Café Catholica: Summer 2019

The Café Catholica summer series is open to all young adults (ages 18-39) and features dynamic speakers, prayer, dinner, and socializing. Café Catholica is held on for four Mondays in July starting on July 8th. Each night will include confession at 5:15 pm, Mass at 6:15 pm, Dinner at 7:15 pm, and Talk at 8:15 pm. Come for all or part of the evening! No registration is needed to attend. Donations are accepted. All sessions will be held at St. Michael Church, 1801 Sage Rd., Houston, TX 77056.

The theme for the 2019 summer series is: Ever Ancient, Ever New. As many in our world are working hard to make advances in science, technology, health, and education, we must not be afraid to first look back: to look back at the Wisdom and teachings of our Church and to look back to the hill of Calvary, where hope was found and death was defeated in Christ Jesus. In looking back, we will discover that Christ Lives and continues to lead us each day into beauty ever new.

July 8, 2019: Give Me Crazy Love: Your Body and God’s Plans
Patrick Rivera, Director of Young Adult Ministry for Diocese of San Diego

July 15, 2019: The Struggle is Real: Continual Conversion
Fr. Josh Johnson, Priest from the Diocese of Baton Rouge

July 22, 2019: Beauty Ever Ancient, Ever New
Michelle Benzinger, Speaker and Women’s Advocate from Pensacola, Florida

July 29, 2019: Millennial Wisdom from the Church Fathers
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston

For more information, contact the Office for Young Adult and Campus Ministry at www.archgh.org/cafecatholica or yacm@archgh.orgor 713-741-8778. 

Café Bios 2019

July 8: Patrick Rivera

Patrick Rivera is the Director of the Office for Young Adult Ministry at the Diocese of San Diego. He was born in California, raised in Tennessee, and studied in New Jersey at Seton Hall University where he also was a seminarian for the Diocese of Nashville. Not knowing what to do with a Philosophy Degree, he became an automotive technician before God called him into full-time ministry. Still a mechanic at heart, Patrick enjoys tinkering on anything that breaks. Lately he has developed an ever-growing collection of 1940s manual typewriters, which he restores and uses daily.  

For nearly two decades, Patrick has served at the parish, collegiate, or diocesan level. As a speaker, he draws insights from his time as a youth minister, young adult minister, parish lay pastoral associate, collegiate missionary, and worship leader, but most importantly, his first church, which is his wife Margot, and their five children ages 8 and under.

In 2016, he was invited by the USCCB to be a member of the National Advisory Team on Young Adult Ministry, which seeks to provide input and pastoral support to the bishops, parishes, and young adult leaders throughout the country.

July 15: Fr. Josh Johnson

While Fr. Josh Johnson was raised Catholic, he didn’t like the Church growing up. One day, in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, he fell in love with Jesus and received the call to become a priest. Now, Fr. Josh is the pastor for Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in St. Amant, Louisiana, the chair of Diocesan Commission on Racial Harmony in Baton Rouge and he is a presenter in four of Ascension’s programs: Altaration; YOU: Life, Love, and the Theology of the Body; Rejoice; and No Greater Love. He is also the author of Broken and Blessed and a contributing author of Power & Grace: A Guide to the Catholic Sacraments. You can keep in touch with Fr. Josh through his weekly podcast, “Ask Fr. Josh.”

July 22: Michelle Benzinger

Michelle Benzinger is a national women's speaker, creative entrepreneur, and advocate for marginalized women and children. Michelle is the Creative Director and Visionary leader of Transforming Beauty, a women’s ministry created to invest in women who in turn invest in the world.  Michelle and her husband, Chris, have served in global and domestic missions for the past 15 years with their six kids (two adopted from Haiti) and now reside in Pensacola, Florida.  

July 29: Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston

His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo is the metropolitan archbishop of Galveston-Houston and pastor to its 1.7 million-plus Catholics (and the 6.2 million people within the Archdiocese) and 435 priests in 146 parishes and 59 schools spread over 8,880 square miles. His seats are St. Mary Cathedral Basilica in Galveston and the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston.

As a member of the Sacred College, he served as a Cardinal-Elector in the Papal Conclave of 2013, which saw the election of Pope Francis to the See of Peter. In November of the same year, he was elected by his brother bishops as the Vice-President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for a three-year term. Cardinal DiNardo currently serves as President of the USCCB, having been elected on November 15, 2016.

He is a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, the Pontifical Council for the Economy, and is on the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Become a Café Catholica Sponsor

Please consider advertising your ministry or business with us through this event. We are anticipating between 700-900 young adults to attend each session. There are two ways to advertise:

1. Purchase an ad in our Café booklet. The booklet is handed out to every participant each week and includes information about the speakers and topics, ads from various sponsors, and information about young adult events in the local area. This is a great way to get your name, ministry, or business seen by hundreds of young adults throughout all four weeks. Total image size should be:

2. Sponsor a table during the event. Sponsors are allowed to sign up for any of the nights, however they will be limited to one table per night (cost is $50). Tables give appropriate groups and businesses the opportunity to educate young adults about vocations, service opportunities, ministries, Catholic religious goods, and more. Table sponsors will be listed in the program. The tables will be set up in the gym at St. Michael. You are welcome to arrive to set up starting at 5:00 pm. We ask that you be packed up and out of the gym 30 minutes after the talk ends.

All ads are subject to approval by the YACM office and venue staff. All Café Sponsors must register online here by May 15, 2019.

View the Café Catholica Archives