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LOWELL -- "Why wouldn't Christ be born in an igloo?" asks Brother Richard Cote of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. "Why wouldn't Christ be born in a tipi?"
In his time with the Oblates, who are known for their global missionary work, Brother Richard has found that every culture depicts the Nativity story in a way familiar to it. To the Inuits, Christ would have been born in an igloo. To the Lakota Sioux, Christ would have been born in a tipi. To the Cree First Nations people of Canada, Christ would have been born in a log cabin.
Creches depicting all of these scenes and more are currently on display at the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine in Lowell, staffed by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
"Come to the Stables," an exhibition of over 70 nativity scenes representing Oblate parishes, Lowell's Catholic schools past and present, and Oblate missions in 65 countries, can be viewed at the Shrine Museum from now until Epiphany, Jan. 6. The exhibit has taken place every Advent for the last 10 years, and Brother Richard said that each year is different.
"I try to broaden people's horizons by offering Nativities that are respectful of a particular culture or place," he said.
Some of the nativities were purchased by Brother Richard, while others were donated. He made the "log cabin nativity," which represents the Oblate Mission to the Cree.
The scene includes the Holy Family, two beavers, and Oblate Father Albert Lacombe, a missionary to Canada's Indigenous people.
"We're with the people," Brother Richard said. "We want to respect cultures. We live close to the people, so we foster Nativities here to represent various cultures."
On display are a terra cotta Nativity scene from Colombia, a Brazilian Nativity made of corn silk, an olive wood Nativity made in Bethlehem, a Peruvian Nativity with figures in traditional dress, an African Nativity carved from wood, and a Japanese painting depicting a kimono-clad Mary tending to the infant Christ.
A creche from Tahiti, where Brother Richard spent four years as a missionary, depicts the Holy Family taking shelter under the leaves of a palm tree. Snow is nonexistent in Tahiti, so locals use fragrant white flowers to give their Nativity scenes a wintry look. It is a sign of the cultural diversity that Brother Richard says is "who we are" as Oblates.
"I have been to places that had never heard of a religious brother, had never heard of a religious woman," he said. "And so, I'm very attached to the Polynesian people."
Brother Richard still says prayers in Tahitian every day and knows how to wish you a Merry Christmas in Tahitian: "Io'rana Noere."
Recently, Brother Richard said, a man from Korea came to the museum and was "amazed" by the variety of creche.
"We want people to be able to come and see Nativities and statues from their culture, from their country," he said.
The largest Nativity is a "Native American village" with styrofoam snow, plastic trees, and a frozen lake made of glass. In the center, surrounded by figurines of animals and Native Americans, is the Holy Family. The scene represents the Oblate Mission of the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota. It was made by Oblate Father Ron Meyer. Twenty-five of his handmade "snowscapes" are currently on display in the shrine's conference room.
One of Brother Richard's favorite Nativity scenes in the exhibit comes from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. Each ceramic piece in the creche was handmade and signed by Joanne Hynek. Hynek and her husband were stationed on Kwajalein Atoll, where the U.S. government conducted nuclear tests.
"This was a nuclear testing site," Brother Richard said, "but despite the evil of war and what the atomic bomb did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, out of this testing site someone had the inspiration by the good Lord to create something of peace."
The St. Joseph the Worker Shrine Museum is open on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.