Stump the Priests going great!

Thanks to everyone who attended Stump the Priest with Father Joe on 1/27! We had a great crowd and a lot of fun!

Please join us for the final session of our Stump the Priest series this coming Tuesday (2/3) with Msgr Paul Rohling from OLV...7 PM, OLV Parish Office Conference Room. $5... drinks/snacks/childcare provided.

Stump the Priest with Fr Rick, 1/13

We kicked off Winter 2009 with the first edition of th season's Stump the Priest series. Our 'target' was Father Rick Chenault of OLV. :)

We started the year off right with a great crowd...both the usuals as well as several new faces! (And another excellent dip by Margaret Ann!)

After a few TRULY hilarious jokes :) by the MC to start us off, we got right to it. Father Rick fielded live questions from our group, as well as a few written questions placed in the Official ToT Question/Fish bowl. We asked some excellent questions...

...and Father Rick did an excellent job. We thought for sure we would stump him, but despite being new to the priesthood, Father Rick handled everything we threw at him like a pro. He's a great teacher, and was able to explain his answers in a way that we, as young adults, could relate to. His real-life examples helped us better understand some very difficult aspects of our faith.


Thanks so much to Father Rick for being a willing and excellent participant in our Stump the Priest series!

Next up: Stump the Priest continues on 1/27 with Father Joe Cullota from St. Mark the Evangelist. We hope to see you there!

Winter/Spring 2009 Events Calendar

We have an action-packed schedule for the next few months...there's something for everyone! Be sure to add these events to your calendar:

Stump the Priest Series
January 13 - Father Rick Chenault (OLV)
January 27 - Father Joe Cullota (St. Mark the Evangelist)
February 3 - Msgr Paul Rohling (OLV)
**all events at 7:00 PM in the OLV Parish Office Conference Room
**snacks, drinks, childcare provided
**cost: $5

Mardi Gras Masquerade - "BYOM" (Bring Your Own Mask!)
February 20 - OLV Social Hall - 7:30 PM
**snacks, drinks provided
**$10 per person

Theology on Tap DVD Series
Matthew Kelly - Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose
February 24
March 3
March 10
**all events at 7:00 PM in the OLV Parish Office Conference Room
**snacks, drinks, childcare provided
**cost: $5

Coffee and Theology - Sunday morning Lenten Bible Study series
Meets in the OLV Social Hall from 9:45 to 10:45 AM on the following Sundays during Lent:
March 1
March 8
March 15
March 22
March 29
April 5

We look forward to seeing you!

12/2 - Advent Wreath Making

Wreath-making was a blast this year!

We held our annual Advent wreath-making event on Tuesday, December 2. We had a great turnout! The Advent wreath is one of the most popular Catholic Advent traditions. We opened with a prayer, and then we got right to the action...

Everyone seemed to enjoy making a wreath. It provided just the right amount of challenge without being too complicated: attaching the greenery, tying the bows...it was just enough to provide a few laughs along the way, and by the time we finished, we felt like we really accomplished something!

Father Paul even checked it on us...and he appreciated our creativity!

The lighting of the candles of the Advent wreath throughout the time of Advent helps us to remember and focus on the promise of the coming of Jesus, the light of the world. This night, we were all fortunate to be able to spend this special and fun time together!

ToT hopes that you and your family and friends are able to experience the full joy and true meaning of the Christmas season.

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us! We look forward to seeing you at future ToT events in January.

11/11 - Power in Weakness

Theology on Tap met Tuesday, November 11. Mandy was our speaker, and she led an excellent discussion of Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, considered by many to be one of Paul's most emotional writings. The theme was 'Power in Weakness,' and Mandy started by giving us an overview of the letter.

She outlined several examples of how Paul explained and demonstrated the 'power in weakness' concept. She gave us a good reminder that we shouldn't judge others when we see they're in an tough situation - sometimes it's tempting to say 'what have they done to deserve what they're dealing with?' We should instead provide encouragement and support!


Mandy's discussion also reminded us we are very fragile and woundable as human beings, and it's our spirit that gives us power, especially in tough times. Our own burdens -- the crosses we bear -- are how God works through us, the same way that God worked through Jesus in the way he suffered on the cross.

Mandy did a great job! She's always a lot of fun to talk with, so it was a great discussion on how we can improve our own lives, especially by supporting others in times of weakness. We hope to have some ideas for service projects in the next few months so we can put this learning to work!

(Also, Margaret Ann made a great bacon-frito-awesome dip!) :)

Thanks to everyone who was able to attend, and thanks to ALL for your prayers, support, and participation as we continue to build this young adult ministry!

Next up: Advent Wreath Making!

Advent Wreath Making set for Dec 2

We've scheduled our annual Advent Wreath Making event for Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 PM. Mark your calendars...more details to come soon!

