Should Catholics Tolerate Santa?

[Axion]

Secular society has found the ideal non-Christian symbol for a Christian festival - Santa Claus. He may be descended from a Christian Saint, but in his modern western form, all trace of that has been lost. The fat-bellied, red-suited, bearded Santa is more a symbol of pagan consumerism than anything to do with Christianity.

So should we collude with this? Should we go along with the majority and put up pictures of Santa, tell children about him? Pretend that Santa brings their Christmas gifts?

I can see several problems with following the crowd:

1) Santa provides an alternative focus to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for children.

2) Santa is a fictional (pagan) character who displaces the historic Christian Saint, St Nicholas. Wouldn't it be better to teach children the reality? There is no Santa. There IS St Nicholas?

3) When children learn they have been lied to by their parents, and that Santa does not exist, do they not then distrust more, and eventually wonder whether the stories about God and Jesus are all lies too?

 

[Dream]

I actually did a post about this a couple weeks ago. My thoughts, there's no need for Santa, mainly because of the reasons you stated. Most importantly, it takes divertes attention from Jesus Christ.

Just my feelings though.

 

[Benedicta00]

I don't see anything wrong with Santa. Santa means holy anyway so I don’t get the pagan connection. His suit is a altered version of a bishop’s vestment anyway.

I see the direct connection between him and the real St. Nick and Santa is pagan only if you make him out to be pagan.

Actually I always thought it funny that Protestants will do the Satan Clause thing, he’s really a Catholic saint and it only speaks to the history of Catholicism.


I say let kids be kids and have their fun, Santa can be what he is supposed to be if you teach your kids that.

 

[bigsierra]

I think parents really have the option. I think parents have to be carefull how they present Santa and how real he is. If ask directly about him, I don't think parents should lie. I'm not sure that they are required to answer either.

 

[Dream]

I think parents really have the option. I think parents have to be carefull how they present Santa and how real he is. If ask directly about him, I don't think parents should lie. I'm not sure that they are required to answer either.

That's what my parents did. They didn't teach me anything about Santa, they just let me pick up everything from friends/teachers/ect. Then when I was in Kindergarden, my father was showing me a globe. When I realized how big the world is (I saw how small of a distance it was to my grandma's house even though it was 3 hours away), I asked my father if Santa was real. He just gave an honest "no." He said since I figured it out, there was no reason to lie to me.

 

[Estefana]

Let kids be kids. They have plently of years ahead of them to worry about reality so let them enjoy a few precious years of innocence and fantasy while they can. Having said that, if/when Liaza or Rosa asked me directly about Santa beinbg real, I would tell them the truth.

 

[Ann M]

Santa is a fantasy and Santa is real.

Whilst the jolly red-suited man who crosses the world in one night delivering presents to all is really a fantasy made-up, in reality Santa does exist. Every year thousands of people take on the persona of Santa and through their love & generosity they donate their time, money & skills to those in need. Whether it be a present under the Angel tree, serving a meal at the Soup Kitchen, or donating money to an appeal, the spirit of Saint Nicholas lives on in hundreds of lives. So when they answered "Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus" they weren't lying!!

 

[Estefana]

P.S - I am 18, Mexican Catholic and Believe in Santa

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

I've been debating this as my kids are old enough now to know about Christmas. I don't want to lie to them about a fictional character, so that they will believe me about non-fictional characters.

I'm not sure what I am going to do...but I do echo the original post's comments about consumerism and replacing Jesus in the Holiday being a very bad thing.

 

[Benedicta00]

Santa does not have to replace Jesus.

Does anyone here know the origin and history of Santa? He has Catholic roots.

 

[Benedicta00]

P.S - I am 18, Mexican Catholic and Believe in Santa

I'm 37 and an America Catholic who lives in the south where it never snows for X Mass and I believe in him too.

 

[Maximus]

I voted yes, but it is a qualified yes. I don't see any harm in the childish belief in Santa Claus as long as we teach our children who the real St. Nicholas is.

In fact, I think it is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to our children that we love the truth and that God through the Church - not the secular world - is the source of it.

