Saint Lawrence Mission celebrates Christmas pageant

Intermountain Catholic

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Saint Lawrence religious education classes present the story of the Nativity and Las Posadas, a bilingual Christmas pageant for the community.

HEBER CITY – The religious education children presented a bi-lingual Christmas pageant for the Saint Lawrence Mission community Dec. 19. The pageant has been an annual tradition of the mission since the 1980s.

"For the past two years we have incorporated las posadas into the pageant," said Michelle Moore, religious education director. "This year it was narrated in English and Spanish because we have a large number of Hispanics in our mission. The pageant is the traditional story of the Nativity and Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel and going to Bethlehem with Joseph. The posadas, or Spanish version of the story, is sung by the Hispanic children. Mary and Joseph try to find a place to stay in Bethlehem. In both versions, the star leads the wise men to the manger in Bethlehem where the baby Jesus is born."

The Christmas pageant is put on each year by the religious education students in kindergarten through eighth grade. "We have costumes and a little scenery, but the altar serves as most of the scenery," said Moore. "We have 150 students in our religious education program, and those who come to class that day can participate in the pageant."

Fourth-graders Pedro Vermudez and Shaelyn Buchanan and sixth-grader Jack Hibl played the wise men. They said being in the pageant was "awesome, cool and fun."

"We are proud of all of our children who participated in the pageant today," said Moore.

It was nice to hear the pageant in English and Spanish, said Father Stan Herba, pastor of St. Lawrence Mission and of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City. "It shows how we are one family and that we don’t have any problems with being bilingual."

"The pageant has been going on since before 1985," said Phil Congino, a member of the St. Lawrence choir. "My wife, Cori, the choir director, and I have been members since then and it was going on before that. Holy Cross Sister Angela Hinckley, now retired, was our first administrator and she started a lot of our programs."

"The kids really enjoy being in the pageant. It has a lot of kid energy," said parishioner Connie Jauregui. "Because our Hispanic population is so large, it’s nice to have the posadas, too."

The population of St. Lawrence Mission is about 60 percent Hispanic. They have a Spanish Mass on Saturday evening and usually a bilingual Mass on Sunday morning. "I usually see more English-speaking people at the Mass on Sunday, but when I see Hispanic people, I celebrate a bilingual Mass," said Fr. Herba.

Moore said the religious education program is about 85 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Anglo. "We have four classes that are taught in Spanish to students who speak only Spanish," said Moore. "We have two sacrament classes and a pre-confirmation class taught in Spanish. The second-year confirmation class is taught at St. Mary Parish. This year there are 47 children who will receive their First Holy Communion, and of that, only four are Anglo."