February 4, 2011

Letters to the Editor

Submit a letter to the editor electronically | For our letter writing policy, click here

Family dinner table should be a place of communion, fellowship and love

Why is communion at the family dinner table becoming anachronistic? Work schedules and other activities have caused family dinner time together to be sparse.

Making meals is also a big issue. Who has the time? People are just too busy. There are other reasons as well.

The family dinner table is a place of communion and fellowship, and a means of reconnecting with those we care about the most. It has now become so last generation.

Even when most families are under the same roof at the same time, we tend to compartmentalize our dinner time to different parts of the house. We would much prefer to be entertained by a television show or video game as opposed to those awkward moments in the company of live people who may ask some question—and actually expect an answer.

If we do share the dinner table, the conversation is limited to “pass the salt” and hard silence, while the blare of the television fills the room.

We have sacrificed our family table for all sorts of activities—good and bad. Many dining tables are used for no more than card tables and, at best, for Thanksgiving dinner. It wouldn’t surprise me if a new trend of fold-a-way dining tables becomes vogue in the not-too-distant future.

Family dinner time is not only about what is on the table, but also what happens at the table. The dinner table can be a great place to practice how to listen, discuss, debate and, above all, share love.

- Kirth N. Roach, Order of Carmelite Discalced Secular, Indianapolis

Local site Links: