Adventadvent the Love of God, the God Who Became a Child in Order to Make Us Know How Close He Is Bishop’S Schedule
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December 13, 2019 In This Issue ESSEESSENGERNGER M Serving the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky since 1926 2 The history of the Cathedral’s nativity Christmas at the Cathedral The famed Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption 3 St. Joseph Apartments créche will be erected and the Cathedral decorated for the Christmas season on Dec. 23. From homeless to hopeful Like the Magi who over 2,000 years ago, “Saw his star at its rising and have come to do 6 Live nativity him homage” (Matt 2:2), visitors will have the Scheduling actors, choirs opportunity to come and adore the Christ child throughout the Christmas season until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 12. 7 ‘Be Witnesses’ The Cathedral is open to receive visitors Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. 10 St. Stephen Cemetery The Cathedral is closed following 10 a.m. Mass Adds cremation niches on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Weekday and Sunday Mass schedule: 13 Obituary Monday–Friday, 8:15 a.m. Sunday Vigil Mass: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. Notre Dame de Namur Sister Sunday Masses: 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 5:30 p.m. Rosemarie Pohlman Christmas Mass schedule: December 24 16 Rose Garden Mission 5:30 p.m., Nativity of the Lord Vigil Mass Thanksgiving giveaway Keener photo December 25 Midnight, Nativity of the Lord Mass During the Night (music by the Bishop’s Choir begins at Pope asks Catholicstoset up,be 11:15 p.m., Dec. 24) enchantedbyaNativity scene 10 a.m., Nativity of the Lord Mass During the Day Cindy Wooden See related story on page 2. Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — A Nativity scene is a simple reminder of something astonishing: Moving? Wrong address? God became human to reveal the greatness of his love “by smiling and opening his Call the circulation desk, arms to all,” Pope Francis said in a letter on the meaning and importance of setting up (859) 392-1570 Christmas cribs. “Wherever it is, and whatever form it takes, the Christmas creche speaks to us of AdventAdvent the love of God, the God who became a child in order to make us know how close he is Bishop’s Schedule . .3 to every man, woman and child, regardless of their condition,” the pope wrote in his Let us live in holiness and Commentary . .4 apostolic letter, “Admirabile Signum” (“Enchanting Image”). People and Events . .8 Pope Francis signed the short letter Dec. 1, the first Sunday of Advent, during an love as we patiently await our Saint Snippet . .9 afternoon visit to Greccio, Italy, where St. Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene in 1223. blessed hope, the coming of Classifieds . .12 When St. Francis had a cave prepared with a hay-filled manger, an ox and a donkey VIRTUS . .13 — no statues or actors or baby, even — he “carried out a great work of evangelization,” our Savior, alleluia, alleluia. Entertainment . .14 Pope Francis said, and Catholics can and must continue that work today. —Vespers Antiphon Shopper’s Guide . .14 “With this letter,” he wrote, “I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of News Briefs . .15 preparing the Nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of set- Third ting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares.” Sunday “It is my hope that this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into of Missed an edition? Current and back disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived,” the pope said. issues of the Messenger are available At the heart of even the simplest Nativity scene, he said, there is a reminder of Advent online at covdio.org/messenger. “God’s tender love: the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our little- Dec. 15 ness.” (Continued on page 6) Colonels win state — again! The Covington Catholic High School football team has claimed, Dec. 7, its second state championship in three years defeating Frederick Douglass, Lexington, 14-7 in the KHSAA Class 5A state cham- pionship football game at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of these young men in our program,” said Eddie Eviston, coach. “We talk a lot about how success is only worth it when doing things the right way in order to achieve it. These young men have done things the right way and are so very deserving of finishing their football season with a state championship.” Covington Catholic now has an 8-1 record in state finals, claiming the championship in 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2006, 2017, 2019. This year’s state win capped-off an undefeated — 15-0 — season. 