April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
CHRIST THE KING PARISH
Adult faith nurtured with coffee and chat
"I can't see how my loving God could let that happen," she said.
But the lessons she has learned through her parish and its adult faith formation program are helping her to accept the difficult news.
"You can't know, and we can't see ahead," Mrs. Schmidt said. "But I trust God's love to get us through this."
Mrs. Schmidt has attended Christ the King's "Coffee and Conversation" program every month for three years. One session's topic was the mystery of God and unanswerable questions.
"That calls for a deep, trusting faith," Mrs. Schmidt remarked after attending the program.
What it's about
The Coffee and Conversation program uses speakers, videos and discussions and has covered a variety of spiritual and secular topics, including the story of Jesus, end-of-life issues, the history of reconciliation, bullying, Catholics in the public square and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).
Most sessions, which are open to the public, attract between 10 and 50 participants; one featuring popular speaker Sister Anne Bryan Smollin, CSJ, of the Counseling for Laity Office, drew 300 people.
The program's goal is "to get people talking and thinking about real-life things," said Maureen McAuliffe, coordinator of Coffee and Conversation.
She advertises the sessions at the parish, through email and in bulletins for nearby parishes; she credits its success to the fact that "we don't call it faith formation. 'Coffee and Conversation' seems a lot less threatening."
None of the advertising pushes to change participants' thinking on their faith. Otherwise, "there are people who won't come because they don't want their boat rocked," Mrs. McAuliffe explained. "You have to be careful how you word what you're presenting to them."
Instead of "Bible time," she framed the Jesus session as "story time" - something participants enjoyed, since "people like Bible stories" and "we don't hear stories" anymore.
Why it works
People also enjoy myth and mystery. That's what the Jesus session's speaker, Peter Avvento, delivered. He is coordinator of the Albany Diocese's "Amazing God" evangelization initiative.
"People ate him up because he's knowledgeable," Mrs. McAuliffe told The Evangelist. "He can chitchat with you and, at the same time, he can talk doctrine."
She said the support of Christ the King's pastor, Rev. James Fitzmaurice, has helped the program grow: "He has come to recognize the need. Our faith is very precious to us, but we don't understand it. [Coffee and Conversation] makes it more real to you."
Sessions have revitalized adult faith formation in the parish, Mrs. Schmidt said. The program has also inspired her to become active in the larger community.
"It's made me more aware of talking to my political leaders about how I feel about different processes," she said. "That needs to be where we go as adults. We need to grow up and take [our faith] to the world."[[In-content Ad]]
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