Inviting priest to dinner?

[ladybugCATHOLIC]

We have a fairly new priest at our parish and outside of a hello here and there and a couple of trips to confession, we have not gotten to know him. For what reasons do people invite their priest over for dinner?
I did not grow up catholic or even in church so the whole idea is a new concept. Knowing how busy clergy are, the last thing I want to do is waste his time. In addition, I am nervous because this is outside of our comfort zone and although we admire virtue and wish to grow in it, our family lacks it many times.
My goals for inviting him to dinner are: #1 establish a family relationship with our priest #2 I am wanting to enthrone our home to the sacred heart #3 I am wanting to see if our parish could begin some type or children’s adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[Seatuck]

We have a fairly new priest at our parish and outside of a hello here and there and a couple of trips to confession, we have not gotten to know him. For what reasons do people invite their priest over for dinner?
I did not grow up catholic or even in church so the whole idea is a new concept. Knowing how busy clergy are, the last thing I want to do is waste his time. In addition, I am nervous because this is outside of our comfort zone and although we admire virtue and wish to grow in it, our family lacks it many times.
My goals for inviting him to dinner are: #1 establish a family relationship with our priest #2 I am wanting to enthrone our home to the sacred heart #3 I am wanting to see if our parish could begin some type or children’s adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Those are good goals but they seen a bit one sided. What are you offering to your priest? Your friendship and a outlet for recreation I hope! I think you are on the right track. Just go ahead and invite him. Once when a priest of ours had been transferred to another parish he confided in us that he had been disappointed that we never invoted him over. I felt about an inch tall after that because we let our fears etc prevent us from doing that.

 

[ladybugCATHOLIC]

The last thing I want to do is to seem like I have an “agenda”. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Although I have a few things I would like to discuss with him, perhaps dinner is not the best time to do so. I guess I can establish the relationship and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit from there. If I find an open door to the things I want to discuss then I will follow through at that time. If not, I will simply enjoy being able to be hospitable.

 

[SarahR]

My family has priests over occasionally. Once we had a game night with a youngish priest, it was a lot of fun .

I think it’s a great idea for you to have him over for dinner! A nice home cooked meal in a friendly relaxed environment sounds wonderful. Of course they are always priests, but they’re people, too.

 

[samcarter14]

Our priest came to dinner and to bless our home about six months after we began attending. Perhaps you could ask the priest for a home blessing and dinner—I don’t know if your parish has house blessings. In the Eastern Catholic church, we traditionally have our home blessed every year after Theophany (Epiphany).

 

[Lovemyfaith]

wanting to see if our parish could begin some type or children’s adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

I don’t see what is wrong with speaking with the priest after Mass or sending a quick email to him about this. If he seems open to your idea, it would make sense to invite him to dinner to discuss it.

A group of people in my parish once had a Novena for priests. We then informed the priest of the parish and invited them, one at a time, for dinner at one of our homes.

 

[choose_to_love]

ladybug, my bride runs a childrens’ prayer group during adoration at our parish. Google Armata Bianca or PM me for more info. It is an organized program so you don’t have to come up with the whole structure on your own, which, if you’re a homeschooling mom, is probably a good thing as I am sure you are plenty busy. However, if you are interested in such a program, you probably will have to be the prime mover and organizer, at least in the beginning. My bride takes our 4, 3, and 1 year old children once a week, and there are several similarly aged kids there too.

 

[pamnbam]

It’s a nice gesture to invite a priest over for dinner. Especially if he’s new, it will help him to meet families in his parish. I agree that it seems like there is an “agenda” in this case, though. If you must bring these issues up, at leat don’t do it the first time the priest comes out to your house. Not a good first impression. Still, those are good ideas but should be reserved for a later time. He’s probably still settling in at the parish.

 

[yoadrienner]

Absolutely invite him over to dinner. We had our parish priest over for dinner and invited two other families as well. We had a lot of fun. We have since been taking turns hosting once a month. Father looks forward to our dinners and so do we. He has become a good friend of ours. He has since moved to a new parish but, still comes up for our dinners. Getting to know our parish priest has been great for our family especially our children. He is not just the priest they see on the altar and in the confessional. He is a friend as well.

 

[chevalier]

Although I have a few things I would like to discuss with him, perhaps dinner is not the best time to do so. I guess I can establish the relationship and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit from there. If I find an open door to the things I want to discuss then I will follow through at that time. If not, I will simply enjoy being able to be hospitable.

Yeah, I agree. But don’t make it like now’s the dinner, followed by a talk tomorrow and so on… enjoy the dinner and the guest too. A priest is a very important person and I’m sure a great company in his own right as well! And I’m pretty sure he will appreciate a home-made dinner and perhaps a bit of a family atmosphere. Depends on the priest, I guess.

And priests need friends too.

 

[noclevername]

Priests are normal folks who have to eat too. Why wouldn’t you invite him to dinner. He would probably be grateful to be invited to your home. Growing up, my parents were great friends with our pastor and he was at our house quite a bit. It wasn’t weird at all. Actually, it was very normal.