I like this idea! - The Byzantine Forum

A pint with your priest: Church books bar [hosted.ap.org]

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Many of the parents of today's younger generation never came to church or gave their children values from that experience, said the Rev. Marc Montminy. "So they're looking for something," he said. "And they can't find it, because I know they're looking in all the wrong places."

I still have friends that go out to bars every weekend night. Perhaps the only way to reach them is via this avenue. I know they are looking for something else out of life but they don't know what that is. When the topic of religion comes up EVERYONE is an expert and everyone has there own views that don't involve going to Church. If some one could reach them in there environment on there terms I think it would work.

Maybe I should do something like this at my parish too.

I know it is done at Sts. Peter and Paul UGC Parish in Saskatoon (Theology on Tap), and apperantly it goes well. See their web site www.sspp.ca [sspp.ca] if you want more info.

Thanks for the idea.

Kadylo

They do that here too, Theology on Tap, but it is done as a lunch.

When I visited your website under "Theology on Tap" the only word that came to my mind was AWESOME.

Has it done any good? If it has perhaps you could put up material to help other churches do the same?

This website is from a different parish than mine, but I do know the pastor, assistant pastor, Deacon, Campus Coordinator, and the priest who presented very well. In fact 2 of them are my brothers.

I will forward this thread to them and we will see if they can give us some more info.

Kadylo

Here is what I have recieved back so far:

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Hi Fr. Bo. Actually, TOT is sponsored by the (RC) Diocese of Saskatoon, St. Thomas
More Campus Ministry and Ukrainian Catholic Campus Ministry. Ss. P&P only
advertises for us, as do all the Catholic parishes in and around Saskatoon.

Theology on Tap is a series that takes on many forms throughout North
America from a weekly series that runs during the summer to a monthly series
that runs during the academic year.

In Saskatoon, we run monthly during the academic year. The program was
conceived and developed by the Archdiocese of Chicago and, I believe, is
actually trademarked. They have a very good and comprehensive guide for
starting up your own series, but prefer that you do register with them if
you plan on using the name.

The Diocesan Youth Coordinator, one of the STM campus ministers and I meet
in the spring and set out the program for the next year. We decided that we
would not host TOT in December or April due to finals and Christmas/Easter
holidays. We choose topics of interest to young adults and match speakers
we know who are "experts" and who are able to relate well to young adults.
We get various young adult groups from around the city to host each evening.
They welcome people and provide and facilitate an opening ice breaker. The
speaker provides 20 - 30 minutes of input on the topic and then small group
/large group discussion follow. This is all done in a local bar over soft
drinks, not-so-soft drinks and food. We rotate weekdays (so it's not always
on Tuesdays for example) so that people with regular commitments are able to
attend at least a couple sessions.

We are in our third year of TOT and are starting to see more response. 50 -
60 people in attendance has been the norm this year. It is definitely one
of our most successful and popular endeavours.

This year our topics have been: "Will You Love Me Forever? A Look at
Commitment and Relationships" and "Did the Devil Really Make Me Do It? A
Look at Spiritual Warfare"

Let me know if you need any more info!

and again from same

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I should also mention that TOT (here) is a combined RC/UC thing. We have done
"Breathing with Both Lungs" as a topic. We tend to take the "big" issues
as topics though (just war, sexuality, women in the Church, same sex union,
evil, morality, etc). But we try to get speakers from both Churches.
Obnova (UC young adult/student group) hosted this past Wednesday, though,
and did a "Ukrainian Connection" ice breaker with the Roman Catholics. It's
a great awareness tool. ...

If I get anything else I will pass it on.

Kadylo

Here is the Chicago page:

www.yamchicago.org [yamchicago.org]

Theology on Tap is VERY well attended in Albuquerque - here's the calendar:

http://theology-on-tap-albq.org/calendar/

In fact, so well attended sometimes it has to be moved out of the bars.

I don't know if there has ever been anyone "evangelized" by the group, but I do know there have been a lot of looks cast at the loud and raucous Catholics taking over a large portion of the restaurant/bar.

Fr. Chris Zugger, our Byzantine-Ruthenian priest here at OLPH, has been a presenter several times. In July? August? he and a student from Ukraine did an interesting presentation on life in the Ukraine during communism.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Good discussion on Theology on Tap. I do alot of speaking to Theology on Tap groups in Indiana and Illinois. Mostly I speak on the Theology of the Body or the Eastern Catholic Churches. Theology on Tap has been a very successful endeavor in the Midwest. Actually I think it orginiated in Chicago. In Chicago they celebrated 25 years of TOT this year.

--Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB.,MA.

I think in order for this to spread Nation wide we need priest to educate other priest on how they accomplished this task.

Training videos!