2 minute read
Hospitality Ministry: Building Fellowship and Sharing Faith Over a Fresh Cup of Coffee
St. Francis Xavier is a big and beautiful parish, and our vibrancy is clear to all those who visit. We want to make sure that every person who enters our doors knows they are welcome in this faith community.
The Hospitality Ministry is one way we can do this. After 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, the Parish Hall has a delicious spread of bagels, donuts, coffee, and orange juice. It’s not just a way to send people away with full stomachs — it’s also a chance for adults to share in fellowship and time for children to play. The treats, coffee, and juice are available each Sunday when there’s no Knights of Columbus breakfast.
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Toni Smith enjoys leading this ministry because hospitality is so important to her.
“We want to take our church beyond just saying ‘hi’ at the sign of peace,” she says. “We want people to get to know each other and for people to be immersed in the life of our parish.”
Toni also wants her family to have the opportunity to meet others of the parish, too. With only about five percent of people in Oklahoma being Catholic, Toni knows the best way to meet other Catholics is at Mass.
“This is important to me because I want my church to be more than just a place on Sundays,” she says.
Toni believes that those who feel at home will step up and join a ministry or start their own. She also uses this as a way to get to know people, so she and others can offer support, whether a person is having a baby, going through a tough time, or just lost a spouse.
“We have so many people at our parish who care, and to help people we want to know what they have going on in their lives,” Toni says.
Several other ministries cover the setup, drinks, and coffee for the Hospitality Ministry, periodically. The coffee is purchased from Mystic Monk Coffee, which is made at a monastery in Wyoming.
Toni would invite anyone to get involved in the Hospitality Ministry. She enjoys working with the other coordinator, Cathy Albright, to bring a smile to people’s faces through coffee and a donut.
“Who isn’t happy when they get a donut?” she says. “The kids, especially, just race down after Mass. We are like their heroes.”
Toni also sees this as a chance to socialize, especially when someone brings a new person to St. Francis Xavier.
“Catholic Mass can be hard to follow and confusing if you are new,” Toni says.” This gives the person a chance to explain things and talk about questions they may have about the Mass. Plus, it shows we are a fun and welcoming place to be.”
In the end, we are all called to be hospitable to our neighbors in Christ. An important way to evangelize is to be welcoming to every person we encounter. The Hospitality Ministry is just an extension of our hospitality at Mass.
“The whole focus is, we are the body of Christ,” Toni says. “We are all Jesus. We can all lead each other to Jesus."
