Tricia and Jordan Hess and their son Brandon play Mary,
Joseph and Jesus in ‘Come to Bethlehem.’
Photo provided
By Tim Pallesen
Delray Beach offers the best opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit early this month.
• Begin your adventure standing in awe of the city’s newly lit 100-foot Christmas tree outside the Center for the Arts at Old School Square.
• “Come to Bethlehem” — a living, interactive re-creation of Christ’s birthplace as it appeared 2,000 years ago — will be presented 7-9 p.m. on Dec. 5-7 at Cason United Methodist Church, 342 N. Swinton Ave.
• Christmas music comes as the Delray Beach Chorale performs its “Wonder of the Season” holiday concert at 3 p.m. Dec. 6 at First Presbyterian Church.
Actors at the Methodist church have undergone authenticity training before they speak with visitors to Bethlehem. Roles include the women at the well, shepherds, wise men, feather-winged angels and merchants in a historically accurate Bethlehem marketplace.
The set for Bethlehem took eight weeks to build behind the church. More than 100 volunteers including 70 actors take part in the annual free community event that draws 2,000 visitors each year.
“We want people to experience walking into Christmas,” co-chair David Schmidt said. Lynn Routhier, the other co-chair, added: “People come out happy and peaceful.”
The annual community choral concert at First Presbyterian, 33 Gleason St., will get you in the perfect mood.
The Delray Beach Chorale has 65 voices accompanied by a brass ensemble, cello and organ.
This year’s holiday concert is the first for new conductor and artistic director Patricia Fleitas, who is director of choral and vocal studies at Florida Atlantic University.
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Sister Lorraine Ryan, the Catholic nun who has become a Mother Teresa for Boynton Beach’s poor, will be honored as grand marshal in the city’s Christmas parade on Saturday.
The city’s Recreation and Parks Advisory Board chose her from among 11 nominations.
“There is simply no one person who has touched more citizens in our community through the sacrifice of energy, dedication and commitment to the well-being of our city and those who live here than Sister Lorraine Ryan,” Gulfstream Goodwill vice president Brian Edwards said in nominating her for the honor.
Sister Lorraine was a medical missionary in India for 15 years before she moved to Boynton in 1999 to care for her ailing parents.
After noticing that poor women here needed help, she and Sister Joan Carusillo started the non-profit Women’s Circle to give hundreds of women the skills to get life-supporting jobs.
Monsignor David Toups, rector of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Seminary
in suburban Boynton Beach, said he is thrilled by the surge in enrollment.
Tim Stepien/ Coastal Star
The surge in seminarians that required an $11.5 million dormitory expansion at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary is receiving praise to the Lord.
The 92 young men now studying to become priests is the largest enrollment at the Catholic seminary since it opened west of Boynton Beach in 1963.
“I think that would shock people. With the scandals, they might think we should be at an all-time low,” said Monsignor David Toups, the seminary rector.
“But this is a sign of God’s presence,” Toups said before a Dec. 7 dedication of new dormitories which will allow for 110 seminarians.
All of Florida’s bishops will celebrate with 300 donors and friends, with the happy seminarians joining in.
“God has answered our prayers. He is breaking through the darkness that has surrounded the church. It’s truly a miracle,” said Daniel Daza-Jaller, a seminarian from Wellington.
“I’m sure the scandals pushed guys away,” he said. “But now the excitement is definitely here.”
All old dormitory rooms were cubbyholes before the expansion and renovation project that more than doubles the living space by giving each seminarian his own bathroom, shower and porch.
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The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce has named Christians Reaching Out to Society Ministries as the city’s Nonprofit Organization of the Year.
That’s no small honor considering that the selection committee included five past chamber chairmen and five past Business Person of the Year honorees.
“The numbers of people whom they have fed and helped in our area is staggering,” chamber president Karen Granger said.
The Caring Kitchen operated by CROS volunteers in Delray Beach served 91,383 hot meals in 2013. The poor also receive clothing and other services.
The award was announced at the Chamber’s Luminary Gala attended by 400 community leaders on Oct. 24.
Tim Pallesen writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Email him at tcpallesen@aol.com.
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