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The Breakfast Book Club: Finding Faith and Fellowship in a Shared Love of Reading
This last year, as we all spent more time in our homes than usual, reading became a rediscovered pastime for many. Some of us may have enjoyed “armchair traveling” to various countries through the pages of a memoir, while others appreciated the distraction of adventure and mystery stories. We may have sought spiritual counsel in the works of the saints or a close reading of Scripture. As the members of the Christ the King Breakfast Book Club know from firsthand experience, the benefits of a daily reading habit are priceless!
The Breakfast Book Club has been a fixture in our parish for many years, providing parishioners with the opportunity for enriching fellowship and book discussion.
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“It started a long time ago, maybe 15 years,” says longtime book club member Colette Irtz. “I think Fr. Herman started it — he used to come. He simply loved it and always said it was his road to sanity. Now we are a smaller group and meet on Thursdays in the rectory dining room. Someone brings food — donuts or rolls or something like that — and we fix up a pot of coffee. Then we discuss the book we’ve read for that meeting.”
Over the years, the Breakfast Book Club has chosen writing from a wide variety of genres for their group discussions. Selected titles have included both fiction andnon-fiction, religious and secular books. Each participant brings his or her own perspective to each work that is read, though all group members have at least one thing in common — a shared love of reading.
“I’m part of the book club because I love to read,” Colette says. “I usually have about three books that I’m reading at any given time. For example, right now I’m reading our book club book, a murder mystery, and a Bible study book.”
As Colette points out, participating in a smallgroup activity such as the Breakfast Book Club is a wonderful way to cultivate new friendships within our faith community.
“You get to know members of Christ the King that you otherwise might not meet,” she says. “Only one of the other members of the group goes to Mass at the same time I do, and I would have never met the others if I didn’t have the book club. Christ the King is such a big parish — you get to know people better by being part of a group.”
All are welcome to join our Breakfast Book Club. The group meets in the rectory on Thursday mornings from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m., September through April. Even those who have not had a chance to read a particular week’s book selection are invited to come fellowship with this group and see what it is all about!
