All my children.
A National Holiday.
Today in the United States, its protectorates and military bases throughout the world, Thanksgiving Day is commemorated. It is essentially a day of thanksgiving for an abundant harvest, although tradition has it that the first colonists celebrated the day in thanksgiving for a safe voyage from Europe, the harvest, and those nice native Americans who welcomed them and ended up giving them their land.
It’s really a harvest festival.
This week Catholics are claiming the first Thanksgiving actually took place in Florida with a Mass of Thanksgiving by the Spanish. Truth be told, the native Americans celebrated a harvest festival of thanksgiving long before the Europeans got here. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mormons trace the origins of the feast to that lost tribe of Israel they claim made it here first.)
And the start of the shopping season.
Whatever, each year we celebrate a Thanksgiving feast in gratitude for all of God’s blessings to us throughout the year, the President proclaims the holiday, a turkey is officially pardoned and allowed to live, Macy’s has a parade, and Santa opens the shopping season - which promises to be bleak this year because of the high cost of oil and the devalued dollar, not to mention that record numbers may have their home mortgages foreclosed.
It is also an American Catholic holiday.
Nevertheless, we Americans always look on the bright side of things - at least we have our family and lots of food. In addition, the devout Catholic family especially has so much to be grateful for (seriously!); Pope Benedict XVI, the return of the Latin Mass, a return to traditional Catholic teaching and morality, and now of course, the discovery that the first Thanksgiving was actually Catholic.
The ”New” Norman Rockwell Catholic Family.
I was imagining what a Thanksgiving dinner might be like in an average Catholic family today - in fact I know just such a family. They are a large, close knit clan, the mom and dad are pretty much Sunday Catholics, but they have always abided by the rules of the Church - no contraception, no meat on Fridays, so on and so forth.
All our children.
The kids were all baptized and confirmed, but that was the extent of their religious formation. Nevertheless, Mom insists they are all spiritual and good people. Seated around the table are the three daughters and their families - one girl was married outside of the Church, the other two just live with their significant other. One of the sons who is married is there with his wife and one child - they are Episcopalians. Another son is present with his same-sex lover, while three other single brothers are there alone, two of them drinking heavily. (The boys are not religious.) The four grandkids are either watching TV or playing on the computer.
Don’t mention the war or morality.
Religion is not brought up in any way, shape, or form in the conversation. The discussion starts out about the food, then touches a little bit on politics, but is mostly centered upon entertainment news and celebrity gossip, shopping, sports, and economic woes - which leads back to shopping and what sales the ladies are going to attend the next day at 5am. Finally, dinner is over when everyone talks about how much they ate and how sleepy they feel from being so full.
That’s pretty much it.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!