{"id":1790,"date":"2012-12-09T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/north-pole-catholics-honor-holy-days-in-town-filled-with-christmas-kitsch\/"},"modified":"2012-12-09T20:05:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-09T20:05:00","slug":"north-pole-catholics-honor-holy-days-in-town-filled-with-christmas-kitsch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/north-pole-catholics-honor-holy-days-in-town-filled-with-christmas-kitsch\/","title":{"rendered":"North Pole Catholics honor holy days in town filled with Christmas kitsch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

North Pole, Alaska, Dec 9, 2012 \/ 01:05 pm (CNA<\/a>).- The much bemoaned commercialization of Christmas reaches a whole new level in North Pole, Alaska \u2014 a town that celebrates Santa 365 days a year.<\/p>\n

\tCommercialized Christmas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\tThe giant candy cane street lights are a permanent feature in this northern town, where Santa is available for pictures in July. In fact the town\u2019s economy revolves around the selling of Christmas year round.<\/p>\n

\tAmid this tourism spectacle, Father Robert Fath and parishioners at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in North Pole try to focus on the season of Advent and the true meaning of the Incarnation.<\/p>\n

\tFollowing the historic traditions of the church, Christians are meant to spend Advent \u201cin anxious anticipation\u201d of both Christ\u2019s incarnation into the world at Bethlehem, and his return at the end of time, Father Fath told the Catholic Anchor.<\/p>\n

\tThis focus can prove challenging in a town where emphasis on Santa and toys continues through the penitential season of Advent.<\/p>\n

\tSometimes it gets to Father Fath.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI do tend to rail against Santa Claus,\u201d he said, \u201cparticularly the 50 foot monstrosity down the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe refers to a 50-foot permanent statue of Santa in town. Father Fath jokes that someday he\u2019s going to build a 51-foot statue of the real Saint Nicholas of Myra, a fourth century bishop whose legend inspired the modern-day Santa.<\/p>\n

\tIn North Pole, there is also the Santa Claus House, a year-round Santa available for photos, live reindeer on display, and streets with permanent names like Snowman Lane, Kris Kringle, Mistletoe, and Holiday Road.<\/p>\n

\tHow did all of this come about, since the town of North Pole is actually 1,700 miles from the real North Pole?<\/p>\n

\tBanking on Christmas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\tLike many Alaska towns North Pole is relatively young. According to the city\u2019s website, the first settlers arrived near mile 15 of the Richardson Highway in 1944 and staked their claim.<\/p>\n

\tBy 1952, others had joined them with the promise of electrical power.<\/p>\n

\tWhat to call this new town? Someone came up with the idea of \u201cNorth Pole\u201d thinking it might attract toy manufacturers with the lure of a \u201cmade in North Pole\u201d logo. Although that idea didn\u2019t pan out, the notion that a Disney-like Santa town might spring up did.<\/p>\n

\tToday, tourists flock to North Pole, and letters by the thousands arrive for Santa from all over the world. When a Catholic parish was established in 1975, it was natural that it be named Saint Nicholas.<\/p>\n

\tKeeping Christmas Special<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\tLisa Sagers is the parish youth worker. Unlike Father Fath, who is a lifelong Alaskan, Sagers came to the Christmas capital of the world from Los Angeles 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

\tWhen she phones colleagues in the Lower-48 and identifies herself as being from St. Nicholas in North Pole, she laughs when people say, \u201cYou\u2019re kidding, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tShe finds some aspects of her adopted home \u201cquaint\u201d and marvels at the fact that a local man legally changed his name to Kris Kringle.<\/p>\n

\tBut she admires the way Father Fath manages to make Christmas special in a town that sometimes grows weary of the spectacle.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cFather Robert has been amazing. His family had so many rich traditions and he\u2019s able to share these with our youth,\u201d Sagers said. \u201cAt St. Nicholas, we understand when the tree and the lights should go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHeart of Christmas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\tFather Fath has a very young parish with 500 youth under age 18. He enjoys telling them stories about the real Saint Nicholas, while emphasizing that we \u201canticipate the gift of Christ, not toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFather Fath makes sure the children know the history of the famous saint \u2014 a man who never lived in the North Pole.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI like to emphasize that Saint Nicholas was really from Turkey,\u201d Father Fath said.<\/p>\n

\tOn the Sunday nearest the Dec. 6 Feast of Saint Nicholas, children in faith formation classes put their shoes outside their classroom doors to be filled with candy. But even this is part of an older European custom celebrating Saint Nicholas, not Santa.<\/p>\n

\tFather Fath then celebrates Mass and speaks of the real man, instead of the one smothered in cultural kitsch.<\/p>\n

\tHe also points to the charitable works that the parish does during Advent and the way parishioners, especially the youth, focus on giving. Food collections and adoptions of needy families fill the weeks before Christmas.<\/p>\n

\tLetters to Santa<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\tWhile the faithful at St. Nicholas certainly strive to keep the old traditions, some parishioners participate in more modern ones as well, like helping to answer the deluge of letters that arrive at the Post Office for Santa each December.<\/p>\n

\tParishioner Raymond Clark was the local postmaster for nine years. Before his retirement in 2003, he witnessed the \u201cextremely large volume of mail\u201d from children all over the world.<\/p>\n

\tClark said many parishioners participate in local volunteer efforts to answer the barrage of letters.<\/p>\n

\tThe most touching letters, he said, arrive in childish scrawl and have no return address. For Clark, the community effort to read and answer these letters impacts his spirituality.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYour faith,\u201d he said, \u201cand how you practice your faith are what make Christmas unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPosted with permission from Catholic Anchor<\/a>, official newspaper for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Pole, Alaska, Dec 9, 2012 \/ 01:05 pm (CNA).- The much bemoaned commercialization of Christmas reaches a whole new level in North Pole, Alaska — a town that celebrates Santa 365 days a year.<\/p>\n

\tCommercialized Christmas<\/p>\n

\tThe giant candy cane …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nNorth Pole Catholics honor holy days in town filled with Christmas kitsch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"North Pole, Alaska, Dec 9, 2012 \/ 01:05 pm (CNA).- The much bemoaned commercialization of Christmas reaches a whole new level in North Pole, Alaska — a town that celebrates Santa 365 days a year. 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