Should we invite 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 las thing I want to do is waste his time.
My goals for inviting him to dinner are: #1 establish a family relationship with him #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.

 

[Drilling4Truth]

First of all, most priests I know love eating dinner. And second, they usually want to get to know their parishioners. Simply call the office or even offer an invitation one day after Mass. He’ll be appreciative. You can, of course, bring up your ideas and also talk about what direction you would like to see the parish go. If he is an associate pastor, he will likely not have the final word. But, who knows. You could be the originator of very great programs at your parish.

I’m like you, I wasn’t raised Catholic so I was always nervous around priests. After I got to know some, I became much more relaxed. I’ve even had a beer with my priest.

 

[puppypatrol]

First of all, most priests I know love eating dinner. And second, they usually want to get to know their parishioners. Simply call the office or even offer an invitation one day after Mass. He’ll be appreciative. You can, of course, bring up your ideas and also talk about what direction you would like to see the parish go. If he is an associate pastor, he will likely not have the final word. But, who knows. You could be the originator of very great programs at your parish.

I’m like you, I wasn’t raised Catholic so I was always nervous around priests. After I got to know some, I became much more relaxed. I’ve even had a beer with my priest.

I was raised Catholic and have the old fashion respect and awe for our priests. Also, my best friend is a priest. OF COURSE INVITE YOUR PRIEST TO DINNER!!! You would be surprised how many people these days, and I am not ancient, act like our priests should be locked up in the rectory until we need him for a sacrament or to visit the sick so they don’t have to.
Priests may be special but they are still people and they need friends too.

 

[puzzleannie]

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 las thing I want to do is waste his time.
My goals for inviting him to dinner are: #1 establish a family relationship with him #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.

do invite him to come and bless your home and make the consecration to the Sacred Heart, and let him know the invitation includes dinner, but you will have to adapt to his schedule, as priests are very busy, and have commitments with the diocese as well as their own parish.

for what reasons do people not invite priests to dinner? many
some have learned from experience that their priest is just too busy and have stopped inviting
some know their priest is on a special medical diet and cannot accept dinner invitations, or eat at parish functions
some priests have conveyed by their manner that they are very wary of establishing personal relationships with parishioners and families, either because it can (sadly) create ill-feeling within the parish and charges of favoritism, or (even more sadly) they do not want to place themselves in any situation where they could remotely possibly be accused of inappropriate behavior, especially toward children. a crime and a shame, but true

our pastor has diocesan commitments that chew up all his time in the evening and would probably love a relaxing dinner with a family, but cannot have that luxury. he also guards his limited free time jealously to preserve his prayer life.

our former pastor was placed on a strict medical diet and stopped accepting invitations because it made adherence to the diet impossible.

One neighboring pastor accepts invitations enthusiastically, and usually returns the favor, inviting all the families he has visited recently to join together in a meal he prepares in the church hall.

 

[maryj]

Oh yes invite him, especially if he is a new priest to your parish. I always ask when I invite one of our priests for dinner what they don’t like, or can’t eat. One priest answered" I don’t like fish" I chuckled and he asked why…I said your a fisher of men and you don’t like fish…he chuckled too!

 

[Spots]

Sure! Priests are people- often, due to the fact that priest who is the regular celebrant works within his parish/people, they are often very social people.

It’s a wonderful, and fun thing to have a priest over for dinner.

What is the worst that happens, anyway? They are busy that night and say no? Ask!

 

[PJM]

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?

because they are nice folk’s who want to show appreciation to our priest

I did not grow up catholic or even in church so the whole idea is a new concept. Knowing how busy clergy are, the las thing I want to do is waste his time.

That is a kind and chairitable thought. But many priest will jump at a chance to get to know their parishoners personally.

When you invite him, ask what he’d like to eat, he may not tell you, but let him know he’s specia; and you want the dinner to be special.

{QUOTE]My goals for inviting him to dinner are: #1 establish a family relationship with him #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.

The fact that you have “goals” will not be a surprise. But be very careful haw you present them, and be understanding if for some reason, father can’t do what you suggest. (Notice I didn’t say “want.”

A suggestion of the Adoration.

Keep in mind these are kid’s and GOD really is present, so you’ll want the program to include supervision by parents. If you can make it work it ia an AWESOME idea!

As for Dedicating your home (perhaps a better word than “enthrone?” I have never head of this being done. Having your home blessed, and especially your “prayer space,” yes!, by all means.

