by Dennis Augustine
My late father, Frank Augustine, nurtured his Nativity Shrine with a devotion rooted in his childhood hardships, including becoming an orphan at a young age. He also served as a lay brother at a Maryknoll seminary and as an Army chaplain’s aide.
Throughout the year, he displayed a beautiful manger scene in our storefront window, alternating it with an Easter display. Neighbors would pause, pray, and reflect on the sacred scene. Pastor Alex Santora of the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken, New Jersey, where I attended elementary school and mass, even wrote about it in his “Faith Matters” column in the Jersey Journal. Dad, who passed away just shy of reaching 101, lovingly cared for these displays.
Therefore, seeing St. Susanna, a Catholic church in the Boston suburb of Dedham, display a Nativity scene outside the church with an empty manger and a sign that read, “Ice was here,” was disconcerting. It not only upset the community but also angered C.J. Doyle, the executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. He reportedly argued that Father Stephen Josoma, the pastor at St. Susanna, was politicizing Christmas and exploiting and trivializing the Holy Family to score political points.
While it’s true that the Holy Family faced hardships, their story is sacred, not a modern-day slogan. Scripture emphasizes the importance of balance: respecting lawful authority (Romans 13) but never bending God’s truth to human agendas (Acts 5:29). The Nativity deserves reverence, not politics. The manger is meant to illuminate hearts, not strike political blows. For my father, these displays were never mere props; they were prayers. And they deserve to remain sacred.”
