Las Vegas Sun

November 15, 2009

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Letter: Christ left out of Christmas concert by Mathis at Hilton

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1997 | 9:25 a.m.

I was not happy with this omission. I was looking forward to an uplifting musical evening with inspiring Christmas classics, and there wasn't one with Jesus Christ. I'm sure that Johnny Mathis knows "The First Noel," "Silent Night," "Joy to the World," "O Holy Night" or others that present the true theme of Christmas.

I believe that calling this a Christmas concert was misleading, and it should have been billed as a winter singsong with Mathis. The Hilton cleverly left Christ out of Christmas with the Mathis show, and I think that this was very unfair to those who left homes and hotel rooms for this program.

Whether a person is a Jew or Christian, an atheist or an agnostic, Christmas remains the celebration of the nativity of Jesus Christ. There is no getting around that. Some make it a secular winter holiday, but they shouldn't call it Christmas. Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, and we should keep Christ in Christmas. The Hilton Hotel and Johnny Mathis didn't.

Father John B. McShane, pastor, Holy Family Church

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