Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner adds names to faces at Cathedral

Have you ever wondered who the nice couple is who sits in front of you at Mass, or the name of that friendly person who smiles so warmly to you at the sign of peace? Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is an answer to that and much more. It is a direct response to God’s call and our personal responsibility as members of Christ’s Body to build and strengthen our Church community.

Let’s talk about technicalities. Guess Who (as we abbreviate it) is a fun way for parishioners to meet, in groups of six to eight people, in a relaxed, informal atmosphere over dinner and conversation. There is an element of surprise to the evening—as guest, you won’t know whose home you are going to until dinnertime and as host, you won’t know who’s ­coming. This adds more fun for everyone! Dinners are held a few times a year and are scheduled for two hours. However, if the host allows, dinner can last longer. In our experience, guests don’t want to leave! Hosts are responsible for preparation of the main course and guests are asked to bring a side (such as salad, rolls, beverages, desert etc. which may be purchased or prepared from the store if you aren’t confident of your cooking abilities!). Guess Who is not about cooking; it’s about meeting people from your Church community and finding things in common.

Table discussions include spiritual topics such as struggles of fasting during Lent, preparation for Christmas, blessings received throughout the year, and evangelization in the workplace. It is a place where you can be lighthearted or serious, share funny stories of life, and ask for prayers. It is amazing to listen to the people we know from our parish and to finally learn the names to faces we’ve seen for years. Parishes are a small packet of love and charity that in a direct way resist the evils of the world. As St. John Paul II wrote in Pilgrims of Peace: “A community needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings. You… the people must give it this soul.” Building our parish community, we become uniform. We start to understand each other more.

Here is some feedback from guests of Guess Who at St. Mary’s Cathedral in February.

• “It was great to meet new people and hear about their lives. I also felt like the Holy Spirit was at work in the encounters this dinner facilitated. I also enjoyed being able to recognize some people at Masses afterward!”
• “We moved to Fargo a little over a year ago. The parish we came from was very small. We loved the Cathedral, but the size made it feel a bit intimidating and we didn’t really know where to start. For us this was the perfect solution, a casual, small, in-home setting with hosts that had been a part of the Cathedral for some time. It gave us the confidence to become a bigger part of things that are happening in the parish.”
• “I really enjoyed sharing our personal stories of faith and our ‘God moments.’ It reaffirmed my faith.”

As an immigrant to the USA, my parish became a place to meet and build my new family and to get to know my new brothers and sisters in Christ. As an alien to the USA, I was accepted to this Church family without any reservations. Guess Who allows me to extend my family even more.