Check here for a recap of last year's event: http://birminghamtot.blogspot.com/2007/12/advent-wreath-making.html

10/14 - Being Christian

Tuesday, October 14 was our third Theology on Tap meeting of the fall. Margaret Ann was our speaker, and she did great!


The main points of Margaret Ann's talk were Love, Forgiveness and Examination, and she gave us four themes for reflection:
-Everything we are composed of should belong entirely to God
-As followers of Christ we are brothers and sisters in him. We must understand one another's needs and talents
-Remember, Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead for us. If we remember him, we will perceive how we are to live
-The need to reevaluate ourselves

In the end, the group was all smiles!



Thanks Margaret Ann!

Our next session will be Tuesday, November 11. We hope to see you then!

Upcoming ToT, Coffee meetings

Hi everyone – We have a Theology on Tap meeting coming up Tuesday, October 14. Continuing our “Paul” theme, our own Margaret Ann will lead us in a discussion about “Being Christian,” based on 1st Corinthians. Margaret Ann always does a great job working with our group so this should be a good discussion! We’ll meet from 7:00-9:00 in the OLV Parish Office Conference Room. As usual, the cost will be $5, and snacks, drinks, and childcare will be provided.

We hope that you can make it. Bring a friend!

Also, our Coffee and Theology series (“Romans: Amazing Grace”) will continue with our third meeting this Sunday, October 12. At our first two meetings, we had two very lively and interesting discussions. If you weren’t able to make it, please join us! Attendance at every session is not required. For this series, we are asking for a one-time $7 fee to cover the cost of the books. We meet in the OLV Social hall, 9:45 to 10:45 (between masses). And we provide coffee and doughnuts!

Email us at theologyontap@olvsch.com with any questions.

See you soon!

Coffee and Theology starts 9/28!!

Happy Fall everyone!

The ToT team is happy to announce that "Coffee and Theology," our Sunday morning bible study series begins this Sunday. This season, our theme will be "Romans: Amazing Grace." We will use a study guide and group discussion to learn more about Paul's Letter to the Romans, considered to be one of the most influential books of the New Testament.

Beginning this Sunday, will meet in Our Lady of the Valley's Social Hall from 9:45-10:45 (between masses), for six Sundays in a row:

September 28
October 5
October 12
October 19
October 26
November 2

Coffee, doughnuts, and childcare are provided. The cost is $7 (to cover the cost of materials).

Mark your calendars! Attendance at every session is encouraged but not required. As always, feel free to email if you have any questions.

Hope to see you there!

9/9 - Standing Firm in Our Faith

We had a great Theology on Tap meeting on September 9. Matt, one of our ToT team members, was our facilitator. Several other activities (plus a little bit of weather), perhaps, contributed to a smaller-than-usual group, but it was an excellent group nonetheless. Like last meeting, we were happy to have a few new faces, and we were excited to see some second-time faces as well!

Certainly a very important part of the meeting was the food, and we did good tonight! Cheese/fruit/veggie trays, etc. Special mention goes to Margaret Ann's chili-cheese-wonderfulness dip. (SOME might say it is rivaled only by her magnificent spinach-artichoke-wonderfulness dip, which perhaps will make an appearance at a future meeting.) :)

Matt is a great speaker! Experienced at handling groups both large and small, he had no trouble with us this evening! He introduced us to Paul's 1st and 2nd Letters to the Thessalonians. We learned about the differences between each letter. The 1st is a very enthusiastic, positive, encouraging account of praise of the Godly lives of the Thessalonians, while the second is presented with a very different, condemning tone. We learned that both warned the Thessalonians of temptations that are still very relevant and present in today's world. Matt helped to bring the writings of St. Paul to our daily lives!

We had the opportunity to participate in small group discussions. While M.C. Tony did not get to count us off to split us into groups, he certainly gets credit for some fantastic work in the material-distribution department. :)

After our group discussions, we had a little more social and fun time before we called it a night.

Thanks Matt! Great work! We’re looking forward to our October 14 meeting, when Mandy and Margaret Ann will talk with us about ‘Being Christian,’ referencing Paul's Letter to the Corinthians.

Thanks to everyone for a great meeting!

ToT next Tuesday (9/9)

Thanks for a great meeting last week! Sister Madeline led a great discussion to get us started on our "Year of St. Paul" theme. We enjoyed seeing everyone - especially several new faces - after the summer break! If you missed it, check the blog for some highlights!

We have a quick turnaround with our next meeting coming up next Tuesday, September 9. Matt Smith, one of our own Theology on Tap team members, will discuss "Standing Firm in our Faith," based on Paul's 1st and 2nd letters to the Thessalonians. We'll meet in the OLV Parish Office Conference Room from 7:00-9:00 PM. Food, drinks, and childcare will be provided. The cost is $5.

