time.com, thetrumpet.com, theatlantic.com WHEN THE POPE ROCKED THE WORLD

SELL WHAT YOU OWN, GIVE THE MONEY TO THE POOR
The pope condemns trickle-down economics and warns against the “idolatry of money”

WHAT YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MY BRETHREN
The pope washes the feet of prisoners, including women and Muslims

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE
Francis stuns the world when he tells a reporter “Who am I to judge them?” when asked about gays. Gay rights magazine The Advocate named Francis Person of the Year

APOSTLE OF CHANGE: Leading by example, words and actions

Source: Times of India | December 22, 2013   Photo Courtesy: Corbis