Evening star., 1945-12-25
Washingtoniians
Fill Churches
For YuIe Rites
Give Warm Welcome
To First Peucetime
Christmas in 5 Years

SllItStItIOS Ill - SuIS
Washington residents filled Cath
olc and Protestant churches early
today to give warm welcome to
the first peacetime Christmas in
five years The welcome began at
midnight with worshippers filling
those churches holding services
then. Musical and choir programs
preceded most of the services.
Worshipers at the nondenomina-
tional services this morning spon-
sored by the Washington Fedora
ton of Churches, in the New York
Avenue Presbyterian Church, heard
DR.. John w. Rustin. pastor of Mount
Vernon Place Methodist Church,
assert that men who look at mir
rors throughout life see only them
selves, but men who look through
windows see not only people but
eventually God"
All the great writers have known
that in serving other people we find
the King, DR. Rustin added. Christ
had way of looking at life and at
individuals. He saw what happens
to man who only looks at mirrors
and warned us against it." The
preacher pointed out that people
who look at mirrors are constantly
asking how much can I get?" and
not how much do I deserve?"
Bishop Dun Speaks.
At the IL am. holy communion
service at the Washington Cathe-
dral, the Right Rev. Angus Dun,
Bishop of Washington, declared the
heart of Christmas centerS around
the coming of Christ. "All our joys
stem from that center" he asserted.
The mems choir sang at the service.
There will be a prayer service
without music at o'clock this aft
ernoon at the Cathedral, it was an
nounced
Catholic churches in the District
celebrated midnight mass, while
Protestant churches observed holi-
day midnight service. A capacity
crowd filled Washington Cathedral
for the holy communion service at
midnight, celebrated by DR.. John w.
Suter, dean of the Cathedral. At
Luther Place Memorial Church, the
annual Christmas eve candlelight
service was attended by an overflow
crowd, including many service men
and women.
First Public Mass.
At st. Patrick's Church, the Most
Rev. Lawrence J. Shehan pontifi-
Gated the solemn high mass. his first
public mass since his conservation
as auxiliary bishop of Baltimore
The same Office was performed by
the Most Rev. John M. Mcnamara,
auxiliary to Archbishop Curley, at
the midnight mass at st. Matthew's
Cathedral, while the Rev. Joseph
Gedra, appointed rector at Immac-
ulate Conception Church last Friday,
celebrated the mass there. The
church's former pastor, the Right
Rev. John K. Cartwright, who will
become rector of St. Matthews Ca
thedral next month, preached the
sermon.
The Rev. John j. Reilly, director
of the National Shrine of the I'M
maculate Conception at Catholic
University, declared at the mid
night mass there last night that
'the world remembers Christmas
because at Christmas time God
seems more near to men"
Rabbi Issues Greetings.
Greetings to the Christian COM
munity of Washington were ex-
tended today by Rabbi Norman
Gerstenfeld, minister of the Wash
ington Hebrew congregation. Rabbi
Gerstenfeld said: "As you gather
this Christmas Day to turn your
souls in prayer before the altar of
Almighty God our hearts are joined
with yours in the quest for peace on
earth for men of good will and our
lives are reconsecrated with the
fellow citizens of this blessed land
in the will for the good that makes
possible a world of good will.
I'VE pray for Gods blessing to
the Christian churches of our COM
munity and to all of the Christian
faith everywhere who have faced
the oppressor without appeasement,
who have befriended the innocent
from mankind's malevolence, who
have truly shared the worlds sorrow
and who have been the living wit
ness of our common faith, To do
justly, to love mercy and to walk
humbly with thy God"
Heart Expands.
Father Reilly declared the "hu-
man heart is more expansive and
we find ourselves doing what we
never do at any other time" He
said some may explain this in
another way, but the expansion of
the human heart at Christmastime
seems so universal one can readily
believe it because mems God really
intervenes-the incarnation was an
intervention in the ways of men" :"
The speaker concluded by stating
1--WE can make ends meet if we never
lost that sense of nearness to the
Babe of Bethlehem and if we never
think that He was just another boy"
The Rev. Father Stephen Pearson,
o. F. NJ, of the Holy Spirit Province
of Australia, spoke at a midnight
mass at the Franciscan Monastery,
Fourteenth and Quincy streets NE.
Celebrant at the mass was Father
Edmund j. Murphy, o. F. M, COM
missary of the Holy Land, and dea-
son was Frater Thomas Manning,
o. F. M, of Baltimore. Father
Murphy is a native of Washington.