At Mass a couple of weeks ago, I heard the best sermon I have ever heard in my life – and that’s covering a lot of sermons – offered by Fr. Thomas Hagan, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, founder of Hands Together, the nonprofit he started in 1986 after leaving the Princeton University Chaplaincy. Hands Together provides educational, pastoral and humanitarian development to Haiti’s largest and poorest slum, Port-au-Prince’s Cité Soleil. Before he recounted the horrendous conditions which residents of Cité Soleil endure – they not only suffer extreme destitution, but are now subject to the terror of the gang anarchy dominating Haiti — Fr. Hagen, approximately 80, of Irish ancestry, began by describing his childhood with his siblings in a working class area of Philadelphia, and indicated that as he grew up, his father often repeated that his family provided him “a little bit of heaven” on earth.
A Little Bit of Heaven. I suspect that in many instances, Thanksgiving will mark the first occasion since the presidential election that family members holding fiercely contrasting political perspectives will be together. No matter whether one eagerly awaits or fearfully dreads what will follow Inauguration Day, during this Holiday let all of us who are blessed with family embrace that Little Bit of Heaven that our loved ones provide, and take a minute to say a prayer for or otherwise remember those who are not as fortunate. Also, consider whether you experienced a particular blessing during the past year for which you are truly, truly thankful. We did.
Fr. Hagan was in Madison rather than in Haiti because he was evacuated from Haiti earlier this year due to death threats against him; other members of the Hands Together organization had previously been captured, tortured, and killed. His most recent attempt to return to his adopted land was abandoned literally in-flight due to reports that gangs were shooting at planes attempting to land at the Port-au-Prince airport. Recognizing that this is the time of year that all with an address are deluged with solicitations for charitable contributions, I am including a link at the bottom of this note for any with an interest in Fr. Hagan’s mission. I admit that I was very taken with the fact that almost thirty years ago he left what was clearly a pretty comfortable position at Princeton to undertake the work he has.
In a number of past Thanksgiving notes I have included a link to one of the West Wing vignettes relating to Thanksgiving. Aaron Sorkin’s Thanksgiving scenes ranged from the patriotic to the humorous. The one below was perhaps his best expression in the series of the love and tradition that is family.
Happy Holiday.
McCoy's Noise 