Also: please note that we've changed the starting date of the Coffee and Theology series to September 28.

Thanks everyone! See you soon!

Year of St. Paul Introduction

The first session of our Fall season finally arrived!


Our theme for Theology on Tap for the Fall 2008 is "Year of St. Paul," so Sister Madeline kicked off the season on August 23 with an introduction to St. Paul and his writings.





It was very informative. St. Paul was one of the most influential people on Christianity, and the story of his conversion (his "Damascus moment") to Christianity is both inspiring and challenging for us. Paul's message is that God is willing to take us in - anyone and everyone - no matter what our past is like. We are called to imitate God's holiness, peacefulness, and inclusion...to conduct our lives in actions that demonstrate faith, hope, and love.


The next three ToT sessions will provide us an opportunity to learn more about Paul's teachines and some ways we can apply his advice in our daily lives. The sessions will be presented by Theology on Tap team members. Check the schedule on the left side of the blog page for the dates!


We also had some pretty good social time...it was great to see some new faces! And it was great to see the "old" faces, too... :) We had lots of good treats (plus a little beer and wine)! Kathy won the award for the most colorful shirt...

Below is an action shot...it's a little hard to see, but this was taken about two seconds before one of our favorite ToT team members (who shall remain nameless) spilled M&M's all over the sofa...







It was great seeing everyone after the summer break! We hope to see you at our meeting on September 9!

We're back! All are welcome!

Theology on Tap at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church (Birmingham, AL) starts back on August 23rd. ToT is OLV's "young adult" group. Our age range is 21-40s, and we are a mix of married and single (and divorced, etc.) people. We're primarily Catholic, but we often have visitors from many other Catholic churches, Christian denominations, and other faiths. All are welcome!

To contact us, please email us at theologyontap@olvsch.com.

Theology on Tap Meetings - our Tuesday night gathering for food, drink, and discussion! These meetings are held from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in the Our Lady of the Valley Parish Office Conference Room. Food, drinks, and childcare are provided. The cost is $5.

Our theme will be the "Year of St. Paul."

Aug 26: Overview of St. Paul--Sr. Madeline Contorno
Sept 9: Standing Firm in Our Faith—Matt
Oct 14: Being Christian--Mandy & Margaret Ann
Nov 11: Power in Weakness—Kathy

Coffee and Theology - our six-week Sunday morning bible study series. Meetings are 9:45-10:45 Sunday mornings (between Masses at OLV), in the OLV Social Hall. Attendance at every session is encouraged, but certainly not required. We will be studying Paul's Letter to the Romans, considered to be one of the most influential books of the New Testament. Coffee, doughnuts, and childcare are provide. There is a one-time cost of $5.

Dates:
September 28
October 5
October 12
October 19
October 26
November 2

We hope to see you!

Stump the Priest

On January 8, 2008, we decided to start the year off right by learning more about our faith, and who better to answer those questions than our own priest, Father Ray. Now, while the goal of this gathering was to learn more about our faith, it is always fun to see if we can stump our priest. Father Ray, being the brave soul that he is, decided to subject himself to our line of questioning and it is good thing that he did as we were all able to learn more about our faith. We went over such topics as how to define a sin, confession, and Mary's sinfulness.

Our answers included such definitions as: Mary is without sin from birth, which is why we say she is "full of grace"; thus, there is no sin, only grace. And, as for the definition of a "Sin", in order to be a sin the action (1) has to be wrong, (2) we have to know it is wrong, and (3) we have to freely choose to do it.

We concluded this gathering by going around the room and everyone saying what he/she believes is most special about being Catholic. The answers were overwhelming! People came from different backgrounds meaning both cradle Catholics and converts. People mentioned such things as being able to receive communion every week, our 7 sacraments, and our closeness to Mary. It was truly a special, fun, and entertaining night and although we weren't able to stump Father Ray this time, there is always next year! Peace and blessing to all and a very special thank you to Father Ray for all of his time, love, and support. See you next month! The Team

Advent Wreath Making

On December 2, 2007, we decided to start Advent out right by making our own Advent Wreaths. As you can see below, Leigh was giddy from ribbon cutting and couldn't wait for the day to begin! Unlike our normal TOT gatherings, this one was open to everyone and people were encouraged to bring their children to aid in the wreath making. As you can see below, everyone seemed quite eager to begin making their wreath.

Parents were assisted by their children and on a few occasions the men left the creativity up to their wives while they watched their kids play ball.

