Father Leo Patalinhug Helps Families Savor Their Faith at the Dinner Table

TV Chef Father Leo Patalinhug “plated up” a presentation with a perfect blend of food, wit, and insightful catechesis at Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Baton Rouge. Families learned how to answer the question “what’s for dinner?” – and developed a hunger for their faith.

The Nov. 6 presentation, “The Importance of Family Dinners,” was sponsored by the Dominus Project of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge. The Dominus Project helps parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children.

Father Patalinghug is a member of the community of consecrated life, Voluntas Dei (The Will of God). He is the founder of Plating Grace, an international food and faith movement, a bestselling author, and host of the EWTN show “Savoring Our Faith.” He is a former martial arts instructor, award-winning dancer, and choreographer.

Dr. Brian Pedraza, assistant professor of theology at FranU and director of the Dominus Project, introduced Father Patalinhug. Pedraza’s sons, Joseph, Damien, and Colby, said Father Patalinhug was their favorite speaker and food truck vendor at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21. The Pedrazas accompanied other families to the Congress as part of the Dominus Project.

Father Patalinhug cooked and catechized in a talk seasoned with humor. He answered such questions as, “Why do chefs flip food in their skillets like that?” “Why do they flambé food in their pans like that?”

“Because it’s cool,” said Father Patalinhug.
 Top Right Photo: Father Leo Patlinhug flambees some pasta sauce during his talk. Photo by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator
 Above Photo: Bishop Father Patlinhug , right, visits with Bishop Michael G. Duca, left, and Dominus Project Director Dr. Brian Pedraza. Photo by Jack Dardis
As he minced and sautéed an onion, Father Patalinhug noted the Greek translation of the word liturgy is “to work for the people.” 

“Feeding your family is hard work, is it not?” asked Father Patalinhug. “When you go to Mass, you are not there to be entertained …. if you were there to be entertained your pews would recline. You are there to do work and that work is to build up the kingdom of God.”

As he minced garlic, Father Patalinhug said, “Because you are participating in a liturgy, it means you are working to feed your family … If you don’t, the devil will. The devil wants nothing more than to feed you lies. The devil’s a master chef of plating sin and making bad things look good. That’s what you are all are here to work on because when you are plating things you are making good things look good.”

As the aroma of sauteed garlic and onion drifted around the room, Father Patalinhug said “Doesn’t it smell good? I would like to use it as incense in the church because people will become hungry. One of the big struggles in our faith right now is people are not necessarily hungry for what the church offers.”

Just as the sounds and smells of cooking entice people by engaging their senses, Father Patalinhug encouraged parents to make sure faith is simply not “taught” but is “caught.”

“Make sure your kids catch you praying on your knees. Make sure your kids catch you disagreeing properly, but also making up in front of them. Make sure your kids see you do charity,” Father Patalinhug said.

As he added tomato paste and flambéed the ingredients, the priest encouraged families to talk about everything – or their children will get their information from the internet or peers who are a bad influence.

Families should expose themselves to faith a little bit at a time, but consistently, to be healthy and hungry for the truth, Father Patalinhug stated.

Adding chili pepper sauce, cheese, penne noodles, vegetables, and parsley, Father Patalinhug asked, “You want to reduce drug addiction in your teenagers, teen pregnancies, suicides, plus improve your teenager’s testing scores? The number one factor is a family meal.”

His pasta penne dish finished, Father Patalinhug called upon Bishop Michael G. Duca to do a taste test. The bishop complimented his dish.

Volunteers served chicken pasta penne dinners to the families, who laughed and openly talked at their tables.

Brandon and Laura Devillier of St. John the Evangelist Church in Prairieville had been to the Eucharistic Congress through the Dominus Project and missed Father Patalinhug’s presentation. Their friends who saw it told them how much they enjoyed it. When the Devilliers heard Father Patalinhug was coming to Baton Rouge, they made they sure they would be there.

“We together make dinner a big party. Family dinner is super important to us,” said Laura Devillier. “It takes a big effort to gather everyone at the dinner table. We make it a priority, and we cherish the time we spend together. Those are the choices we make.”

She appreciated Father Patalinhug urging families “to transform the table into a desk where the greatest blessings are learned.

Above Photos: Many families enjoyed spending time together at the presentation. Photos by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator

Chad and Rebecca LeBlanc of St. Theresa of Avila Church in Gonzales liked Father Patalinhug’s point that the dinner table is a place for good family conversations. The LeBlancs attended the talk with their children Samuel, Zachary, Catherine, Dominic, Josephine, and Genevieve.

“The table is a place where you’re going to teach life lessons,” said Chad.

Rebecca added, “If you don’t feed your family, someone else will.”

Pedraza said Father Patalinhug’s presentation is the Dominus Project’s way to help build up the domestic church.

“FranU's new endeavor, The Dominus Project, seeks to shift the point of emphasis in forming children from the parish and the school to the home,” said Pedraza. “We don't want to replace the good work the parish and schools are doing, but we do want to answer the church's call that parents be the primary educators of their children. When the church teaches this, it doesn't mean that parents need to run religious education classrooms in their homes but that they are charged with being the first witnesses to what it means to follow Jesus Christ by their lives and the culture they build in the home."

He added, “We were so grateful to have Father Leo join us for this important topic. We want to get the word out that something as simple as regularly having dinner together as a family can have a monumental impact on our children's lives. Children that eat with their parents regularly are, on average, healthier physically, socially, psychologically, and spiritually. It can be hard with practices and afterschool activities, but it's worth the sacrifice and the effort. I think parents know deep down that we're too busy. What would happen if we actually stopped and said, 'We've got to make a change?’ We need to spend more time together being and not just doing."