nativity catholic church

I am not Catholic, but recently saw a Christmas program at a Catholic church where children held fishing poles with golden fish on the line over the baby Jesus in the nativity. I don't understand why this was done. This church is composed of a largely Hispanic population so I don't if it has a culture significance that I am not aware of.

i have never heard of this and i even googled it and didn't come up with anything....

2007-12-13 14:24:52 by partymom

quot;Alive in Christquot; Campaign Video for Nativity Catholic Church in Longwood, FL

i need the play to be free

NativityPlay.com was born out of a desire to reach as many people as possiblele with this delightful Christmas musical.

Over 30 years ago, Irish missionary nuns running a private boarding school in Africa introduced a nativity play as part of year-end activities. We started rehearsal in October and performed the play to the community in mid December before school closed for the year. It was our christmas gift to the community and to each other. Then we all went home on vacation till the next year.

For five years, I participated in various aspects of the play: as a miming actor, in the choir and helping with make-shift stage preparations. Years later looking back, I could not believe how much of the play I retained in in those five years of participation. Perhaps it was because we necessarily had to memorize the words of the carols for the most part because the choir stood mostly in the dark. Standing close to the actors on a small stage where the lights had to be dimmed most of the time (as you will see in the play) it was impossible to get enough light when singing. In some scenes there were no lights at all before the singing started. A perfect example is when the Angel has to climb up a ladder in semi-darkness before the full lights come on - but the singing had to continue the whole time. It was very low-tech, no dimmers or black-lights, we had one light source and it was either off or on.

Two years after I left the boarding school and a member of a very small church, we were brain-storming on what to do as a church body for christmas. I suggested a nativity play. Everyone liked the idea. Of course, I was stuck with the responsibility of putting the nativity play together.

Fortunately, I found some of the carols hand-written in an old notebook from school with notes that were obviously dictated by Sister Kathleen. I was amazed at how much of the play I retained in my memory. What I didn't remember I got out of the Bible. From these three sources, I reconstructed the Nativity Play from school.

That year there was not enough time to learn all the carols so we picked about 10 carols that everybody knew. We read all of the narratives so the story was told in its entirety but we only sang the carols we all knew. The children mimed the roles since the adult population was in some way otherwise involved with presenting the play. It was wonderful! They loved it and enjoyed it! Over the years, I have added a few more carols and learned that it is possible to remove a few and still enjoy the play. Otherwise the play has remained largely unchanged.

The hardest challenge was to "write down everything I know" to prepare the program notes and all the wonderful help you get with the program. True, I had accumulated a lot of experience performing this play over these many years but it was all in my head. I didn't realize how much I took for granted and didn't mention in my first few attempts to write it down. Thanks to Debbye Holmes and Bill Whitworth for relentlessly pointing out the lack of continuity in the earlier versions that made the finished product and website possible.

As the years passed, I have presented the nativity play at almost every church I have been a member. I have presented it to my family and encouraged friends to present it to their families as well. In every presentation of the play - in a church packed full of hundreds of people or a modest crowd of five - the response has been the same: it is delightful, it is a great story and a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours around Christmas time!

Once I asked Sr. Kathleen why she took so much trouble to present the nativity play and she replied something to the effect that it was to bless people at Christmas time. I have tried to bless people at Christmas time with this play over the years. When I moved to California two years ago to a church that had its own 30-year long tradition of presenting their own style of "drive thru" Christmas play, I started thinking about some other way to keep blessing people with this play. In my mind, this is much too precious to put away. That's why I have created this web site. A portion of the proceeds from this play will be given towards missionary efforts in memory of Sr. Kathleen.

This Christmas, I pray that you are blessed and that you will bless others by successfully presenting this Christmas play to the audience of your choice.

2007-11-11 14:31:58 by Chris A

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Place this event in a long line of greed and deception that is the Roman Catholic...why is anyone surprised?

I believe in a God that does not need to be FINANCIALLY SUBSIDIZED...

2006-11-29 12:58:16 by davidm

Price: $45.00 $45.00

turn the Lincoln Memorial into a Nativity Scene, and the US did it?

I would congratulate our leaders on making a great business decision, then encourage them to spend $100 million on a new Lincoln Memorial, and then we can use the rest to help pay down the debt.

2009-10-05 13:01:34 by blank for now

I went to church on christmas day to watch my little cousin in the nativity play. After they had preformed, the priest said a prayer and said to the children "will you ask your mummys and daddys to give the Church some money? because we are very poor" they all nodded and then he said "Some of your parents have been only putting pennys in the basket, isn't that terrible children?" they could only agree.
The children then rushed around with the collection baskets asking their parents to put more in.

Isn't the catholic Church rich enough? This truly disgusted me, manipulating children like that

Assuming your story is true, the priest acted with neither respect nor within the guidelines of Catholic teaching.

The Catholic Church does not teach giving 10% to the Church. Tithing is the part of the Mosaic Law that covers temple worship.

Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses.

Christians are not held to the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law concerning of dietary purity and temple worship.

Christians are held to the moral law of God, some of which is expressed in the Ten Commandments.

However Jesus took the Ten Commandments to the next step summarizing them into the two Great Commandments:
• You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
• You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And teaching things like
• Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
• Everyone is our neighbor including our enemies.

Therefore we have to go much farther than the original recipients of the Ten Commandments ever dreamed.

Catholics need to examine their personal finances, determine what part of their God-given time, talent, and treasure they can freely choose to give back.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, part 3, section 2: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3s ect2.shtml

For an interesting discussion of tithing and backrupcy, see: http://www.catholic.org/national/nationa l_story.php?id=22650

+ Rich? +

In 1981, Pope John Paul II ordered annual financial disclosures to debunk the idea that the Vatican is rich.

Here is an article on the 2007 annual financial report from the Vatican: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/09 /vatican-finances.html

With love in Christ.

2010-01-22 07:56:18 by Jacqualine Rose