We had a great turnout after both of our masses! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was pretty cool to walk around and see what everyone had created. Since the team provided the materials, it was up to each person to create their own masterpiece! In addition to the wreath, prayer cards were handed out to everyone so as to know what prayers to say when during the season. Now, because it is difficult to pick out which pictures to use, I chose to include several photos in this blog to show all the wreaths and happy holiday faces. As I said, it was difficult to choose as everyone looks so cheerful!In the end, I think this was a great way for everyone to begin the Christmas season. What better way to start things off than with lots of love and smiles. Merry Christmas to you all and we hope you had as much fun as we did! The Team

The Seven Habits of Highly Spiritual People

On November 13, 2007, we got together for the fourth time this year! This time we were blessed to have Bill Grimme as a guest speaker. He educated us on the 7 Habits Paradigm. It was an excellent talk with plenty of illustrations for those of us who tend to be more visual.
We discussed how there are both Personal and Public victories that occur in our lives that can be the result of habits we choose to initiate. To begin with we defined habits as those things that a person can do everyday in their life without too much thought. Our goal is to take these tasks and make them habits in our daily lives. Examples of Personal Habits are to be Proactive (instead of complaining, make changes), have a Personal Vision, and Preserve our Current Relationships while Getting Things Done.
Examples of Public Habits would be such things as Balanced Self-Renewal, Interpersonal Leadership, Seeking to Understand Situations before Prescribing Ways to Fix Problems, and finally Creative Communication (taking advantage of people's differences). After learning what these Habits were, we broke into small groups and discussed how various Bible versus related to the 7 Habits.All in all, I think this was a night of learning for everyone. Too often we forget that not only is it important to be a good individual, but also to be a good group member to those around us which involves listening, learning, and of course good communication! In the end, everyone seemed to have a good time and it was a night of smiles and laughter for all involved. Take care and Peace to All! The Team :)

Good Reasons for Standing your Ground in Relationships

On October 9, 2007, we got together to discuss Good Reasons for Standing your Ground in Relationships and as you tell by the picture below the TOT team was ready to go! We were fortunate to have Sharon Lovoy, one of our own OLV members, come and talk with us about "Standing our Ground". Everyone seemed very interested in what she had to say. We talked about a fear of conflict, being defensive, and an absense of trust.

We also discussed the difficulty in having crucial conversations with those around us. Sharon did a great job, taking care to get everyone involved in activities and discussions. She talked about the downfalls of a big ego, stating that having a big ego means "Edging God Out" and saying "we are the center of the world, not you!"

As always, after our talks there is always time for fellowship and great conversations. TOT is a great opportunity to meet other 20s - 40s Catholics like yourself.

We always seem to have plenty to talk about along with refreshments for everyone!

Thanks to all who attended. We had lots of fun! Also, we would like to extend a big thanks to Sharon... you are welcome back anytime! We really enjoyed your presentation and thank you for taking the time to talk with us. And, as a last note I think many of us appreciated being reminded of what it takes to make a great relationship, both at work, with friends, and in our personal lives. Thanks again to all who came and we missed you to those who didn't! Have a great month! The Team

Coffee & Theology

We did it for Lent 2007 and we brought it back again! September 16 - October 21, 2007 was our second Coffee and Theology. We met on Sunday mornings between the two masses at approximately 9:45. This time the topic of our studies was "How to be Happy". We discussed Matthew 5-7, by first reading a Bible verse and then addressing questions pertaining to the verse.

We had many people come out to talk and pray. Bonds were formed within each group. As you can see, we tried to keep the groups to around 5-6 people per group. Coffee and donuts were provided for all who attended.

In the end, a good time was had by all and people are already asking when we were going to do this again. Well, in answer to that question, our plan is to host another Coffee & Theology during Lent 2008. We hope those who attended this sesssion will be able to return and we would love to see many new faces too!

Thanks to everyone who attended! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed all the great conversations! Take care. The Team

The Peace of Christ in a Turbulent World

On September 11, 2007, we met for our second time this season. We brought in a special guest , Shelly Douglas from St. Mary's Catholic Worker House, to speak about "Pax Christi International". Shelly spoke about a movement that began in the ashes of WWII as a Catholic voice for peace and reconciliation. She led discussions on ways to generate peace in our world.

As you can see above, it was an intense topic to discuss as peace is not always so easy to come by. However, once the talk was over everyone had time to mingle before heading over to the church for a Peace Service.

With today being September 11, we thought we should honor those who died during the tragedy only six years ago. The "Prayer for Peace" included talks on several different faiths (Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Jain, Baha'i, and Christianity) taking care to note the similiarities between the different religions. Several TOT members participated in the service, so a special thanks goes out to everyone who made this night possible. We concluded the service with a candle lighting ceremony, showing that when there is unity there is more light in the world. In the end, although this evening proved to be a little more intense than usual, everyone seemed to have a good time and left with a smile in their heart. Again, thanks to everyone who came, it was great seeing you all. Have a blessed month and we'll see you in October. The Team.