Ritual gratitude as garnish

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion and Ethics Writer

In the middle of On Jin's Cafe, two well-dressed fellows joined hands and bowed their heads over the meal they were about to eat.

For Mario Fenner and Herb Tedebjork, it was just another PDF — public display of faith, which has been on the rise across the country since Sept. 11 made flag-waving and God-blessing cool.

Fenner, who builds Internet businesses and attends Word of Life Church, networks regularly with his Christian colleagues over lunch. But he knows they make for an unusual sight at a business lunch: "Not a lot of people say grace in public."

Tomorrow, even many of those who don't say grace regularly will be doing so in the privacy of their homes. After all, the name of the holiday is "Thanksgiving."

Giving thanks is routine for the Irish Christian Brothers, a dozen retired and active clerics who teach at Damien High in Kalihi and who gather for meals in the community house twice a day. Brother Patrick McCormack, the freshman counselor, said there's a standard prayer for grace, but "sometimes we improvise." Like on St. Patrick's Day, when the Irish brother will say grace in Gaelic.

The brothers' grace ritual is that the community leader, Brother Frick, usually starts the prayer. But they don't wait for him if he's not there promptly at 6:45 a.m. for breakfast or 6 p.m. for dinner. "We can't wait that long," McCormack said. "If he's late, somebody else steps up to the plate."

No pun intended.

Not everyone abides by the 30-second rule, which keeps grace short, sweet and finished while the potatoes still have a halo of steam. But Fenner doesn't follow any ritual; he and his pals speak for the heart.

"We'll let the food get semi-cold," he admits.

For a sampling of graces, check out the Running Press Web site.