The Bishop Writes

(From the Dec. 17, 1998 edition of the Inland Register)

One of the customs in my home when I was a child was the coming of Santa Claus before Christmas. For some reason my parents always seemed to know the exact night and time of arrival. One night he even appeared in the window a few days before coming inside. We kids panicked in fear because Santa always asked if we had been good. We didn’t want him to see something he shouldn’t have, or something we shouldn’t have been doing.

One of the things puzzling to me was the bag in which he brought the presents. It looked like the bedspread from my parents’ bed. Also, my uncle seemed to be missing every time Santa came.

Finally, after putting two and two together and pestering my mother about what I had observed, she broke out laughing and told me the real story.

The story of Christmas is powerful. This unique moment in history is a sign of God’s love for each of us unfolding in a story so simple and yet very profound. The star from the universe points to Bethlehem, to the tiny Infant. The coming of Jesus in very humble and vulnerable circumstances becomes a story for every person in the human family for all time. Everyone can identify with an Infant in a manger and be powerfully touched by the love expressed by our God as the Word became flesh for the salvation and life of the world.

We celebrate Christmas today, remembering those events of almost 2,000 years ago with great enthusiasm and expectation. For us in the Church the season of Advent is a spiritual time of preparation for Christmas Day itself, and we carry on the spirit of the celebration of the Christmas season until the Feast of Epiphany.

In the secular world, the time before Christmas can and does take on a much more materialistic context. These weeks beforehand of some businesses indicate whether or not they make it for the entire financial year. In the secular world, all of the decorations come down immediately after Christmas. The hymns and carols on the radio also cease. There is no follow-through in celebrating what really has happened on the feast day itself.

The Christmas season calls us to relationship with one another. Jesus came to the whole world, to everyone in the human family. I would hope that all of us could read the signs of the times — put two and two together — as to how Jesus calls each of us to express his love for one another.

Frankly, I cringe when I hear (as I did the other day in a news report) that the bottom line for mergers and investors is profit. If down-sizing can mean an extra percentage point in profit, so be it. In the context of the Christmas message and story, this attitude, in my judgment, has not put two and two together.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to observe that our bottom line is people? Wouldn’t it be great to hear that we could maximize the best efforts of our companies to provide quality jobs so that people can find dignity and respect in their work? Of course, modest profits are important. An industry should remain viable. Investors should have a reasonable yield from their investments. On theother hand, wages are obscene when they are too low — or two high.

Yet the maximizing of profits at the expense of jobs and productive work can quickly and easily cannibalize society. We should and must be in the business of maximizing people, of promoting the common good, and of sharing generously our gifts and resources.

We are called to be insightful about how we treat one another in the human family and how we should respond to one another as our brother’s and sister’s keeper. That’s really putting the Christmas story into action, of moving the story and the Word to deed and loving concern.

The signs are all about us. We see them. We hear them. We experience them. Jesus’ coming as an infant is a powerful story, a great sign. Every one of us is challenged to be a sign also of His loving presence. That’s really putting together the two and two of life that speaks of the real world of God’s kingdom in which we live.

That is, and should be, the real story of Christmas here and now.

One of the ways we can help one another is to participate in our annual Catholic Charities Christmas Collection. Our theme this year is “Building the Community of God.” The programs are many and impressive: CAPA (Childbirth and Parenting Alone), counseling, emergency assistance, House of Charity, housing, parish social ministry, partners for community living, refugee resettlement, St. Anne Children’s Home, St. Margaret Shelter, and senior services. All of these happen because we come together as Church to serve our brothers and sisters in need. We also are ministered to through our generosity and concern. I invite and encourage you to be generous in your response.

May you, your families, and your loved ones have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Another reason for celebration this time of year is the anniversary of Bishop Lawrence Welsh, former bishop of Spokane. On Dec. 14 Bishop Welsh celebrated his 20th anniversary of episcopal ordination. I know you join me in prayers and best wishes for Bishop Welsh as he continues to minister while dealing with poor health.

For more than two months now, the strike of the United Steelworkers Union against Kaiser Aluminum has dragged on. I have not been close to the situation and know only what I have read in the newspaper and the pressure I have seen in individual families.

I plead with both sides to come together to settle disagreements in justice and in peace. Anything beyond two months duration, in my judgement, can only result in deeper bitterness and increasingly frayed emotions.

Kaiser should want a strong Union, and the Union should want a strong Kaiser.

There is justice, and there is the common good.

May we all pray that both values will contribute to a rapid settlement.

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