December 19, 2014

Christmas Memories

A beautiful Christmas Eve Mass

By Mary Withem

In 1960, we moved our young family to The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish, with Father Louis Gootee as our pastor. We experienced a lovely, old renovated barn as our church and a new grade school for our children. The most beautiful of the services was the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. People came from far and wide to witness the birth of Jesus in our humble church, beautifully decked out on Dec. 24.

In November of 1965, a fire took that church, but soon a new building was under way—while having Masses and the sacraments in the school cafeteria—to meet the needs of the growing parish.

The parish couldn’t wait for its completion, and so on a cold Dec. 24 in 1968—with space heaters, makeshift seating and power tools scattered around—we were among the many families attending Midnight Mass. The little ones were in footed PJs, and everyone had a blanket over our laps. It was a beautiful Christmas Eve Mass, so aptly presented in our Nativity Church—a night I’ll forever remember!
 

(Mary Withem is a member of St. Jude Parish in Spencer.) †

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