By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

POMPANO BEACH | Thanksgiving is a great North American tradition and a much-needed moment of grace and renewal for individual families and individuals, according to one pastor with an outsider’s view of the annual holiday.

“We all love Thanksgiving. It is a unique opportunity for us to renew and to be grateful for and appreciative of and committed to each other despite the inevitable problems that exist in family life, yours and mine � problems often bordering on tragedy,” said Father Anthony Mulderry, pastor of St. Gabriel Parish in Pompano Beach.

The Irish-born priest, who has served in South Florida since 1969, spoke about Thanksgiving while presiding at the third annual Mass and reception Nov. 19 for persons with disabilities in Broward County.

The event was held on the Catholic feast of Christ the King, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Father Mulderry, who noted that 2016 will mark his 35th year celebrating Thanksgiving here with one particular Irish-American family, briefly discussed the unique and quintessential American holiday and its roots in other traditions and harvest festivals.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated Thanksgiving a national holiday. In the United States and Canada, it had been observed on various dates throughout history, but the final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century.

Father Mulderry noted that Thanksgiving was first celebrated on the same date by all states in 1863 due to Lincoln’s presidential proclamation.

“In my view it’s a great holiday,” Father Mulderry said. “Millions of us, despite the inconvenience of congestion on the road, delays at the airports, long lines at security places, travel great distances, come home to security, sanctuary, and sanctity of our own families.”

“Of course we never had Thanksgiving in Ireland, and from day one when I came here I was so impressed from how special it is to individual families,” he added.

Thanksgiving, the priest noted, is an opportunity “for us again to recognize that we are vulnerable, precious, loving and loveable. And I would also suggest that many times it is the beginning of a healing in people’s lives where there has been difficulty, and maybe separation and division within the family,” he said.

Father Mulderry referred to the classic 1970 film “Love Story” with Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, and the movie’s popular definition of love: “Never having to say you’re sorry.”  

“My definition of love is much better than Ali MacGraw’s: Love means saying you’re sorry all the time, because without a sense of healing, conflicts will continue, wounds will fester, misery will be your companion and marital division your destiny,” Father Mulderry said.

He noted that the lived experience of family life, with all its problems and difficulties, is “genuine, authentic and holy � even in the bad days.”