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Show T Times Newspaper Wednesday, December 23, 1998 Page 3 histmm Message: "Homeless family found in she by George Niederauer Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City The birth of Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago continues to be news. For the Christian believer it is the Good News of salvation. This birthday is "in the news" each December, because of the music, decorations, the gift giving, the celebrations, the commercialism, com-mercialism, and even the church services surrounding Christmas Day. ' What headline best captures the birth of Christ for us Catho lics? "Savior born for all nations" certainly expresses our faith in the meaning of Jesus. "Messiah born in Bethlehem" connects this birth with the Old Testament tradition tra-dition which prepared its way. No brief caption says it all, but let me suggest a headline that tells an important truth about the birth of Jesus Christ, a truth that easily gets lost in a month of buying buy-ing and spending. The headline? "Homeless family found in shed". Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, guided us well when he chose as his general prayer intention in-tention for this month of Decem ber, 1998 the following: "That the Spirit of Christ, who was poor and humble, may bring about in the Church more effective solidarity soli-darity with the distressed and underprivileged." The birth of Jesus in poverty was not an accident, but a part of God's plan. While she was pregnant, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and prayed the Magnificat, in which she praised God who "has lifted up the lowly" and "filled the hungry with good things." Later on, many of the teachings of Jesus sprang from Continued from front the Holdaways have already turned out about 300 this year. At the time of the interview with the Times, they had about 1,200 birds to market. The season in the commercial hunting areas is from September to March; both hens and roosters are harvested- There is no hunting hunt-ing during nesting times. Hunters make appointments on a first-come, first-served basis. ba-sis. Some facilities sell memberships, member-ships, but the Holdaways are not. "We want to bring in a lot of hunters, hunt-ers, and not limit it," Keith said. One local business, Clegg's Car Care, was scheduled to hold a hunt for its company Christmas party. The charge is $15 per bird planted. About a half an hour before hunters are scheduled, to arrive, the Holdaways go to the fly pen where the birds are kept, and catch individually the number of pheasants ordered. The birds are placed in gunny sacks and spun around a bit. This causes them to be somewhat disoriented and tuck their wings as though they are sleeping. The pheasants are then taken to the field where they are "planted". They stay put until un-til they are "spooked" by a hunter or a dog then they pull their heads out from under their wings, take off, and the hunt is , on. Some birds are taken; others ' survive and hatch out a nest in the spring. So far, hunter success has been high, according to the Holdaways, with the hunters finding most of the birds that are , planted. 1 "We'll guarantee the bird being be-ing there," Michael said with a smile, "but not the knock-down." j Michael and Keith explained that pheasants have a natural 1 tendency to hold still, then to I move suddenly. Even when it is expected, the loud cackle and the violent beating of the wings of a pheasant on the move can be quite startling, they said. The Holdaways' fly pen, where they keep their stock of Chinese ringnecks, Mongolian ringneck cross, buffs, and giant whites, is large 100 by 300 feet enclosed en-closed with chicken wire and covered cov-ered with netting. The 16-foot high poles supporting the overhead over-head netting give the pheasants plenty of room to take off and fly normally, so that when they are hunted after planting, they behave be-have like a bird in the wild. The hunting business has been "a fun new venture" for all of the Holdaway family -- Keith and his wife, Joni; Michael and four other sons (one on a church mission); and four daughters. "It's been hard, at times," Keith said, "to keep energized to do the rest of the farm work. We've had so much fun with the chicks -- watching them grow, watching their first flights. Sometimes Some-times we haven't had the hay cut when we needed to." Keith said he and his family have made mistakes together as they have learned the ropes in the new business. For example, one day they were bringing the chicks from the brooding facility and the birds began to get their heads caught in a space between the chain link fencing and the chicken wire, so one by one, they had to be caught and taken back. Everyone helped round up the ' hundreds of birds. "We were up until past dark," Keith said, "and when we were done, we just looked at each other and laughed. We were ex- V- & Wft-" - r , 1 V1!,: t V I'vV """" 4- 8 - hausted." Keith said he wondered for a long time if he made the right decision in choosing the farming life, but as his children have begun be-gun to grow up and leave home, he hears from them and they express ex-press appreciation for their lives and for being able to experience circumstances that other people do not. "It's a good family life," he said. Keith hopes to farm for another an-other ten or 15 years, then, he said, he may sell his land in Vineyard Vine-yard and buy ground where he can raise pheasants full-time. For more information on Holdaway's Hunting, call 225-6861. May the spirit of joy and peace abide with you and yours. his love for the poor and his own experience of poverty. He pointed out the generosity of the poor widow; he told parables about people headed toward debtors' prison; he bothered with penniless penni-less beggars, when few others did. When Jesus described the final divine judgment of all women and men, it was in terms of whether or not they had fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, sheltered shel-tered the homeless, welcomed the stranger, and visited prisoners prison-ers and the sick. Jesus was not a social activist, but a savior from sin, a giver of grace and eternal life, as well as the supreme expression of God's love for us. But as Lord he did teach that we cannot receive or return God's love unless we share it daily and concretely with one another, especially those most in ' need of our loving. True, Jesus was most compassionate compas-sionate toward a kind of homelessness that is different from having no roof over our heads. The Son of God emptied himself and took on human homelessness so that all of us could come home from the exile of sin to the welcoming arms of the Prodigal Father. But Jesus, who was born in a stable, is concerned con-cerned with all human suffering, physical as well as spiritual. We cannot honor his birth is we cosmeticize the stable and observe ob-serve his birthday with a mere spending spree. The carols, the lights, and the beautifully carved figures in the creche honor Christ only if they lead us to imitate his generous love for the most needy among us. Jesus became poor to make us rich in God's life, now and forever. We complete the circle of that love when we share what we have with our neighbors in need. May God bless all of you and your families in this Christmas season, and give you joy and closeness to him in the new year. May your celebrations and your quiet times be filled with a sense of the presence of the Infant of Bethlehem. Because of our gratitude grati-tude and our generosity, may the Good News continue to be "Homeless family found in shed." i 1395 Mo. State & . 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