 

[LadyDJ]

My two started having "doubts" about Santa's identity last year, but waited to speak up about it till a couple of weeks ago. They were pretty sure it was my father doing the Santa bit...only thing they weren't sure of is since they know Grandpa loves cookies they just could see him leaving a partially eaten one. They asked where the Santa story came from and we (my mother and I) did some research on the net and put together a binder with all the information. My girls have really loved reading about St. Nicholas as well as Santa/Father Christmas and so on from other countries. They have decided that they prefer knowing that St. Nicholas was a real person, but said they had fun with the Santa Claus stuff as well. So I guess we handled the transition fairly well.

 

[ps139]

I believed in Santa when I was little and I think I'm doing alright now, or at least trying.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Axion, very interesting topic:

Secular society has found the ideal non-Christian symbol for a Christian festival - Santa Claus. He may be descended from a Christian Saint, but in his modern western form, all trace of that has been lost. The fat-bellied, red-suited, bearded Santa is more a symbol of pagan consumerism than anything to do with Christianity.

So should we collude with this? Should we go along with the majority and put up pictures of Santa, tell children about him? Pretend that Santa brings their Christmas gifts?

If children are taught and modeled the Catholic faith in their home, then I see nothing wrong with letting them have the fantasy about a guy in a big red suit.

I can see several problems with following the crowd:

1) Santa provides an alternative focus to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for children.

Not if the parents are actually doing their jobs as Christian parents.

2) Santa is a fictional (pagan) character who displaces the historic Christian Saint, St Nicholas. Wouldn't it be better to teach children the reality? There is no Santa. There IS St Nicholas?

3) When children learn they have been lied to by their parents, and that Santa does not exist, do they not then distrust more, and eventually wonder whether the stories about God and Jesus are all lies too?

What's wrong with teaching them about St. Nicholas and letting them believe in a fantasy that will leave them good memories of childhood?

I don't hold any major grudes against my parents because they told me there was a Santa. Now, (hypothecial) when a dad, for instance, drinks himself into oblivion, blows all the cash and the bar and the casino, and mom stays home like a door mat and allows it and it follows that tons of broken promises are the reality of the childrens lives, THAT is a lie. THAT is deceit and that brings resentment. Not simply letting the children believe in Santa Claus.

My point is that there are many other things that we can do to cause harm to our children, but if we're living up to the calling of Christian parents, we shouldn't have to worry.

 

[Miss Shelby]

As an afterthought... my brother's thoughts on advent: 'Kid's... Jesus is coming and it ain't the guy in the big red suit.' LOL!

Just make sure kids know the difference, that's all.

Michelle

 

[faerieevaH]

Saint Nicolas comes on december 6th here in Belgium and has for years been part of the tradition for all, like Santa was in the US. There was thus no conflict. However, under influence of American movies, music and television, the idea of Santa has been imported and now with Christmas we see Santa everywhere (just 20 years ago when I was a child, this simply wasn't so. We didn't really know about Santa except that he was a part of American culture and some said that it was the Americans version of Saint NIcholas. That last made sense to me, since then the guy wouldn't have to do the entire world in one night. *G*)

Santa is thus a bit more problematic here, I think, because we don't have the reference to Saint Nicholas in him anymore. The 'real' Saint Nicholas has already passed on december 6th. So how can we tell them that Santa is also Saint Nicholas? Or inspired by Saint Nicholas...

 

[Dream]

I think the title of this thread is misleading. IMO, we should be able to tolerate Santa, but we shouldn't encourage a belief in him.

 

[Miss Shelby]

I find it interesting that some think that children would resent parents for lying to them about Santa Claus, I think the opposite might actually be true. They're bound to come into contact with other kids who believe in Santa, so will the parents instruct their kids not to tell these other kids that Santa is a farce? And wouldn't that be a lie?

I think it could well work the other way, some kids might feel cheated out of a harmless children's fantasy (later, when they've grown up)-- when other kids enjoyed it.

Michelle

 

[ZooMom]

I agree with Michelle. Both of them. My family loves Christmas. I got presents from Santa until I was 18 and got married and moved out. I love surprises, and the idea of Santa has always just made me happy. Of course, I love the idea of fairies and elves, too. It's just a fairy tale, after all, isn't it.

For instance, if you were reading Cinderella to your kids, you wouldn't close the book and then proceed to tell them in a logical fashion how unrealistic the story was and that fairy Godmothers and pumpkin coaches don't exist. Not to mention how extremely uncomfortable glass shoes would be. I mean, you'd need gel inserts at the very least. Or maybe we shouldn't promote any kind of unrealistic beliefs in our children. No fairy tales. No fiction. No imagination.

How very sad that would be.