On the morning of Jan. 9, with NFL football playoff games waiting and chilly temperatures inviting most to enjoy the warmth of their homes, a diverse crowd of more than 100 men filtered into the basement of St. Victor Church in Calumet City for a mixture of food, faith and a firm challenge. “This is a time for evangelization, men,” Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry told the attendees. “The more you are a part of God’s life, the better you’ll be. The challenge is for you men to be leaders.” For the last six years, Bishop Perry and the Catholic Men of Chicago Southland (CMCS) have offered area men this unique opportunity to feed their stomachs and their souls with regular breakfast gatherings aimed at empowering men to share their faith and recognize the presence of God in their lives. “Men don’t easily congregate unless it’s over sports or business,” Bishop Perry said. “These prayer breakfasts offer a new opportunity for men to gather and to do so in the name of God.” Confident that men hold a spiritual hunger and few chances to address that need in their local parishes, Bishop Perry and the CMCS worked to fill the growing gap. The prayer breakfasts unite food and fraternity with prayer and presentations. Since their first event six years ago, Bishop Perry and the CMCS have witnessed surging attendance, a sign that their efforts are succeeding. “It’s one of the nation’s best kept secrets: men do have a spiritual hunger,” Bishop Perry said, noting that many attendees have returned to their local parishes to form prayer groups and establish other men’s programming. Learn it, live it On Jan. 9 at St. Victor’s, headline speaker, Relevant Radio host and Catholic New World columnist Father Frank “Rocky” Hoffman presented a program titled, “Learn It, Live It, Love It, or Leave It.” A talk blending comedy and frankness, sincerity and spirituality, Hoffman reminded attendees at the ease in which faith could dissipate. “Faith can slip away if you don’t fight for it. Pride, envy, lust, anger, and greed can all get in the way,” Hoffman said. Learning the faith, Hoffman said, provides confidence in one’s travels, while living the faith — through Mass attendance, the sacraments, and supporting the church — answers God’s calls. Hoffman then recounted standing inside New York’s Yankee Stadium on April 20, 2008, as Pope Benedict XVI began Mass. As over 60,000 people made the sign of the cross and said “Amen” in unison, Hoffman said he loved being a Catholic. “When we learn it, live it, and love it, we don’t leave it,” Hoffman assured of the Catholic faith. Don’t leave it Such is the message Cy Huerter, a rookie breakfast attendee from Highland, Ind., took away. “That’s really the truth: When we don’t learn the faith, when we don’t live it and love it, it becomes very easy to leave the faith,” said Huerter, who attended the breakfast with three northwest Indiana friends. Huerter said the program reinforced the important role he inherits in sharing the faith with others. “We men have been left off the hook for too long and we’ve got to get more of the guys to take charge,” he said. “This breakfast was a strong reminder of that need.” Men accountable Deacon John Rangel, a CMCS official, said the regular prayer breakfasts not only provide a morning dose of faith, but foster a brotherhood of shared spirituality. “Men need to interact with other men and be accountable to one another,” Deacon Rangel said. “It’s wonderful to know about God, but it’s better to share it with someone else.” The next CMCS prayer breakfast, one of four the organization will host in 2010, will be held after Easter. Time and location information were not determined at press time, but can be found at the CMCS Web site (cmcsarchchicago.wordpress.com). “It’s a marvelous experience to have men coming together and thinking,” St. Victor Pastor Len Dubi said of the breakfasts, hoping many more area men would take advantage of the opportunity to share their faith in the company of other men.