![\"Julia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251214_185803.jpg\")
Julia Geirsson and Jacob Smalley as Mary and Joseph at \u201cWelcome to Bethlehem\u201d live Nativity in St. Ambrose Catholic parish center on Dec. 14, 2025. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\nSCHUYLKILL HAVEN \u2014 With 8-year-old Isabella Rivera cradling the Christ child, Fr. Thomas Osei Gyau administered a blessing Sunday evening at a Christmas program in the parish hall at St. Ambrose Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
Instituted by Pope John Paul II, the Bambinelli Blessing is held on the third Sunday of Advent in the St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, where children bring baby Jesus figures from their home Nativity scenes to be blessed by the Pope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bambinelli Blessing is very powerful,\u201d said Osei Gyau, a native of Ghana who serves as parochial vicar at St. Ambrose.<\/p>\n
Jessenia Rivera, Isabella\u2019s 9-year-old sister, looked on as the Osei Gyau sprinkled Holy Water during the ritual.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked it,\u201d said Jessenia, who\u2019s in fourth grade in Schuylkill Haven Elementary School. \u201cIt made me feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bambinelli Blessing was part of \u201cWelcome to Bethlehem,\u201d a parish Christmas program.<\/p>\n
Julia Geirsson and Jacob Smalley as Mary and Joseph at \u201cWelcome to Bethlehem\u201d live Nativity in St. Ambrose Catholic parish center on Dec. 14, 2025. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\n
A variation of a live Nativity scene, participants dressed as Mary and Joseph, St. Nicholas and the three Wise Men. Tents depicting the village of Bethlehem were erected in the spacious parish center, and live animals inhabited David\u2019s Stable.<\/p>\n
Mary Ellen Johns, director of religious education, said the project had its roots in a drive-thru village designed by Msgr. Edward S. Zemanik, pastor, five years ago during COVID.<\/p>\n
Wisely, given the 17-degree temperature Sunday night, the village was moved inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to create the sensory feeling of the first Nativity,\u201d Johns said, \u201cso people could enter into the mystery more deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children painted rocks with Advent themes, learned to write Jesus in Hebrew and signed up for the census ordered by Caesar Augustus.<\/p>\n
As St. Nicholas, Stephen Spolski handed out candy in gold coin wrappers to children.<\/p>\n
A recent graduate of Penn State Schuylkill, Spolski is headed for the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.<\/p>\n
The Potteiger brothers \u2013 Bernard, Augustine and Jerome \u2013 portrayed the Magi,\u00a0 who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Bethlehem on the first Christmas.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251214_183429.jpg\")
The Potteiger brothers \u2013 Bernard, Augustine and Jerome \u2013 as the Magi at \u201cWelcome to Bethlehem\u201d in St. Ambrose parish center, Schuylkill Haven, on Dec. 14, 2025. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\n
Perched on the center\u2019s stage, Jacob Smalley and Julia Geirsson stood in as Joseph and Mary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great way to bring everybody together,\u201d said Geirsson, a sophomore at Blue Mountain High School.<\/p>\n
Roseanne Bedway, adult faith formation coordinator, was part of the team that organized the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s heartwarming to see children enjoying themselves so much,\u201d she said. \u201cIt teaches them the real meaning of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event benefited the St. Joseph Center for Special Learning on the St. Ambrose campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCHUYLKILL HAVEN \u2014 With 8-year-old Isabella Rivera cradling the Christ child, Fr. Thomas Osei Gyau administered a blessing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,5527,182,139,28,231,33223],"class_list":{"0":"post-61638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-schuylkill-county","16":"tag-schuylkill-haven"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}