By Ella Fordyce, Class of 2019
Students and faculty alike gathered for Thomas More College of Liberal Art’s 2018 Thanksgiving banquet. The Café was decorated in festive lights and candles, as well as sprigs of greenery to simulate a New England forest. Attendees dressed in their finest garb, and a few students, donning cassocks, dressed up as Jesuit missionaries. Chef Sam prepared all the trappings of a Thanksgiving feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce, while Miss Anna Kate Moore, Class of 2019, prepared a number of pies. With such gustatory delights, everyone had something for which to be grateful.
In general, Thanksgiving is a holiday which honors the first pioneers to America and the Native Americans who greeted them. TMC’s banquet pays special honor to the Jesuit missionaries that first evangelized the New World; in particular, the school remembers Father Rale, who died to protect his fledgling flock. At this banquet, special honor was also given to Father Thomas Crean. A teacher from Newman College Ireland, Father Crean has spent the past few months at TMC teaching students and offering Masses. Though TMC has been very blessed by his presence, Father Crean must now return to Ireland. Fellow Mr. Fred Fraser gave a moving farewell speech for Father Crean, comparing his presence at TMC to the miraculous presence of a mysterious man on Ernest Shackleton’s astonishing voyage home from the Arctic. In the conclusion of his speech, Mr. Fraser pointed out that Shackleton’s second-in-command was also named Thomas Crean. Father Crean will be greatly missed, but TMC will always be grateful for his time here.
