“Holiday Tree” versus “Christmas Tree” – the battle wages on!

December 4, 2011 | MariaNews.com

(Royce Hood) –  Catholic News Agency recently reported that Governor Lincoln D. Chafee has invited the public to a “Holiday Tree Lighting” ceremony next Tuesday at the State House.  The article goes on to say that the move by Gov. Chafee is “leaving many, including Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, to question the governor’s choice of such secular terminology in referring to a symbol most commonly associated with the Christian celebration of Christmas.”

“Governor Chafee’s decision to avoid the word Christmas at the State House ceremony is most disheartening and divisive,” said Bishop Tobin, in a statement released to the media last Tuesday night.

“It is sad that such a secular spirit has swept over our state.  The Governor’s decision ignores long held American traditions and is an affront to the faith of many citizens. For the sake of peace and harmony in our state at this special time of the year, I respectfully encourage the Governor to reconsider his decision to use the word Christmas in the state observance.”

Is removing Christ from Christmas a growing trend in the USA?   Yes….

Performing a Google search for “Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony” turns up over 500 million results!   Meanwhile, performing a Google search for “Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony” turned up just over 1.1 million…

Surprisingly among the top of the Google search results list for “Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony” was theWhitehouse.gov.   - President Obama spoke before the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony held on December 1st.   This was after the President received criticism for leaving any reference of God out of his Thanksgiving Day address. 

It will not come as much of a surprise that Chicago’s new mayor, Rahm Emanuel also referred to the Christmas tree as a “Holiday Tree”.  The Chicago Tribune broke this story on November 23.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel intends to refer to the towering Tannenbaum at the city’s center as a “holiday tree,” spokeswoman Tarrah Cooper said.

Oregon City held their “Holiday Tree” lighting ceremony on December 3.    - Not one mention of Christmas.

City of Pittsburgh  – “Holiday Tree”

City of Mountain View, California held their official “Holiday Tree” lighting ceremony on December 5.

We asked Chaplain of Ave Maria School of Law, Father Michael Orsi his thoughts on the removal of “Christmas” from public tradition.   He sent the following response:

“The voice of religion has been undergoing a demonization in our society for the past 40 years. Religious feasts, at least culturally, define who a people or nation is. To scrub the values which have shaped America and Western Civilization, for that matter, it is necessary to undermine the conscious association of time and seasons that have traditionally had religious mesasge.  To use the term “holiday tree” is but anther attempt to make the occasion a celebration of materialism, the antithesis of what Christ’s birth is meant to teach.”

Father Orsi has been with Ave Maria School of Law since its formation.   Father is host of a radio show called The Advocate and also has his own youtube channel called “FrOrsiTV”.

Comment Suggestion:  Are you offended when public officials call Christmas trees “Holiday Trees”?   Tell us your opinion below. 

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