THE FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY: An Opportunity for Parishioners to Connect with Friends

With the busy lives we lead, it can be difficult to make time for visiting with our fellow parishioners, and it’s all too easy to leave Mass and head home to continue our Sunday activities. However, we are blessed with a ministry at our parish that allows us to meet new friends and visit with the old. The Food and Fellowship Ministry serves coffee, tea, and donuts each week, unless there is a Knights of Columbus breakfast, after the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday Masses in the church basement.

Michele Moehrman recently became involved in this ministry, and she handles the scheduling. She and her husband, Dave, and their two daughters moved to Tulsa from Houston, Texas in early 2020. The couple’s former parish had a fellowship ministry like this, and Michele has enjoyed it as a way to get to know other parishioners.

“This is a simple but important ministry,” she says. “Who doesn’t love donuts?”

As Michele points out, we don’t always have time to meet people who we see sitting across the aisle. So, this ministry offers such an easy way to meet people because we are already at Mass. While the ministry took a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s now so wonderful to gather and enjoy a treat and fellowship once again.

“This has been a really good way for us to get to know people, being new to the parish,” Michele says. Michele would love to see more volunteers step forward for the Food and Fellowship Ministry. The donuts are delivered, so this just involves setting the items out and brewing the coffee before Mass. Michele will train new volunteers because the commercial coffee makers require a bit of direction. If enough volunteers step forward, each volunteer will only need to help about once per month.

Michele believes the success of this ministry is consistency. It’s also a good way to get to know families. Sometimes we may meet people through another ministry, but we don’t always have an opportunity to meet their families.

“After the 10 a.m. Mass, there are a lot of families,” Michele says. “Kids are running around and lots of fellowship is happening. It’s a beautiful thing.”

For Dave and Michele, having their daughters at Holy Family Classical School has also been a great way to get to know other families whom they’ve seen in the line for school drop-off. The draw for the family to attend Holy Family Cathedral was to be connected with the same parish where their daughters are at school.

“A parish and a school are so intertwined,” Michele says. “We have been so impressed by the participation at the parish. It’s really amazing for an inner-city parish to be so active on the weekends with so many young families.”

All are invited to come to enjoy coffee, donuts, and tea after the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Masses.

“I would say the coffee is good,” Michele says. “It’s from Double Shot, a great coffee shop down the street. Come meet some new people and see some familiar faces!”

To get involved with the Food and Fellowship Ministry, please email Michele Moehrman at foodandfellowship@tulsacathedral.com.

Folks gather for the Food and Fellowship Ministry.

Kathleen Jones and Jacob King serve a light breakfast for the Food and Fellowship Ministry.