2 December 13, 2019 Messenger Cathedral Basilica’sNativity scene had storied beginningsinrural North Dakota Stephen Enzweiler Enzweiler photos Cathedral Historian Christmas 2019 marks the It’s Christmas at the Cathedral Basilica of the 60th anniversary since the Assumption in Covington. It is a time when visi- first display of the tors from all over come to see and enjoy the season- German-carved Nativity al decorations beneath its vaulted gothic ceilings. scene in the Cathedral For many, a stop here marks the highlight of the Basilica (1959). season of light: festive red and white poinsettias blanket the candled altar steps, while Christmas trees sparkle in the sanctuary, garlands reach down from above, and beribboned pine garlands curve and drape playfully along the choir lofts and upper galleries. But tucked in one corner of this gothic treas- ure is a special decoration, one everyone has A Yankton Sioux family approach the manger in adoration of known since childhood: the Christmas nativity the Christ child. scene showing the birth of Jesus. Yet, this particu- lar arrangement is unusual among nativities. In addition to the normal cast of angels, shepherds and Magi, visitors may be intrigued to find west- ern plains Indians, an African family, and two small German girls in traditional folk dresses. On closer examination, the Indian figures bear the markings of the Yankton Sioux tribe of south- eastern North Dakota, evidenced by the unique patterns on the chief’s ceremonial headdress. He is on his knees, his eyes wide and hands apart as if gazing at the manger in complete wonder. Beside him is his spouse, kneeling in buckskin dress, hands folded in prayer and gazing soulfully at the child in the manger. Eagle feathers adorn her braided hair, and on her back, she carries her own baby, sleeping in a cradle-board protected by her cloak. Another set of figures we see are those of an African family in flowing tribal garb. Unlike the Sioux figures which kneel in adoration, this family is in motion as if hurrying to see what’s ahead of them. The father gazes in expectation, hands folded in prayer, while the mother car- ries her baby boy in her arms. Then come two young girls, one in a German dirndl, the other in a plain dress, both hurrying together toward the manger in joy and Detail of the African sculptures. mutual friendship. Why are there figures here? Why are there Sioux and Africans and German children in a Christmas scene? Keener photo And who carved them? It turns out, they owe their exis- Shepherd boys, tence to two extraordinary men — the Most Rev. William one playing the T. Mulloy, the sixth bishop of Covington, and August A. flute for the Courtesy of Philip Klener Christ child. Schmidt, a skilled sculptor and woodcarver from (above) August Schmidt, the man Cologne, Germany. who gave us the ornate German Bishop Mulloy was well known for his high energy oak baldachin, altar screens, choir and dominating personality, but he was also known for Courtesy of Stephen Enzweiler stalls, sanctuary furniture, and his deep care and concern for the spiritual lives of his (above) Most Rev. William T. bishop’s cathedra canopy, seen flock. His tenure as Covington’s bishop was marked by Mulloy, the sixth Bishop of here in a photo from 1969. sweeping reforms to the Cathedral during the 1950s, most Covington. His sentiments for August Schmidt was born in notable of which were its designation as a basilica, the native American peoples can be Cologne, Germany, in 1884, and addition of a new high altar, the ornately carved German seen among his cathedral had known Bishop Mulloy oak baldachin, choir stalls, sanctuary furniture, gilded renovations of the 1950’s. while working for Bishop altar shrines, ambo … and the beautiful nativity scene. Muench on sanctuary renovations to Fargo’s St. Mary’s William Theodore Mulloy was born Nov. 9, 1892, in Ardoch, Cathedral in 1939. As the Cathedral’s rector, Father Mulloy North Dakota, the eldest of five children born to William and worked closely with Mr. Schmidt and came to know him Margaret Mulloy, emigres from Ontario, Canada, to the well. After Mr. Schmidt emigrated to America in 1951, Dakota Territory in 1889. William’s world as a child was that Bishop Mulloy brought him to Covington where he was kept of rural farm life and close associations with the native peo- busy for the next decade. “You will be having much work,” ples of the Yankton Sioux nation, or the Ihanktonwan Oyate. the bishop wrote to his friend, “and the longer you stay in He grew up speaking their language and made lifelong friend- this country the more you will have, so you will never be ships among its native inhabitants. He heard the call to priest- idle.” hood early, and was ordained by Bishop James Riley of Fargo It was out of this promise of work that the idea for a new on June 7, 1916.