In 1997, parishioners from St. Anthony initiated a discussion/dinner group, Catholic Conversation. For the past ten years the group has met about every two months to have dinner and to discuss issues related to the Catholic church, religion, faith and beliefs. It has been a rewarding experience for the members and we wish to propose the formation of similar Catholic Conversation groups in the parish.
It was our hope that in forming a conversation group we would have the opportunity to explore issues in the Catholic Church, moral decision making, our faith, and to expand our knowledge and understanding of our Catholic heritage. We also wanted to create a community of support for one another. The members of the group were familiar with one another before we met for the first time, but were not necessarily friends. In our conversation group of 15, we have married and single members. (A second Catholic Conversation group formed about six years ago and has a similar dinner/conversation format.)
To date we have had conversations about the structure of the church, infallibility of the Pope, priestly celibacy, the role of Mary in the church, marriage, annulments, prayer, evil, death and about articles/books such as Why be a Catholic?. We have challenged and surprised one another with our personal beliefs and experiences. We share ideas that we don't find many opportunities to discuss in our daily work and family lives. By having specific topics selected ahead of time and written materials to consider, the discussions start focused and lead in many directions.
We center our meeting around the discussion and a potluck dinner. The dinner time affords the opportunity to get to know one another better and, over time, to "catch-up" on our lives. Having dinner together makes it an evening social gathering as well as a meeting. While each new Catholic Conversation group can meet whenever the members choose, we have found the dinner model to be conducive to group building and sharing.
If you are interested in forming a Catholic Conversation group, we will help you with the details. You can start a group with 6-10 folks, and we can help with sample discussion materials. Contact Rebecca Baumann at 422-6387.