Description: This program is a potluck and Q&A designed to create an environment where young adults feel comfortable asking (and getting answers to) their biggest questions about God and the Church.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: This event must be planned several months in advance to ensure the availability of the bishop or other distinguished guest. Actual preparation requires a couple of hours for securing a speaker, reserving an appropriate space, creating marketing materials and purchasing any necessary supplies.
- Volunteers Needed: Volunteers are needed in advance for publicity. The evening of the event, it is helpful to have volunteers available to greet and provide instructions to participants, to serve as an emcee for the evening, and to help with set up and clean up.
- Ideal Group Size: 30-100
- Ideal Time for this Event: Midweek evening or Sunday after Mass
- Who is this for? All young adults can enjoy this event!
- Supplies Needed: Marketing materials, sound system for speaker, place settings/paper products (if not having participants bring their own), paper/pens for questions (if you have moderated questions). You may want to provide additional food, if you are uncertain there will be enough.
- Reserve the Space: The space needs to be large enough to have space to put out the food and allow participants to comfortably eat. Ideally, it would also have access to a kitchen. We host dinner in our lounge and the Q&A in our chapel.
- Publicize the Program:
- Create a great poster to generate buzz. (Click here to see an example)
- Place posters around campus and where young adults hang out.
- Be sure the event is included in monthly event announcements on campus or in your parish.
- Ask your pastor or another person who preaches at Mass to mention the program during a homily.
- Use e-mail and social media (Facebook and Twitter) to invite young adults to participate. Post an announcement about this on your parish/organization website, too.
Prayer for Program Planner: Lord, help me to get out of the way and let You do what You will through this gathering!
Community Building: In our campus setting, we invite all the clubs and get each club leader to “seed” the dishing with their questions up front. We ask them ahead of time, prep them, and check so we are not stuck with “What does a bishop eat for breakfast?” As entertaining as that might be, it does not get at the meat of things! We also invite the campus ministries and local young adult groups to come and have had ecumenical visitors too!
Note: We follow the Comprehensive Campus Ministry model from the Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry Association (www.cccm.ca) and this event fulfills mandates from quite a few of their “pieces of the pie-graph” like encouraging vocations, building unity among student groups, raising up leaders, and inviting students to take ownership of their faith (they do ask the bishop hard questions).
Make It Happen
- Meet with your leadership team (if you have one) or other young adults to determine if this event would work, given the variables of personalities. Also, determine the best speaker for your event. Our bishop has been great, but popular priests, favorite professors, parish or diocesan staff members, or even other, knowledgeable young adults might be a better fit for your group. Also, run this by your pastor and get the scoop on the appropriate protocol for inviting the bishop or other guests.
- Invite the bishop (or other speaker). Be flexible with dates because he might just be the busiest guy you will ever meet. Do NOT expect the bishop to come during Holy Week!
- Make posters and other publicity materials. Create an event on Facebook. Don’t forget personal invitations! Invite everyone and watch the plans take shape. People love this event and get really excited. Tip: Be sure to make it clear what you’re asking people to bring. We invite students to bring a dish that represents their nationality or heritage that serves at least eight. (We also provide additional food.)
- Make a schedule for the evening and assign tasks for the night of the event. Be sure to have greeters, someone to introduce and thank the bishop (or speaker), and people to help with set up and clean up. Note: It’s usually best to let young adults ask the bishop questions themselves. However, the bishop may prefer (or, if you are concerned about a particularly contentious question) to have young adults write their questions in advance.
- On the day of the event, set up spaces, bring in some platters of sushi, a huge lasagna or fry up a load of pierogies, or bangers and mash (depends on your own ethnic background!). Put out plates, cutlery, etc. Try to go green on this one. Everyone will respect you more.
- Send a student out to greet the bishop (and save a parking spot, if necessary).
- Paste a welcoming smile on your face. Distribute names tags (don’t forget markers) and let everyone mingle. Be sure to introduce all the leadership to the bishop. Make sure participants know where to put their food item.
- Get someone to bless the food. We like to ask the bishop but it is nice to get someone else, too.
- Start eating — 35-45 minutes should do it. Save dessert for after the Q&A session.
- If you’re using a different space for Q&A, move everyone into the Q&A space and have someone introduce the bishop (or speaker). Give him a few minutes to introduce himself before starting those pre-assigned questions. Note: We have found this part usually lasts about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the feel of the night.
- When the questions wrap up, express thanks to the bishop and welcome everyone to join you for dessert.
- Be sure participants get their dishes and get your clean up crew working. Don’t forget to wipe down tables, sweep the floor, and take out the garbage.
Ideas
- Skip the potluck portion and order a bunch of pizzas. Or go with a simple supper of soup and bread.
- Invite a panel of experts: priests, lay ministers, religious sisters, seminarians, favorite religion teachers … whomever your group would like to ask some questions.
- Provide note cards and pens for an anonymous “Ask It Basket” for those young adults who may be hesitant to ask a question in person.
- If a speaker isn’t able to come to your setting, try connecting through Skype or other electronic means.
