Denver, Colo., Dec 8, 2005 / 22:00 pm
As the Catholic Church approaches the second half of Advent, and with it, the coming of Christmas, Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput is asking whether or not American culture really has room for Christ…or simply a secular construct of His birthday.
He begins his column, printed in Wednesday’s Denver Catholic Register, by citing a 1955 essay by author and Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, who’s Chronicles of Narnia are slated to hit movie theaters this week.
Lewis wrote of the particular holiday customs of the fictional nation, Niatirb (his home country of Britain spelled backward), which simultaneously celebrates both the winter festivals of “Exmas” and “Crissmas.”
During Exmas, Lewis writes, the people “lie in bed till noon”, exhausted from their preparations, “But in the evening…eat five times as much as on other days,” crown “themselves with crowns of paper” and “become intoxicated.”