Seasonal Thoughts

The past few weeks have seen a full frontal assault by the Religious Right on the term, "Happy Holidays." These Christian zealots hate that term. They want everyone to say, "Merry Christmas." Well, guess what. Not everyone celebrates Christmas and there is more than one holiday celebrated during this narrow span of weeks. While I’m not insulted that someone might say "Merry Christmas" to me (and I have no right not to be insulted), I do find it presumptuous, even downright arrogant, for people to be insisting that a term applicable to everyone be replaced by a term that is only applicable to a segment (ok, a majority segment) of our society.

That off my chest, let me regale all of you with my favorite interfaith story of all time. June 21, 1996. Huntington, Indiana. The wedding of two of my closest friends. The ceremony took place at St. Mary Catholic Church under the direction of Fr. Gary Sigler. I was one of the ushers. After the mass was over, I stood outside the church and Fr. Gary walked over. I introduced myself and told him that the mass was only the third one I’d ever attended. "I don’t attend church very often. I’m Jewish," I told him.

"Really?" said Fr. Gary. "So am I."

Now, that left me speechless. Was he suggesting that all Jews are Christians because Jesus was a Jew? Was it something else?

Fr. Gary told me that he grew up catholic. As a young man, he traveled to Europe to do some research on his family history. He learned that his maternal grandmother fled Central Europe around the time Hitler came to power. They fled as Christians and settled in England. Once there, they maintained the faith. He also learned that, by the laws of Judaism, regardless of what faith you practice, you are what your mother was. Since his maternal grandmother was Jewish, so was his mother. And so was he.

He then proceeded to show me a ring on his right hand. It was a gold ring with a black band. All around the black band were Stars of David. “I wear this to remind me of my ancestry.”

At the end of the wedding reception, Fr. Gary came back up to me. I said to him that I really appreciated his sharing of his story with me. He knew that I was to be married the following march. "God be with you next March," he said to me.

I will never forget that. This man spoke to me as a member of the clergy, the Catholic Church, but not in a condescending way. He could have said, "Christ be with you," or something along that line, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave me a blessing in a way I would appreciate. He understood that giving me a blessing in the name of Jesus would be both presumptuous and inappropriate. This is a man who understood how to deal with and appeal to people of different faiths.

Why don’t the people bitching about, "Happy Holidays" get that?

Happy Holidays to everyone. And Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating this weekend.