WHY@Breakfast

I love to learn more about the Catholic Church teachings and love to learn with others!

A few years ago, while sipping my coffee in a local cafe on a Saturday morning, I saw a few parishioners who were enjoying their cup of Joe, reading the local paper.  I had this aha moment of why weren’t we all sitting in our church Parish Centre, sharing information with each other? 

As a cradle Catholic, I have always felt that I adopted a lot of “traditions” without asking, going along with the motions.  I am pretty sure there are meanings behind a lot of those traditions.  If they were taught to me when I was in elementary school, I am sorry to say I did not retain much from those years.  I was also confident that I was not the only Catholic in this predicament of ignorance.  If professionals need to take courses or attend seminars for continuing education points for the renewal of their status every year, it makes sense to me that Catholics should have some good system for their “continuing education.”

In December of 2011, with the question  “Why does the church talk about Mary if Jesus is our Savior?”, I organized the first WHY@Breakfast talk at my parish St. Michael’s Church in Waterloo, Ontario. I invited Anne Jamieson from the Catechesis offices of our Diocese of Hamilton to gave a presentation on Mary to about 30 parishioners on a Saturday morning.  It was a very enjoyable experience where everyone were enjoying their breakfast with coffee/tea, absorbing in valuable information.

Since then, I have been organizing two to three talks every year at St. Michael’s.  The support of my pastor and the sponsorship of St. Michael’s Catholic Women’s League for the speakers and  the food were amazing!

Our list of topics to this date include angels and demons, purgatory, human sexuality, forgiveness, recognizing Trinity in humanity, etc.

The goal of these presentations is to inform Catholics on our church teachings on various topics, dispelling myths and to give directions to those who would like to dig deeper into the topics.  I do hope to continue organizing WHY@Breakfast either at St. Michael’s or elsewhere.  It’s fun to learn and it’s so much more enjoyable to have others learning with me!

Soli Deo Gloria!

-Therese