December - Everybody's Welcome at Christmas

Advent is a season of waiting, of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus our Saviour. Christmas is typically a holiday when parishes welcome many visitors and this year, with the Come Home for Christmas campaign we are likely to experience many more newcomers than usual. So our top tip this month suggests that parishes focus during Advent on preparing to receive their Christmas visitors. How much more can they be made to feel welcome this year? How much more family-friendly can we become using some of the ideas on this website? How can we make our services this Christmas even more warm and welcoming family-sensitive celebrations, reflecting the experiences of all our families, from the cradle to the grave? Here are a few ideas with links below to more resources.

• Are your website and answerphone information up to date? Check now that your parish website and/or your answerphone message carries the times of all Christmas services. If you have a small church and you know it's likely to be full, incorporate this advice in the Mass-time information. Do people need to be there ten minutes or half an hour beforehand to be sure of a seat? Regulars may know this but strangers probably won't. You need to be publishing Christmas Mass times now.

• Are you ready to accommodate those with special needs? Plan how you will care for the elderly, infirm and parents/carers of small babies. Do you need to reserve benches for them to avoid anyone standing for longer than is necessary? Can you clearly mark some seats as prioritised for those in need? 

• Are you preparing your Christmas bulletin/Order of Service?  Use your Order of Service creatively. It's not only a way to provide the words of carols and readings but can be used to promote hospitality throughout Mass.  Newcomers may welcome a prompt about when to stand or when to sit or kneel. Parents may need a hint that children should give up their seats to adults without one, if that's what you expect from them. Make sure you have enough Orders of Service. If you run out invite people already seated to share and return duplicate copies to the ushers for redistribution.

• Are you ready to listen to those who come home this Christmas? Remember that those who Come Home for Christmas each have their own story to tell and that your parish needs to be able to hear them. Clip a brief question sheet to the Sunday bulletin so that there is at least one small mechanism whereby a returning Catholic can tell you something about why they stayed away and why they came back today. Download a template. You might use these anonymous stories to help you become even more welcoming, friendly and family sensitive over the forthcoming year.      

You can still use the Ministry of Welcome material to review how welcoming your parish really is. In four or five sessions this resource enables all parish groups to understand why welcoming visitors and strangers matters, that all parishioners need an ongoing welcome and to prompt parishes to improve their own welcome policies. You can download the resource free of charge here.  

If you have anything to add to these ideas - just let us know!

Listening Ministry |  Travelling Crib | Liturgy Resources | CASE Christmas Resources | Family Ideas for your Parish Newsletter

A Listening Ministry | Back to top

Christmas may be the only time of year when your parish has the opportunity to offer hospitality to families who are in real need. Make sure that not only is the Church decorated and clean but that your team of welcomers, your Christmas bulletin or newsletter and any social event you have planned after Christmas Masses create opportunities for people to speak and be heard.  The Acorn Christian Healing Foundation offers resources to help parishes develop a listening ministry.   

The Travelling Crib or Posada | Back to top

A  Posada is a Spanish word which means 'inn'.  Posada celebrations originated in Mexico where two young people were chosen to dress up as Mary and Joseph and travel from house to house in their village telling people about the imminent arrival of Jesus and asking if they would give him a room. On Christmas Eve they would re-enact a play and bring figures of Mary and Joseph to be placed in the crib. The modern day equivalent is based on this concept whereby families in the parish are encouraged to welcome the nativity figures into their home. Its an especially useful activity for building home-school-parish links. Read the Diocese of Leeds Resource Pack for Children's Liturgy of the Word for ideas on how to do this.   

Advent Liturgical Resources from the Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.   | Back to top

Click on the link above to visit the Liturgy Office's range of resources. See also A Blue Christmas: For those who have lost a loved one Christmas can be especially hard. The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa in Canada have made available some resources for acknowledging the pain and loss in their Blue Christmas service.

Wellsprings-on-the-Web offer liturgical resources for Advent and Christmas. Non-Eucharistic services can help some families fully participate together.

The Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation offers extensive Resources for Christmas | Back to top

Includes sample parish notices, more ideas on welcoming strangers, sample fliers to distribute in the locality and much more.  

The Jesse Tree: family friendly activities to include in your parish bulletin by Sarah Johnson  | Back to top

Isaiah 11:1: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the sprit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord."

As a way of deflecting children's attention from the omnipresent Christmas Tree, put up a Jesse Tree in your church on the First Sunday of Advent and add symbolic objects to its branches during the following Sundays. Jesse was the father of King David and with the Jesse Tree we encourage young people to think about the roots of their faith. Get a couple of dads to go out and find a large fallen branch, or splash out and buy a shrub in a tub - a hazel tree is ideal because of its long, flexible branches - from a garden centre. Traditionally the tree is decorated with purple ribbons. There is a bible reading and a special symbol ornament for each day of December, listed on this Catholic Culture website:  

The symbols you will need include the sun (for the light of Jesus), Moses' tablets, the Key of David, the little town of Bethlehem, a flower (Jesus springing from the root of Jesse), the Star of David, Jacob's Ladder, Jonah's Whale...more here

During Advent, try making Jesse Tree biscuits. Your family will enjoy them and you can talk about Advent.

INGREDIENTS:  
11-12 tablespoons brown sugar
16-17 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
20 fluid oz flour (measured with a measuring jug)
8 fluid oz oats (measured with a measuring jug

PREPARATION:
Mix butter, egg, salt, sugar, extract. Add flour and mix well. Stir in the oats. Chill dough for about half an hour. Roll out to 1/8inch thickness. Cut the biscuits out in shapes which fit the theme of the Jesse Tree -  and make a skewer hole in each for threading a ribbon. Bake at 180 degrees C for 8 to 10 minutes.