While I have have never had a priest over my parents have done it for as long as I can remember.

Your aware that priest work very long hours, so you may want to keep things as casual as possible, and not try to accomplish your agenda all at once? Pray about it!

God bless you, let us know how it works out for you.

BVM please lead us to your Son Jesus,

PJM m.c.

 

[tundramom]

Of course invite the Priest! Mine rides his bike in his leisure time. I mean… LONG distances. I live about 6 miles from the Rectory and he oftentimes stops to refill his water bottle at our house. I always thought that was so cool. We must be his turn around point, right?

wrong!

One day after he stopped for water I came out of my driveway and went the opposite direction. I drove by him another 15 miles down the road! We live in the country and it’s not all paved.

He has been here several times where he stopped for water and ended up being able to stay for dinner after helping my hubby split firewood.

This coming from a Priest who visited all 1300 registered families in our parish within the first 12 months after arriving. He’s the only priest too. One elderly Deacon, but he lives further out than I do.

God bless Father Denny!

in Christ
Steph

 

[adelore]

By all means invite him to dinner. You’ll be glad you did. Even if he’s busy, give him a “rain check” so that the invitation is open to come.

I know we tend to see our Priest as “untouchable to us” so to speak, but you’d be amazed at how “normal” they really are.

They like a good joke, a great movie, cook-outs, fishing, hunting, sports, normal everyday things like we do. (of course each Priest likes different things like we do, I just made the list for an example.)

My great Aunt was a Nun. She had a great sense of humor, was great with us kids, she was a really “cool” person.

My cousin is a Priest. In fact we were great friends, not just cousins, while growing up. When Danny became a Priest it was no surprise to me.

Yet, even though he’s a Priest, Danny is very much Normal. He has Normal friends and does things with them. Not all his friends are Priest. Danny has been to our class reunions, (we grad. together from the same public school.) and has a good time with all of us. Priest and Nuns are people just like us.

Invite your Priest over, you’ll be glad you did, just relax and be yourselve’s while they are at your home.

 

[mystagogia]

Yeah, invite him over. Drop him an email or a passing verbal offer, “Hey, I’d like you to come over and have dinner with us sometime.”

I did this and mine came over armed with a DVD. “Do you like Denzel Washington?” he said, “He’s one of my favorites!” So we had dinner and wound up watching, “Remember the Titans!”

It was not what I expected at all, and actually a lot of good fun.

Priests 'r people 2!

 

[fivegoldenrings]

I, too, was not raised Catholic and thought priests were somehow not human. But we finally invited a priest over to our new home, because we wanted it to be blessed by him. We had a very nice time. During dinner, the priest asked if we had ever had our elderly pastor, who had died a year ago, over to dinner. We told him that no, we hadn’t. (We had never even thought of it; after all, why would he have wanted to spend time with us, we’d thought.) The priest seemed mystified and sad that we’d never had that priest over.
So, yes, it’s nice to make the effort. Particularly if the priest happens to be an extrovert, he probably enjoys being with people quite a bit. And if he doesn’t have a cook at the rectory on a regular basis, he’ll probably like it even more!

 

[msugeotech]

I was just curious to see if you ever wound up inviting him over for dinner, and if so, how did it go?

 

[Serap]

I just found this thread. I gave an open invite for dinner to our pastor during his down period in January (2 months ago) and he never mentioned it again. I even invited him to my husband’s 40th b-day party three weeks ago and he told me that he was busy that day.

I guess he’s not interested in having dinner with my family. I am actually a little bit hurt that he never showed any interest. I thought he was a friend, but now I’m thinking more of an acquaintance.

I was speaking with a friend at my parish who is a good long-time friend of the priest and she told me that he went over to her place for dinner just 2 Saturdays ago

I still think he’s a great priest though. The parishners really love him and he is always radiant and cheerful. I have changed my perception of what my family’s relationship to him is.

 

[jrabs]

I just found this thread. I gave an open invite for dinner to our pastor during his down period in January (2 months ago) and he never mentioned it again. I even invited him to my husband’s 40th b-day party three weeks ago and he told me that he was busy that day.

I guess he’s not interested in having dinner with my family. I am actually a little bit hurt that he never showed any interest. I thought he was a friend, but now I’m thinking more of an acquaintance.

Do not be discouraged yet. An open invitation is awkward. Did you really expect your priest to walk up to you and say, hey how about dinner on Thurs? Naw - it would be like him inviting himself.

