1347 East Asia focus for Vatican Christmas Concert; elsewhere 'Christ for Christmas' gains momentum
austraLasia 1347
East Asia focus for Vatican Christmas Concert; elsewhere
'Christ for Christmas' gains momentum
VATICAN CITY: 6th December 2005 -- The annual Vatican
Christmas Concert, a fixture since 1993 around this time of the year,
was held in the Paul VI auditorium last Saturday. It will be
broadcast, at least in Italy, on Christmas Eve. This year the
concert was held with the missions of East Asia and the 5th Centenary
anniversary of St. Francis Xavier's birth in mind. Francis Xavier
is the patron of the missions. He died on December 3rd 1552, just
100 kms or so off the coast of China. The concert, as the Vatican's own
communique on the event described it, 'is an encounter between a
diversity of countries, cultures, religions, life experiences, ideals,
musical genres and styles' which highlight the universality of the
Church. Artists, and it is a real stellar line-up of big names,
are not paid for their performances, but regard it as a great honour to
be chosen. This year's performers included South African singer and
human rights activist Miriam Makeba, Irish rock singer Dolores
O'Riordan and Canada's Paul Anka. A Brazilian artist, Daniella
Mercury, was dropped from the list of performers because she hinted she
would use the occasion to promote condoms! The concert itself is attended by the
who's who of Church and State from all over the world (though the Pope
does not attend). The concert is a 'benefit' concert and this
time will strongly support Jesuit missions in East Asia.
In South Asia, a Bengali language TV channel is
featuring a 15 day lead up to Christmas in its morning meditation show
'Upashona', with presenter Fr Robin Gomes sdb, the coordinator of the
Social Communication Commission for Kolkata Archdiocese. Segments
of the presentation, all focused on the person of Jesus, highlight
ideas such as Jesus the Real Guru, the Good Teacher, the Healer.
Fr Gomes is an experienced presenter, having worked with Radio Veritas,
Asia since 1990.
Meanwhile in Australia, Archbishop Philip Wilson of
Adelaide, as part of his personal mission to restore Jesus as the
central figure in Christmas celebrations, this week blessed replicas of
the infant Jesus in the cathedral, for children to place in cribs at
Christmas time. This is the third year running that the
Archbishop has run this campaign, inviting children to bring their
cribs to the cathedral to be blessed, as a reminder of the central
meaning of Christmas.
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