Thread: He's putting "Christmas" back into Holiday Events

He's putting "Christmas" back into Holiday Events


BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com
11:19 PM EST, November 19, 2007

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-li ... 6149.story


Move over, Santa Claus: The Village of Patchogue has its own Christmas cop in the person of M. Philip Butler.

Tired of hearing "Christmas" replaced by the politically correct "holidays" since moving to the village two years ago, Butler first nudged the local Chamber of Commerce to rename its end-of-year boat parade.

"This is the first year it's called the Christmas Boat Parade," said Gail Hoag, executive director of the chamber. Asked why, Hoag added, "I guess just to go along with Phil Butler," although she added that the chamber and the Greater Patchogue Foundation, the major civic group in the community, still "want all of our holidays to be all-inclusive."


Next, Butler got the Patch- ogue Garden Club's holiday house tour renamed. The Christmas House Tour was born.

Then came the fireworks.

Turned down by the village this year when he proposed a traditional tree lighting with a Nativity scene for a public plaza, Butler quickly shot back.

He found an empty, privately owned lot across the street, where he is staging 38 days of celebration, beginning Saturday and continuing into early January, that includes prayer, caroling and a fireworks-laden Christmas tree lighting.

"We are bringing Christmas back to Long Island," said Butler, 67, a longtime director of the Grucci fireworks company who formed the Christmas 'n' Patchogue Committee to fight what he described as the secularization of Christmas.

It's a question officials have struggled with for years -- how the religous underpinning of Christmas should, or should not, be woven into public events. In December 2005, North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman told a crowd, "This is in no way a religious ceremony," after a Roman Catholic priest invoked the name of Jesus Christ during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Manhasset.

In this case, Butler found an ally in the local Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization that agreed to co-sponsor the tree lighting. Together, they custom-ordered 800 old-fashioned bulbs and a 12-piece, near-life-size Nativity scene, all hand-carved wood, at a cost of nearly $8,000. They custom-built a manger and enlisted congregants of several churches to sing religious carols.

Village Mayor Paul V. Pontieri Jr. said he did not approve Butler's request for the space on the plaza because there already are plans for a lighted tree there, as well as a menorah for Hanukkah.

"It will be a holiday tree," Pontieri said, adding that the village has scheduled a multi-faith Thanksgiving event.

Acknowledging the issue is "a touchy subject," Pontieri nevertheless said he hadn't heard from any residents opposed to Butler's plans.

"As a government official and a Christian," he said, "I say it's Christmas. As a government official alone, I say we're a big tent."

Rabbi Joel Levinson, of Temple Beth El in the village, said he hadn't heard of Butler's plans, but said he respected any religious celebration.

As for the village's 45th annual Christmas Parade, it was just a few years ago that it was the Holiday Parade. (Butler takes credit for this change.)

Willie Marciano, grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, said he hopes the tree lighting will inspire others to rediscover the religious ceremony of Christmas.

"I want the kids to enjoy what I was brought up with from very young," said Marciano, 73.

But what about Santa Claus?

"We are not having Santa Claus," Butler said. "We feel that is commercial. Sorry, kids."

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Christmas without Santa