And then he was not available on the one other date you provided. Priests are really busy. Not a personal slight against you.

Give him a list a dates that would accomodate your schedule. Make sure they are not all Friday evenings - mix it up since your priest may have on-going obligations Friday evenings.

Your priest may also have time contraints that make him available between 4-6pm. Ask him what times work well for him.

I know my priest is always seeking dinner invites friday evening but he is onlly free until 6:30PM. If he is doing a wedding rehearsal, then he is free at 8:00pm. All depends what is going down that week.

Please do not be discouraged. Try again and be patient.

 

[Serap]

Do not be discouraged yet. An open invitation is awkward. Did you really expect your priest to walk up to you and say, hey how about dinner on Thurs? Naw - it would be like him inviting himself.

And then he was not available on the one other date you provided. Priests are really busy. Not a personal slight against you.

Give him a list a dates that would accomodate your schedule. Make sure they are not all Friday evenings - mix it up since your priest may have on-going obligations Friday evenings.

Your priest may also have time contraints that make him available between 4-6pm. Ask him what times work well for him.

I know my priest is always seeking dinner invites friday evening but he is onlly free until 6:30PM. If he is doing a wedding rehearsal, then he is free at 8:00pm. All depends what is going down that week.

Please do not be discouraged. Try again and be patient.

Thanks for your feedback. As for the open invite, he knows me well enough to call me or bring it up b/c I volunteer there and he sees me regularly and we have a good rapport with eachother. I mentioned to him three times that he’s welcome to come over to our house anytime in addition to inviting him over for my DH’s b-day party.

I don’t think he’s interested and I feel like an idiot inviting someone who doesn’t seem interested. His mother passed away in December and I sent a bouquet of flowers to the funeral hall to show him my support. I’ve expressed interest in his well being many times and told him if he needs anything to let me know. Because he’s so busy, I gave him an open invitation to our house.

He is a very outgoing extrovert and if he were interested, he definitely would let me know. That’s the kind of person he is.

I was a bit bummed b/c I wanted to ask him to baptize my future child (if I am blessed again to be pregnant) and remain involved with my family even if he leaves our parish. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable doing that now since I feel that my sincere extension of friendship was rejected.

 

[jrabs]

Thanks for your feedback. As for the open invite, he knows me well enough to call me or bring it up b/c I volunteer there and he sees me regularly and we have a good rapport with eachother. I mentioned to him three times that he’s welcome to come over to our house anytime in addition to inviting him over for my DH’s b-day party.

I am sorry you feel put off by your priest. Your intentions behind the open invitation are good - I still am suggesting that most people are not going to pick a date. The hostess/host usually has to firm the date.

I am an extrovert - my best GF in all the world gives me open invitations frequently. Never in a million years would I call her up and say, “Hey, can I come over Tues. for dinner?”.

What may seem common and normal for you to do is not necessarily what others would do. Open invitations to me are non- committal - kind of an “I’ll catch you later” type of invitation that never goes anywhere.

For example, perhaps you have no problems calling someone up and picking your own date for dinner because you have an open invitation. I am betting that many people have a problem with that.

All I am suggesting is to not put thoughts into your head where no ill will was intended. He could not make it to the birthday party either - please don’t let that get you down.

And perhaps he cannot make it to the next event - because he really is busy.
I hope all woorks out for you.

 

[Serap]

I am sorry you feel put off by your priest. Your intentions behind the open invitation are good - I still am suggesting that most people are not going to pick a date. The hostess/host usually has to firm the date.

I am an extrovert - my best GF in all the world gives me open invitations frequently. Never in a million years would I call her up and say, “Hey, can I come over Tues. for dinner?”.

What may seem common and normal for you to do is not necessarily what others would do. Open invitations to me are non- committal - kind of an “I’ll catch you later” type of invitation that never goes anywhere.

For example, perhaps you have no problems calling someone up and picking your own date for dinner because you have an open invitation. I am betting that many people have a problem with that.

All I am suggesting is to not put thoughts into your head where no ill will was intended. He could not make it to the birthday party either - please don’t let that get you down.

And perhaps he cannot make it to the next event - because he really is busy.
I hope all woorks out for you.

Thanks. You are very kind. It comes across. Do you want to come over for dinner?

 

[Roxy_Ann]

Not only is it a catholic family’s responsibility to have their parish priest for dinner, I invited our parish priest to get to
know him, but also for him to bless our house, because I was in a troubling time with my husband, and for my children to see that he was an ordinary man of God.