On Christmas Day (December 25th - as opposed to when they celebrate it in Ukraine on January 7th), I got a phone call from a cousin in Ukraine wishing me and my loved ones over here a very Merry Christmas. She knew that in the west, many of us have adapted to the new calendar. I found it interesting that although I dont think of her as being particularly religious she had just watched the entire Christmas service live from the Vatican. Do they even televise it here in the west except perhaps on some unknown specialty channel? Have we become so politically correct that a Christmas Mass live from the Vatican would offend our collective sensibilities? Strange, in a country (Ukraine) where Christianity and other belief systems were suppressed by decades of communism, official atheism, and political oppression; where I saw countless churches turned into museums or much worse; they have a huge amount of respect for the religious observances that were once deemed taboo in their country and here those observances seem to have disappeared in a way that reminds me of T.S. Eliots words: Not with a bang but a whimper. Christmas Mass live from the Vatican, Christmas Day (Dec. 25th) Ukrainian television:
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:35:57 +0000