December | 2025 VOL 35 NO 4
IN THIS ISSUE
LATIN MASS A3 THE Bishop Beckman
announces new location, times for Latin Masses
LADY OF FATIMA CORRESPONDENTS A4 SYNOD B1 OUR Holy Mother is Diocese of Knoxville team meets with Pope Leo XIV for Synod Jubilee conference
A Word from the Bishop
inspiration for growing diocesan parish
Catholic commentary ....................... A4 Parish news ....................................... B6 Diocesan calendar ............................ B7 Columns ..........................................B8-9 Catholic schools ............................. B12 La Cosecha ............................Section C
by Bishop Mark Beckman
The mystery of Christmas Holy Family's exile points to people today fleeing from violence, poverty who also find that there is ‘no room in the inn'
OSV NEWS PHOTO/BRIDGEMAN
O
f all the feasts celebrated by Christians, it seems Christmas has most captured the imagination of Western civilization. In recent centuries our world has become saturated with beautiful traditions surrounding “Santa Claus” or “jolly old St. Nick,” with Christmas trees and gift-giving, with Christmas lights and the sending of Christmas cards, and many others. In the last century, an amazing variety of songs and carols, both secular and religious, have become part of our annual holiday tradition. Almost all of us can sing or hum along with these “classics” like “Jingle Bells,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “White Christmas,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and so many more. For us Catholic Christians, the deeper roots of Christmas take us back to the very beginnings rooted in the mystery of the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Memories of childhoods attending Mass on the eve of Christmas, at midnight, or on Christmas Day remind us of the
“reason for the season.” I suspect most of us could do a fairly good job of summarizing the beautiful narrative of the birth of Jesus found in Luke’s Gospel, of the search to no avail for a “room in the inn,” and of Mary finally giving birth in a stable surrounded
by animals. Our memories carry vivid depictions of the Lord in a feeding trough wrapped in swaddling clothes and of the shepherds hearing the angelic message and coming to adore the Christ Child. Our Christmas cards, the tapestry of older religious hymns and of the art of Christian tradition, and especially the Nativity scenes or creches capture the imagination of that most holy night. With the dawn of the pandemic, my former parish of St. Henry in Nashville instituted a most beautiful tradition of creating a living scene of first-century Bethlehem. In that first year, it was a spectacular drive-by scene that led to a traffic jam on all the surrounding roads. In later years, all of Bethlehem was re-created in a walk-through version that led to the stable scene. The Knights of Columbus were particularly fond of playing Roman soldiers and did so admirably well. I suggested teasingly to Deacon Mike (the Bishop continued on page A9
How the Grinch stole Hattie’s hearts
St. Joseph 3rd-graders rally around classmate's fundraiser for Children's Hospital
T
here aren’t any hearts two sizes too small in the third grade at St. Joseph School: only hearts three sizes larger. How can you tell? Just look at the Grinchthemed Christmas tree the students in Jenifer Ingram’s class created to raise money for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville and its cancer-treatment program. Third-grader Hattie Halter is the inspiration behind the classroom project that has brought Christmas joy not only to the St. Joseph community but also to people throughout East Tennessee who saw Hattie, her classmates, and their heart-filled Christmas tree featured in a news segment on local station WBIR-TV. Hattie, who many would say has all the qualities of Cindy-Lou Who (bright, friendly, energetic, hopeful, and a strong believer in the true spirit of Christmas), has an especially close connection to Children’s Hospital. She is a patient ambassador there, telling the public about all the good things happening at the pediatric medical center while regularly visiting patients, a youthful lay ministry she knows something about.
A divinely inspired kinship
Hattie, who is 8, was a Children’s Hospital patient herself. And as a cancer survivor, she knows all too well about the health center that has saved her life. “I remember that I had cancer and I was in Children’s Hospital. I had leukemia. Other kids had cancer, and I prayed for the other kids who had cancer, too,” Hattie said while sitting in Mrs. Ingram’s classroom after the class Christmas tree was displayed at the popular Fantasy of Trees, an annual holiday festival held at the Knoxville Convention Center that raises money for Children’s Hospital. As a patient ambassador, Hattie sees her “friends” quite often when she is at the hospital. Even though Hattie’s cancer is in remission, she is at Children’s frequently for blood tests to monitor the remission, which is in its seventh year. Hattie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leu-
RIGHT: KATHY RANKIN/ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL/BELOW: COURTESY OF MELISSA HALTER
By Bill Brewer
kemia when she was 9 months old. She was treated with chemotherapy at Children’s Hospital and received a bonemarrow transplant at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, where she also received radiation treatments and chemotherapy. Although the Halter family lives in Knoxville, Hattie was in Nashville for three months receiving life-giving care. Now, she goes to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital for checkups every six months. “I need to get blood work because Mr. Jack, he had to give me some of his blood, so I have to get blood work every few weeks,” Hattie said, referring to her bone-marrow donor. She continues to receive regular medical care at Children’s for complications from the cancer treatment. Hattie continued on page A18
Third-graders revisit Whoville Above: Mrs. Jenifer Ingram's thirdgrade class at St. Joseph School. Left: Hattie Halter, alias Cindy-Lou Who, stands next to the Grinchthemed Christmas tree she and her classmates created for the Fantasy of Trees to benefit East Tennessee Children's Hospital and its pediatric cancer-treatment program.