Sacred Heart Church in Palmerton has a special guest this Christmas Eve - the Most Rev. Bishop John O. Barres. He will be celebrating the 5 p.m. Mass with the parishioners, his last one in the Allentown Diocese.

"It is an honor," said the Rev. William Campion, pastor of Sacred Heart. "He's the shepherd of the quarter million Catholics of our diocese."The bishop has a tradition of saying Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses at different parishes in the diocese each year. After Sacred Heart, he will say Midnight Mass at the Cathedral Church of St. Catharine of Sienna in Allentown and morning Mass Christmas Day at the Church of St. Ann in Emmaus.Barres said he wanted to come to Sacred Heart to thank the parish and St. John Neumann School "for their beautiful spirituality and commitment to holiness.""They have a missionary identity to the church," he said.Sacred Heart received word of the bishop's visit only a few weeks before the announcement of his new appointment by Pope Francis to lead the 1.5 million Catholics in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which consists of Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island, New York.The appointment, Barres said, is "about God's will; a surrender to every new horizon in life with that wonderful confidence in God."Campion said Barres has made a point of being with the people whether in a time of difficulty or a football game.For his homily, Barres said he plans to talk about the importance of growing deeper spiritually, evangelism and being merciful to others."Meditate on the message of Jesus, a poor refugee baby, and encourage a new commitment to conversion and evangelism, so that we can set the world on fire with Christ's love," Barres said.Even though the church's liturgical year of mercy has come to a close, "every moment is a year of mercy. Be a bridge of mercy to those who have fallen away from their faith. They're being drawn by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist and the joy they experience in the pews."Marian Carty and Cass Chies, parishioners at Sacred Heart and members of the decorating committee, said they feel honored and excited about the bishop coming there for Christmas Eve Mass, but that isn't why they are putting so much effort into making the church look beautiful."It's for the parish and the community, for the love of the church and the love of our faith," Chies said.John Hutta, a seminarian at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, assembles the Nativity each year with his aunt Anne Girard."They're the faithful three," he said about his aunt, Chies and Carty. They put so much effort into the decorations, because the holiday is "Christ's coming in the flesh."This year, Hutta set up the Nativity alone, since his aunt was too sick to help. The crèche consists of 15 statues that were donated by the Lafayette Counsel Knights of Columbus. It was made in Rome and the artist creates a new piece every year for each of his styles, Hutta said."I try to replicate inside what God has created outside," he said. "I prefer to build a vision of our home."To the right of the altar, Hutta builds multiple levels to look like mountains where he then places Christmas trees. Wise men and shepherds traverse down these mountains to the lowly stable where the holy family can be found."I want people to see beauty, to elevate the soul," he said. "It's about God."