TO THE EDITOR:
The recent differing opinions regarding the State House Christmas tree between the executive director of the Rhode Island Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence underline a basic characteristic of their two faith traditions.
Protestants have never favored religious signs and symbols. A bare cross, a prominent pulpit and a discreet Communion table are all the adornments many Protestants have traditionally tolerated. Content with the Word of God, they have not promoted ornamental displays of their faith. Catholics, on the other hand, traditionally accept that the Word of God became flesh and have tried over the centuries to express their deepest beliefs through physical expressions. All seven sacraments have a physical aspect – bread, wine, water, oil, hands, vows, etc. An abundance of sacramentals – ashes, palms, holy water, rosaries, candles, statues and, of course, crucifixes – are emblematic of Catholic life. Advent wreaths, Christmas trees, manger scenes and Easter eggs have, over the years, been added to the mix.
The Christmas tree has its origin in human experience. An evergreen tree is a natural symbol of enduring vitality, weathering the dark and dank winter surviving through to spring. Central Europeans conferred Christian overtones on the evergreen tree as an emblem of hope and promise, a custom that survived the Reformation. The Christmas evergreen was later introduced to the English-speaking world in the middle of the nineteenth century by Prince Albert, the German born husband of Queen Victoria.
These Christmas trees were small tabletop growths around which presents were displayed. So the Christmas tree is neither biblical nor ancient. It probably ranks fairly low on the scale of Christian symbols.
Nonetheless, in twentieth-first century America, the Christmas tree has become exclusively associated with the December festival of the birth of Christ. Erected just before December 25 and taken down just after December 25, the Christmas tree is unavoidably related to the Solemnity of the Nativity. Except for commercial purposes, Christmas trees are never popularly displayed at any other time of year. They have not become generic symbols.
Governor Lincoln Chafee's public and explicit re-naming of the state house Christmas tree as the State House Holiday tree can only be understood as a rejection of at least a century-and-a-half of popular Christian experience. Anyone who explicitly and not inadvertently rejects the familiar label and calculatingly substitutes a generic term dramatically obscures the ancient roots of this December festivity. By subverting a popular Christian custom, the holiday tree in the State House foyer is a denial of the very diversity and multiculturalism that Mr. Chafee claims to espouse. Clearly Mr. Chafee has hung the old sign in his window once again: “No Catholics, in fact no Christians, need apply.”
Father John A. Kiley
Senior Priest
Woonsocket
