Family Day with Fr Leo

10:30 am - Mass

12:00 pm - Presentation 1: 'Grace Before Meals: Inspirations for Family Life'

In his popular talk Grace Before Meals: Recipes and Inspirations for Family Meals and Family Life, Fr. Leo enlightens us with a fun and educational experience of the Grace Before Meals movement and the need for it in our world. Bringing our attention back to the dinner table, this talk teaches a theology of the domestic church along with Family Based Catechesis – a Catholic teaching for families starting with a “theology of food.” After explaining how it all started in 2001, Fr. Leo tells about his experience of winning the Food Network Show "Throw Down with Bobby Flay" in 2009, and how ever since, the world’s attention has been drawn to this much needed, family-focused apostolate.

1:00pm - Lunch

1:45pm - Presentation 2: 'Hunger for God: Catholic Culinary Culture'

In Fr. Leo’s Catholic Culinary Culture talk, he shares the Church’s wisdom, as illumined by the Gospels, in bite-size portions. Contrary to contemporary culture, our perspective holds to food as a means to a greater end than itself; moreover, food points to a higher reality which we would be amiss to ignore. Fr. Leo explains the meaning behind our hunger for God spiritually and physically, as man “lives not by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Mirroring the Franciscan prayer, the healing of hospitality contradicts our culture furthermore, as “it is in giving that we receive.” Lastly, we are called to be “salt of the earth,” giving a spiritual flavor to life, which is all a gift to be appreciated from God.