By Natalie Forster, Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure, the man this university was named after, spent an incredible amount of time on the idea of community and brotherhood. The friars and staff thought that it would be fitting to host their own dinner to spread the joy of the holidays for students unable to go home for Thanksgiving break.
The McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry will be hosting its first ever Thanksgiving Dinner at 4 p.m. on Nov. 23, and anyone is welcome, regardless of whether one is a student or staff member.
When University Ministries shifted locations from Murphy to the McGinley-Carney Center, the ministries staff wanted bigger and better things. A priority was to reach more students and staff in ways they were unable to before.
The staff began talking about Thanksgiving, and realized that many students will not get to go home over break, whether because of sports, distance or other reasons. They also discussed faculty and staff who spend the holidays alone. Fr. Francis Di Spigno O.F.M. and Fr. Kevin Kriso introduced the idea of a dinner, and they ultimately decided to celebrate Thanksgiving together now that they have a large room for hosting guests and a full kitchen.
The ministry is expecting 15 to 20 people, but they would be glad to have more. There is room for 40 people to be fed on Thanksgiving. At this point, there are a few faculty members planning on attending, as well as students.
“When we were putting it together, it became important to us to invite anyone in the community,” Kathryn Hogan, operations coordinator for University Ministries, said. “We talked about it and thought that there are people in this community who are essentially without their families here. The invitation is open, and that sense of openness is important to us as a community.”
Fr. Francis, Mt. Irenaeus Coordinator Mary Schlosser and Hogan will be preparing the meal. It will be a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pie.
“Fr. Francis is a great cook,” Hogan said. “He is an excellent cook, so it’s not just me cooking. I’m the sous-chef; he’s in charge. It’ll be fun, and we’ll have a good meal.”
Just like the typical, American Thanksgiving, dinner is planning on being over with by 7 p.m. so people may go watch the football games or the screen can be brought down and it can be shown to the group in the McGinley-Carney Center.
Signups are through Nov. 17, but they will accept late signups through at least Nov. 20 if anyone wants to attend. Contact khogan@sbu.edu to register for this event and for more information.
