American Views Abroad

It seems a more solemn Christmas this year. The messages arriving by email or by hand are not so joyous in a mindless way. Friends and family are tense wondering what the New Year will bring. It is almost as if a veil has been lifted and suddenly there's lots more thought about social injustice, poverty, war and peace. There is an invisible line drawing nearer everyone between being on a safe side and falling off.

It's grey in Hamburg today. Our neighborhood Catholic Church was broken into last Sunday and destroyed by fire so no Mass, Vespers or other services can be celebrated there this Christmas. It was the third attack on a church here since November and the worst. They piled Bibles and hymn books onto the altar and set fire to it. The kindergarten was also completely destroyed. They left no message as to why. What to do at the last minute? How to organize services on the few days when people of faith or not are drawn to ceremony and rituals Catholics prize? The mall, of all places, has come to the rescue. A commercial temple of material Christmas madness has kindly opened its doors to allow Christmas Eve services to continue. It was an interesting way of reaching out to others, to those who normally have little contact to each other. A high school also offered its hall, but public transportation is more reliable to the mall. And so a unique Midnight Mass at the Mall.

An unusual Christmas to say the least.