By Mary Kroner
LINCOLN (SNR) - The Catholic Coffee House is an annual series within the Diocese of Lincoln and is now being coordinated by the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture.
The series, hosted in the fall and winter months, returns this year with a sequence of four talks on ways adults can continue to grow in their formation.
The first event of the series will be held Sunday, Dec. 19 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center, 320 N. 16th St., Lincoln. The event, in rooms 18 and 19 in the lower level, is free and open to the public.
The Newman Center will serve coffee and free-will donations will be accepted at the conclusion of the event.
Dr. Vern Steiner, president of the Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies, presented in past Catholic Coffee House events and will present in the upcoming series as well.
“The Coffee House events provide wonderful opportunities for people to move forward in their faith formation, and my colleagues and I at The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies are thrilled to participate once again,” Steiner said.
Steiner discussed the importance of the emphasis on adult formation.
“By their own admission, many Catholics confess that they were formed in the faith as children, or perhaps in their high school religion classes, at which point their serious intellectual engagement yielded to a more passive drifting along on established habits,” Steiner explained.
“As they entered adulthood, hoping to maintain a strong and vibrant spiritual life, they discovered that their earlier formation simply was not sufficiently nutritious to sustain a robust devotion. Some might blame their poor childhood catechesis, but the real problem usually lies with a breakdown in lifelong catechesis.”
In the past, the format of the event was a presentation followed by question and answer session. Now, there will be a more dialogical approach to the event where the panel will have a conversation first, and then engage in a broader conversation with everyone present.
Patrick Callahan, director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture, is very excited about the new format and the fruits it will produce.
“I anticipate this will serve as a great model for the conversations we all have with each other as part of each Coffee House session, and even outside the Catholic Coffee House,” Callahan said.
The Catholic Coffee House series will highlight four local institutions that offer opportunities for adults to grow in their formation. Each institution will be presenting on a specific theme. The institutions are the Benedict XVI School of Catechesis, the Newman Institute, the Lincoln Equipping Team, and the Emmaus Institute. The themes are catechetical formation, cultural formation, evangelical formation, and biblical formation.
Father Andrew Heaslip, director of religious education for the Diocese of Lincoln, is helping Callahan get the series up and running again. He will present at the Dec. 19 event, with Father Matthew Rolling and Jeff Schinstock on the Benedict XVI School of Catechesis and catechetical formation.
“Each of those themes will be a discussion of how we can grow personally. And there will also be some stories about the power of catechesis, the power of God’s word, and the power of evangelization,” Father Heaslip explained. “It’s not just an advertisement for those places. It’s a place to get together to talk about adult formation.”
With reference to the adult Catholics of Lincoln specifically, Steiner said, “Thankfully, they are blessed with many opportunities to continue growing in their knowledge and love of Christ, with all the benefits of the fullness of the faith awaiting–for themselves, their marriages and families, their parishes, their witness in the world, and above all their participation in the life of Christ and the glory of God.”
Father Heaslip said he believes the series is a great chance for Catholics to learn more about the options for formation available to them.
“Seeing these different presentations and panels will give participants a sense of how vast the opportunities for growth are in our faith–not just in knowledge, but in living the faith,” Father Heaslip said.
Callahan encouraged all adults of every age to participate in the series.
“Many programs and activities, not just the Catholic Coffee House, went on hiatus during COVID, and this is an opportunity to learn not only about specific programs in the diocese, but also to pause and reflect as we build new routines about what place we give to continuing formation in our lives.”
The series schedule and additional information can be found online at https://www.newmaninstitute.com/coffeehouse.
